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The Who - Lifehouse


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Have any of you folks made your own Lifehouse playlist?

 

Here is mine:

 

Baba O'Riley

Going Mobile

Time is Passing

Love Ain't for Keepin'

Bargain

Water

Too Much of Anything

Behind Blue Eyes

I Don't Even Know Myself

Put the Money Down

Pure and Easy

Gettin' in Tune

Relay

Join Together

Who Are You

Won't Get Fooled Again

The Song is Over

 

Any of you fellow Who fans have any recommendations? I'm under the impression that this is close to the intended track list, but there is competing information on the Internet.

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I have the box set released by Pete himself some years ago, complete with the Radioplay.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifehouse_Chronicles#Track_listing

 

What amazes me is that, really, all the great Who songs, with the exception of Quadrophenia, were all written in that short time span. Must have been some serious creative juices!

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I have the box set released by Pete himself some years ago, complete with the Radioplay.

 

http://en.wikipedia....s#Track_listing

 

What amazes me is that, really, all the great Who songs, with the exception of Quadrophenia, were all written in that short time span. Must have been some serious creative juices!

 

The box set looks cool, and I'm going to look into it further. But there seem to be some strange inclusions and omissions. I was fairly convinced that "Water," for example, was intended for Lifehouse. And, by contrast, how can "Sister Disco" possibly be a Lifehouse song? Did the box set come with a book of some sort that elaborates on the track list?

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I have the box set released by Pete himself some years ago, complete with the Radioplay.

 

http://en.wikipedia....s#Track_listing

 

What amazes me is that, really, all the great Who songs, with the exception of Quadrophenia, were all written in that short time span. Must have been some serious creative juices!

 

The box set looks cool, and I'm going to look into it further. But there seem to be some strange inclusions and omissions. I was fairly convinced that "Water," for example, was intended for Lifehouse. And, by contrast, how can "Sister Disco" possibly be a Lifehouse song? Did the box set come with a book of some sort that elaborates on the track list?

 

Unfortunately I have only the digital files, but I'm sure the real box had a booklet (with a transcript of the Radioplay, which would be damn useful since I can't make head or tails of many passages). Besides, since Lifehouse was all about the concept of music transforming people, the inclusion of Sister Disco made damn sense to me. While Water, same as Naked Eye, I always had the impression they were "stage songs" born out of live improvisations and then recorded. I say this because they sound so much better live!

Edited by H. P. L.
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I've been getting into the Who lately.

I love the Who's Next album. But, I still can't understand the whole Lifehouse idea.

Is it about a futuristic society?

Is it about people dancing around to music on stage?

Is it about people wasting their lives away?

Is it about a super string theory?

Is it about a deaf, dumb and blind kid?

 

Seems like you guys have a pretty firm understanding of it. Maybe one of you could explain it in layman's terms. I like the tracklist up above, just can't quite seem to see the whole overarching concept.

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I've been getting into the Who lately.

I love the Who's Next album. But, I still can't understand the whole Lifehouse idea.

Is it about a futuristic society?

Is it about people dancing around to music on stage?

Is it about people wasting their lives away?

Is it about a super string theory?

Is it about a deaf, dumb and blind kid?

 

Seems like you guys have a pretty firm understanding of it. Maybe one of you could explain it in layman's terms. I like the tracklist up above, just can't quite seem to see the whole overarching concept.

 

Who's Next rose from the ashes of Pete's Lifehouse Project. I read Pete's most recent book and with Lifehouse, he had some very ambitious ideas about concerts and how the audience interacting with the band. It's been a few years since I read the book but I think that was Pete's main idea with Lifehouse.

 

If you've listened to Who's Next Deluxe edition, the second CD was form the Lifehouse 'Life at the Young Vic' concert.

 

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I've been getting into the Who lately.

I love the Who's Next album. But, I still can't understand the whole Lifehouse idea.

Is it about a futuristic society?

Is it about people dancing around to music on stage?

Is it about people wasting their lives away?

Is it about a super string theory?

Is it about a deaf, dumb and blind kid?

 

Seems like you guys have a pretty firm understanding of it. Maybe one of you could explain it in layman's terms. I like the tracklist up above, just can't quite seem to see the whole overarching concept.

 

I haven't looked at the literature on it for a while now, but I remember thinking that Pete to some degree predicted the Internet age. Digital/virtual communication, and greater divide in the human-to-human sensory experience part of life. We live in a fantasy world. Jean Baudrillard comes to mind. It's really cool stuff.

 

Pete Townshend: "The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programs. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."

Edited by Powderfinger
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I've been getting into the Who lately.

I love the Who's Next album. But, I still can't understand the whole Lifehouse idea.

Is it about a futuristic society?

Is it about people dancing around to music on stage?

Is it about people wasting their lives away?

Is it about a super string theory?

Is it about a deaf, dumb and blind kid?

 

Seems like you guys have a pretty firm understanding of it. Maybe one of you could explain it in layman's terms. I like the tracklist up above, just can't quite seem to see the whole overarching concept.

 

I haven't looked at the literature on it for a while now, but I remember thinking that Pete to some degree predicted the Internet age. Digital/virtual communication, and greater divide in the human-to-human sensory experience part of life. We live in a fantasy world. Jean Baudrillard comes to mind. It's really cool stuff.

 

Pete Townshend: "The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programs. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."

 

That reminds me of 2112 in a way :D

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I've been getting into the Who lately.

I love the Who's Next album. But, I still can't understand the whole Lifehouse idea.

Is it about a futuristic society?

Is it about people dancing around to music on stage?

Is it about people wasting their lives away?

Is it about a super string theory?

Is it about a deaf, dumb and blind kid?

