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Rating: 
Summary: The Newest Townshend
Review: A brilliant exploration of Townshend's ideas and longings. This book is entirely refreshing--neither a pop bio nor an academic treatise, but something better. Gives us real insights into a serious songwriter's vision. A balanced view of the business and the art behind one man's maneuverings. Required reading for those who take rock seriously.
Rating:
Summary: At last - a compelling arguement for the genius of Townshend
Review: It's great to finally see such a balanced view of Pete Townshend's career as a songwriter. This book certainly isn't for everyone, but for anyone interested in post-war popular music, and definitely for Who/Townshend fans, it's worth taking a look at. Smith's academic presentation may be a bit cumbersome at times, but generally his adherance to a narrative structure and even-handed presentation of Pete's oeuvre wins the day. "No other artist in history of popular music has achieved the artistic scope of Pete Townshend's career," Mr. Smith concludes. Amen to that.
Rating:
Summary: At last - a compelling arguement for the genius of Townshend
Review: It's great to finally see such a balanced view of Pete Townshend's career as a songwriter. This book certainly isn't for everyone, but for anyone interested in post-war popular music, and definitely for Who/Townshend fans, it's worth taking a look at. Smith's academic presentation may be a bit cumbersome at times, but generally his adherance to a narrative structure and even-handed presentation of Pete's oeuvre wins the day. "No other artist in history of popular music has achieved the artistic scope of Pete Townshend's career," Mr. Smith concludes. Amen to that.
Rating: 
Summary: An Academic's Attempt To Dissect A Genius
Review: Okay - if you're a major Pete Townshend fan, you're gonna' want this book. But be prepared - it reads like a decent dissertation topic larded with heavy dollops of pop psych and repetition to get it up to acceptable book-length. (One example: Smith questions throughout why Daltrey kept singing Townshend's increasingly-personal and introspective songs. As if Daltrey had any real choice - a point Smith himself makes near the end of the book when he quotes Daltrey expressing his gratitude to Townshend, without whom he would have been "a factory worker.")Townshend is a genius who has spoken so eloquently for himself, to God and to anyone else who cared to listen, for more than 30 years. Sadly, though Smith relates lots of incidents and quotes tons of lyrics, it's as if he can't get a bead on the the music ... or the man.
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