{"id":23661,"date":"2022-09-11T05:30:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T09:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=23661"},"modified":"2022-09-12T08:18:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T12:18:11","slug":"album-review-jem-records-celebrates-pete-townshend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/11\/album-review-jem-records-celebrates-pete-townshend\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Jem Records Celebrates Pete Townshend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-23662\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jem_pete_townshend.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jem_pete_townshend.jpg 350w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jem_pete_townshend-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jem_pete_townshend-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>Too often, various-artists tribute albums are like celebrity roasts: it\u2019s far less about the ostensible honoree, and for more about the roasters (or, in this case, \u201ctributers\u201d). And I\u2019m on record stating my assertion that few tribute projects add much of value to the music. But there are exceptions, and they make the whole concept worthwhile, redeeming it in the process.<\/p>\n<p>With those gauntlets neatly laid at your feet, dear reader, here\u2019s a quick, list-style rundown of the fourteen songs on <i>Jem Records Celebrates Pete Townshend<\/i>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lisa Mychols &amp; Super 8<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cBaba O\u2019Riley\u201d \u2013 Using mandolin in place of synthesizers is a clever approach, and the result sounds a bit like what Led Zeppelin was doing on their third and fourth albums, albeit with a pop-leaning aesthetic.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Grip Weeds<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m Free\u201d \u2013 A tricky rocker to execute, this tune is fine hands with the Grip Weeds. They nail the balance between crunchy rocking and sweet vocal harmony.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Midnight Callers<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cLet My Love Open the Door\u201d \u2013 At first I was concerned that the band\u2019s rock rethink would rob the song of its nuance. Not so. It\u2019s quite good, and some inventive new licks make it even better.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nick Piunti<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cThe Seeker\u201d \u2013 Another rocker, one of the Who\u2019s underrated tunes. This version doesn&#8217;t quite pack the punch of The Smithereens\u2019 reading, but it\u2019s close, and all involved can be proud.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Anderson Council<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cGlow Girl\u201d \u2013 More wonderful harmonies and a razor-sharp arrangement. Stellar stuff.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lisa Mychols &amp; Super 8<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain\u201d \u2013 Points for inventiveness, but if I want to hear the Roches, I\u2019ll <em>listen<\/em> to the Roches. The campfire vibe doesn\u2019t work for me on this song.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Johnathan Pushkar<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cThe Kids are Alright\u201d \u2013 There\u2019s nothing exactly wrong with this version; it just seems to lack any real fire or passion. The vocal arrangement\u2019s nice, though.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Gold Needles<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cSo Sad About Us\u201d \u2013 Ah, here we go. The gold Needles bring something new to the song with those horn charts, sparing as they are. But I miss the original&#8217;s high vocal harmonies; they\u2019re a key ingredient to the song\u2019s effectiveness.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Grip Weeds<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cA Quick One\u201d \u2013 If any other Jem act had taken this one on, I would have been very skeptical. But not only do The Grip Weeds do well with the multi-part suite, they make it their own. Will I ever choose it over the original (or the <i>Rock and Roll Circus<\/i> recording? I will not. But still nice.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Weeklings<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cI Can See for Miles\u201d \u2013 Another tribute case of \u201cadds nothing but still sounds pretty damn fine.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Anderson Council<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cMary Anne with the Shaky Hand\u201d This is one of Townshend\u2019s weaker tunes \u2013 which are still better than many others\u2019 best work \u2013 and the band seems to acknowledge that reality by reinventing it. With this they\u2019re successful. But it\u2019s still not a great song.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Richard Barone<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cLet\u2019s See Action\u201d \u2013 Nice to see some early \u201870s deep-cut Who getting some love. The original&#8217;s anthemic quality is gone; this reading is closer in spirit to Pete\u2019s <i>Who Came First<\/i> recording. The electric lead guitar is lovely, though.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Gold Needles<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cThe Good\u2019s Gone\u201d \u2013 Another deep cut from the Who\u2019s early years. This answers the unasked question, \u201cWhat would \u2018The Good\u2019s Gone\u2019 have sounded like if it was on <i>Revolver<\/i>?\u201d Clever.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Airport 77s<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cSubstifool\u201d \u2013 Ha ha. I get it. A medley of \u201cSubstitute\u201d and \u201cWon\u2019t Get Fooled Again.\u201d It works, kinda. Again, some points for originality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(The hidden track is worth a chuckle.)<\/p>\n<p>Verdict: better than most of its ilk. See ya later. I\u2019m off to listen to <i>Quadrophenia<\/i>. The original version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Too often, various-artists tribute albums are like celebrity roasts: it\u2019s far less about the ostensible honoree, and for more about the roasters (or, in this case, \u201ctributers\u201d). And I\u2019m on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,49,51,55,62,65],"tags":[4928,4448,950,4321,4927,3428,4926,4840,1833,3386,4323,3634,2354],"class_list":["post-23661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compilation","category-new-release","category-pop","category-powerpop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-airport-77s","tag-gold-needles","tag-grip-weeds","tag-jem-records","tag-johnathan-pushkar","tag-lisa-mychols","tag-mifdnight-callers","tag-nick-piunti","tag-richard-barone","tag-super-8","tag-the-anderson-council","tag-the-grip-weeds","tag-weeklings","cat-19-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-55-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23661"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23688,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23661\/revisions\/23688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}