Endless Wire

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Lore & Background

Most of what is known about the development of the album has come from Pete Townshend's website. On 21 March 2005, Pete Townshend announced the postponement of the new Who album. On 24 December 2005, Townshend announced that manager Bill Curbishley had introduced a 'great scheme' to allow the band to tour in mid-2006 in support of new material, even if Townshend did not have 'a full thirty tracks ready to go.' On 20 March 2006, Daltrey announced that he and Townshend were making progress with the album and that Townshend had written a song about Stockholm syndrome, titled 'Black Widow's Eyes'. Daltrey also said that Townshend was playing some bass on the album. On 28 March 2006, Townshend announced through the diary portion of his website that a mini-opera, titled 'The Glass Household', now formed the core of the album. It is based on his novella The Boy Who Heard Music. He also announced plans to have a shortened version of the opera released prior to the release of the full album. This diary entry also confirmed the line-up of the band: Pino Palladino on bass, Pete Townshend on guitars, his brother Simon Townshend on backing vocals, and John 'Rabbit' Bundrick on keyboards. Peter Huntington, from Rachel Fuller's band, was on drums because Zak Starkey was touring with Oasis. On 9 April 2006, Townshend announced that the shortened version of 'The Glass Household' had been played to executives at Polydor, and a release date had been set for June, with a tour of Europe following, and the album in September. On 3 May 2006, Pete Townshend posted on his diary page that the mastering for the new EP, titled Wire & Glass, was complete and that the tracks would soon be sent to Polydor. Townshend anticipated a mid-June release for the EP, and a mid-September release for the full album. He had also announced that the Who would begin rehearsing for their tour, during which time Townshend would finish recording the rest of the album with Roger Daltrey. A version of 'It's Not Enough' was released online at artistdirect.com. 'It's Not Enough' had tentatively been announced as the first single off the album, to be released simultaneously. On 3 October 2006, 'It's Not Enough' was made available on iTunes. 'Tea & Theatre' was also made available. Then on 14 October 2006, Polydor built a website for the album, endlesswire.co.uk, on which samples of the songs 'We Got a Hit', 'Endless Wire', 'It's Not Enough', 'Black Widow's Eyes', 'Mike Post Theme', and 'Man in a Purple Dress' were made available to listen to, but not to download. As of 23 October 2006, the entire album was available to stream on music.aol.com. 'Mike Post Theme' alludes to the ubiquity of Mike Post's work in television theme music. Endless Wire debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, selling about 81,000 units in its first week of release.

In Their Own Story

The album's development unfolded through a series of diary entries and announcements from Pete Townshend's website. On 21 March 2005, Townshend announced the postponement of the new Who album. By 24 December 2005, manager Bill Curbishley had introduced a 'great scheme' to allow the band to tour in mid-2006 in support of new material, even if Townshend did not have 'a full thirty tracks ready to go.' On 20 March 2006, Daltrey announced progress and that Townshend had written 'Black Widow's Eyes' about Stockholm syndrome. On 28 March 2006, Townshend revealed that a mini-opera titled 'The Glass Household' formed the core of the album, based on his novella The Boy Who Heard Music. He confirmed the line-up: Pino Palladino on bass, Pete Townshend on guitars, Simon Townshend on backing vocals, John 'Rabbit' Bundrick on keyboards, and Peter Huntington on drums because Zak Starkey was touring with Oasis. On 9 April 2006, Townshend announced the shortened version of 'The Glass Household' had been played to Polydor executives, with a June release date set for the EP and September for the album. On 3 May 2006, Townshend posted that mastering for the EP Wire & Glass was complete. A version of 'It's Not Enough' was released online at artistdirect.com. On 3 October 2006, 'It's Not Enough' and 'Tea & Theatre' were made available on iTunes. On 14 October 2006, Polydor built endlesswire.co.uk with samples of six songs. As of 23 October 2006, the entire album was available to stream on music.aol.com. Endless Wire debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, selling about 81,000 units in its first week.

Reader's Guide

Endless Wire contains 19 tracks, all written by Pete Townshend except where noted. The album includes a mini-opera titled 'The Glass Household' based on Townshend's novella The Boy Who Heard Music. Three additional songs were considered or recorded for the album but left off: 'Ambition' (reportedly written in 1971 for the Lifehouse concept, debuted on In the Attic in 2006), 'Uncertain Girl' (debuted on In the Attic in 2006, recorded with Zak Starkey on drums and Daltrey on vocals, but not included; it did appear in the Vassar College workshop performance of the rock musical The Boy Who Heard Music), and 'How Can I Help You, Sir?' (a demo of which Townshend chronicled in a diary entry on 18 December 2005; the track was released on Townshend's solo compilation Truancy in 2015). The album also includes the song 'Real Good Looking Boy', previously issued on the Who's compilation Then and Now, and 'I Can Fly', previously issued on Rachel Fuller's EP Shine. The album was adapted into a full-length rock musical, a rough version of which debuted 13 July 2007 as part of Vassar College's Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series, adapted and directed by Ethan Silverman. The compact disc edition of The Who Live at Lyon was recorded at the Théâtre Antique, Vienne, Isère, France (near Lyon) on 17 July 2006 and included as an extra in Europe, Asia, and at Best Buy stores in the US. 'It's Not Enough' reached number 37 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it was released as a B-side with 'Black Widow's Eyes'.

Did You Know?

• Endless Wire was the Who's first new studio album of original material in 24 years, following It's Hard in 1982.
• It was the band's first studio album since the death of founding bassist John Entwistle.
• The album was originally due for release in early 2005 under the working title WHO2.
• The mini-opera 'The Glass Household' that forms the core of the album is based on Pete Townshend's novella The Boy Who Heard Music.
• The song 'Mike Post Theme' alludes to the ubiquity of Mike Post's work in television theme music.