| Reviews of The Iron Man | |
| Jeff Schwager, Mr. Showbiz, May 15, 1996
As he moved into a post-Who career, Townshend remained bitten by the theatrical-album bug. A 1985 album, "White City," had a unifying concept (a visit to a housing project in a hard-pressed section of London), but the story didn't take shape without Townshend's accompanying notes. "The Iron Man," his adaptation of a children's story by Ted Hughes, stands as an example of just how bad rock can be when it aspires to be theater first and rock 'n' roll second. The music is toothless and diffuse; the only memorable moments in the whole bland affair are cameos by John Lee Hooker (as the heroic Iron Man, who chomps on anything made of metal that's threatening to humanity) and Nina Simone. With "Psychoderelict," conceived as a radio play, Townshend once again wrote whereof he knew, telling the tale of a jaded, aging rock superstar's attempt to make a comeback and recapture an idealistic spark. It's a plot-heavy potboiler, but a number of sharp rock songs and attractive ballads make it a partial comeback for Townshend himself.
It is, you see, a concept album, and that's not exactly the most fashionable undertaking in a pop era defined by Debbie Gibson (whose Electric Youth is to Townshend's My Generation what typing is to writing). Still, Townshend's "The Iron Man" is a fascinating piece that's instantly recognizable as the work of its creator. If not as ambitious as Tommy or Quadrophenia (it is, on some level, a children's record), it more than compensates with consistency, unpretentiousness, and musical invention. Townshend has billed "The Iron Man," based on a story by poet Ted Hughes, as a musical, rather than something highfalutin like a rock opera, and the description is both apt and a challenge. The contemporary musical, after all, is moribund, what with Andrew Lloyd Webber and other folks still recycling Puccini and Jerome Kern more than thirty years after rock-and-roll changed the world's listening habits. What Townshend has attempted is a genuine piece of music theater in an idiom that has some relation to what actual people actually listen to for pleasure. On that level, it seems to me, he's succeeded splendidly. The songs in "The Iron Man" are clearly rock-and-roll, but it's a grown-up rock-and-roll very much in the style of the late Who, all rippling keyboards and power chords. As far as I could tell from reading the story synopsis--it's partly an ecological fable, partly a meditation on the redemptive power of love--the songs move the narrative along as smartly as anything in West Side Story. Whether Townshend's creation is stageworthy remains to be seen, but on this record songs like New Life, Dig (guest starring the Who, all of them, sounding better than ever), and Over the Top (featuring blues great John Lee Hooker, an early Townshend influence) are genuinely thrilling. Of course, given Broadway's dismal commercial realities, it's doubtful whether we'll ever find out if an essentially sweet little show like "The Iron Man" can shake the stage musical out of its doldrums. To be honest, I'm not sure Townshend should even try to mount the thing. The album, after all, has advantages that no stage musical will ever have--brilliant sound production (by Townshend), phenomenal band work, and honest-to-God vernacular singing (particular kudos here to Roger Daltrey and the missing-far-too-long Nina Simone). Moreover, "The Iron Man" is still, in part, a work in progress. It doesn't yet have that One Big Tune, and the remake of Arthur Brown's psychedelically silly Fire is a miscalculation. Nevertheless, you've got to give Townshend credit just for trying something this risky. In your living room, under the headphones, you can visualize "The Iron Man" for yourself, just as we've always done with the best rock-and-roll. For me, for now, that's more than enough. Pete Townshend (vocals, guitar); John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, Deborah Conway, Roger Daltrey, others (vocals); vocal and instrumental accompaniment. I Won't Run Any More; Over the Top; Man Machines; Dig; A Friend Is a Friend; I Eat Heavy Metal; All Shall Be Well; Was There Life; Fast Food; A Fool Says; Fire; New Life/Reprise. ATLANTIC 81996-1, TAPE CASETTE 81996-4, COMPACT DISC (TIMINGS ARE TO NEAREST MINUTE) 81996-2 (47 min). Comments to Mauro Boscarol |