On the finish of the 70s, when Pete Townshend began engaged on his correct solo debut, The Who was in a decent spot, and he was in a worse one. Within the wake of Keith Moon’s tragic dying in 1978, The Who was struggling to soldier on. However between the lack of the larger-than-life presence who had pushed them ahead and the large sea change within the British rock scene caused by punk, they had been having a tough go of it.
“What I should have done was left the Who and done a solo album,” Townshend advised MOJO’s Alan Mild in 2015, “and instead I signed a solo contract and – feeling co-dependency or grief or something – I signed an equally taxing contract with The Who. So I had double the amount to write.”
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No matter it took to make it occur, Townshend did fairly rattling good at each. The Who’s Face Dances, whereas bolstered by a few killer John Entwistle compositions, helped forge a brand new identification for the band upon its 1981 launch. And 1980’s Empty Glass established Townshend as a serious determine unbeholden to his bandmates.
Commercially, Empty Glass fared barely higher than Face Dances within the US (although each went Platinum), with “Let My Love Open the Door” turning into a High 10 hit and a number of other different tracks being slathered throughout American rock radio. The romantic effervescence and hooky pop enchantment of the aforementioned single stays unimaginable to disclaim, with Pete at his warmest lyrically. The monitor achieved a great mix of old-school Who-isms and New Wave power. (Talking of New Wave, this seems to be the primary album on which future Large Nation rhythm part Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki performed collectively).
“Rough Boys,” most likely the album’s second best-known music, is a flame-spitting rocker, with Townshend wringing some startling tones from his guitar synth. The music was apparently a minimum of partially impressed by the spirit of the Intercourse Pistols and the first-gen UK punk coterie. However in the end, it’s a sendup of male machismo, with Townshend taunting the hooligans of the title, “I want to bite and kiss you,” poking poisonous masculinity proper within the homophobia.
The title monitor, in the meantime, has all of the hallmarks of a Who traditional. “It’s only in desperation that you become spiritually open,” Townshend advised NME’s Charles Shaar Murray in 1980 concerning the music’s message. “You hold up an empty glass and say, ‘Right. If you’re there, fill it.’”
“Gonna Get Ya” is an unvarnished lust music sans subtext. It was by no means launched as a single, but it surely was everywhere in the radio. Given the barnstorming riffs and boot-stomping beat that really feel just like the tune’s true raison d’etre, it’s simple to grasp its ubiquity.
On the religious facet, “A Little Is Enough” was impressed by the concepts of the late Meher Baba, whose teachings profoundly influenced Townshend (he’s half the namesake for The Who’s “Baba O’Riley”). Pete exults in the concept any quantity of affection is the correct quantity, atop a joyful fountain of guitar and synth traces.
Of their preliminary run, The Who would launch just one extra album after Face Dances, whereas Empty Glass promised there have been no scarcity of solo triumphs nonetheless to return.
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