Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26103 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 642 pages

Synopsis
Pete Townshend wrote 'Hope I die before I get old' in 1965 and took the Who to the top of the world in 1969's smash hit Tommy. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990 and has song writing credits on a number of rock classics. An accurate, detailed and fascinating account of the life of a man whose story should have been told in this much detail long ago. Wilkerson interviewed Townshend himself and several of Townshend's friends and associates for this book.

Customer Reviews

Who are you - Pete townshend Review
This is a great book first and foremost, offerring a great insight into Pete Townshend - one of the foremeost writers and musicians of the pop music genre.

This book really goes beyond what most of us know about the man, it strips away the bark and gets to the heartwood of a man who's compositions and media output are in the realm of genius and may be judged in centuries to come as on a par with the classical composers.

For those into the music, there are great snippets of information on the recordings and about the songs themselves and of the pre-Who musical days and beyond.

Pete Townshend is not just a guitar player and songwriter, his work influenced by many sources of inspiration from Trad Jazz, the auto destructive art of Gustav Metzger, the spiritual works of Mehr Baba and more, show how complex the man and his music really is, he draws on many influences, his creative works do not stand still, he moves on and creates anew.

The book also explores in depth the concepts of his other projects, Tommy, Lifehouse, White City, Quadrophenia and others - it becomes clear that this boy from Acton has something, a gift that sets him apart from a lot of other people.

This book is a weighty tome about 4 inches thick but consume it, then you'll appreciate what makes Pete Townshend the multi-faceted man he is.

At the time of wrting I am working on my own Rock Opera called '30 to Hornsey Rise' which uses the London Transport Routemaster bus as the centrepiece of the work as an allegory for the journey through life. One reason I bought the book was to see how Townshend put the Tommy Rock Opera together, although I arrived at my Opera concept and executed it in a different way, it was useful to read how Tommy evolved.

Love The Who, love Townshend. But this was hardwork !
I'm not disputeing how much hard work & research went into this book (a great deal) but my God ! Was it BORING ! To read it was an effort it was bloody hardwork. The only thing I got from it was a better understanding of "Tommy".