 

Seems like you guys have a pretty firm understanding of it. Maybe one of you could explain it in layman's terms. I like the tracklist up above, just can't quite seem to see the whole overarching concept.

 

I haven't looked at the literature on it for a while now, but I remember thinking that Pete to some degree predicted the Internet age. Digital/virtual communication, and greater divide in the human-to-human sensory experience part of life. We live in a fantasy world. Jean Baudrillard comes to mind. It's really cool stuff.

 

Pete Townshend: "The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programs. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."

 

That reminds me of 2112 in a way :D

 

Interesting, I never thought of that! Certainly not the same, but perhaps an influence on Neil's thinking? We must remember: The Who were Neil's favorite group.

 

In my reading, this is the line that invokes the Internet and Baudrillard: "In a way they lived as if they were in television programs. Everything was programmed."

 

"Just hook it to my veins!"

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I've been getting into the Who lately.

I love the Who's Next album. But, I still can't understand the whole Lifehouse idea.

Is it about a futuristic society?

Is it about people dancing around to music on stage?

Is it about people wasting their lives away?

Is it about a super string theory?

Is it about a deaf, dumb and blind kid?

 

Seems like you guys have a pretty firm understanding of it. Maybe one of you could explain it in layman's terms. I like the tracklist up above, just can't quite seem to see the whole overarching concept.

 

I haven't looked at the literature on it for a while now, but I remember thinking that Pete to some degree predicted the Internet age. Digital/virtual communication, and greater divide in the human-to-human sensory experience part of life. We live in a fantasy world. Jean Baudrillard comes to mind. It's really cool stuff.

 

Pete Townshend: "The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programs. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."

 

That reminds me of 2112 in a way :D

Or The Crimson Idol... or any other rock rebel fantasy concept...

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This Lifehouse project is probably the biggest disaster that thankfully never happened.

I dunno... if Pete Townshend couldn't make it work. maybe nobody could.

On the other side, had it worked, it would probably still be regarded as the greatest concept album ever.

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This Lifehouse project is probably the biggest disaster that thankfully never happened.

I dunno... if Pete Townshend couldn't make it work. maybe nobody could.

On the other side, had it worked, it would probably still be regarded as the greatest concept album ever.

 

Yes, if it was just that, an album. But I'm talking about all the ridiculous audience participation stuff and mystical transcendental crap which just sounds absurd which is why the project was inevitably abandoned.

 

Lifehouse began as a story written around several songs. Pete Townshend: "The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programs. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."

 

Under those circumstances, a very old guru figure emerges and says ‘I remember rock music. It was absolutely amazing—it really did something to people.’ He spoke of a kind of nirvana people reached through listening to this type of music. The old man decides that he’s going to try to set it up so that the effect can be experienced eternally. Everybody would be snapped out of their programmed environment through this rock and roll-induced liberated selflessness. The Lifehouse was where the music was played, and where the young people would collect to discover rock music as a powerful catalyst — a religion as it were. "Then I began to feel ‘Well, why just simulate it? Why not try and make it happen?’"

The plan was for The Who to take over the Young Vic theatre with a regular audience, develop the new material on stage and allow the communal activity to influence the songs and performances. Individuals would emerge from the audience and find a role in the music and the film. When the concerts became strong enough, they would be filmed along with other peripheral activity from the theater. A storyline would evolve alongside the music. Although the finished film was to have many fictitious and scripted elements, the concert footage was to be authentic, and would provide the driving force for the whole production.[2]

 

Pete went wild, working out a complex scenario whereby a personal profile of each concert-goer would be worked out, from the individual’s astrological chart to his hobbies, even physical appearance. All the characteristics would then be fed into a computer at the same moment, leading to one musical note culminating in mass nirvana that Townshend dubbed ‘a kind of celestial cacophony.’ This philosophy was based on the writings of Inayat Khan, a Sufi master musician who espoused the theory that matter produces heat, light, and sound in the form of unique vibrations. Taking the idea one step further, making music, which was composed of vibrations, was the pervading force of all life. Elevating its purpose to the highest level, music represented the path to restoration, the search for the one perfect universal note, which once sounded would bring harmony to the entire world. Despite Pete’s grandiose plans, the project had its problems. The theater had its own schedule of drama productions, and wasn’t available on a regular nightly schedule that Townshend insisted was necessary for the band to sustain a "euphoric level" of performance. Pete: "The fatal flaw…was getting obsessed with trying to make a fantasy a reality rather than letting the film speak for itself." Eventually Pete had to let go of Lifehouse for his own sake.

 

Pete’s inability to translate the ideas in his head to those around him eventually led to a nervous breakdown. "It was a disaster." No one apart from himself actually understood the whole concept of Lifehouse. Kit Lambert, an integral part of the communication between the members of The Who, was missing. Pete had rejected a Tommy film script written by Lambert. Kit, dejected, frustrated and hurt, had moved to New York. With Tommy, Lambert had served as Townshend’s "interpreter," explaining "to the willing but befuddled people around me what I was on about." The film was indefinitely postponed until the album had been issued. The band went to Glyn Johns to produce their collection of songs, intended for a double album. They decided to shelve most of the songs in favour of a single album, hoping that it would have "a sharper focus and greater impact" than the concept of Lifehouse had become.[2]

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If they just made a traditional concept album out of it, then yes it could've been something.

 

But all that other stuff just sounds...lame...it makes my eyes roll...

 

Townsend wanted to be more than a musician...he wanted to be some kind of transcendental guru...

 

How many drugs was he taking back then?

Edited by savagegrace26
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If they just made a traditional concept album out of it, then yes it could've been something.

 

But all that other stuff just sounds...lame...it makes my eyes roll...

 

Townsend wanted to be more than a musician...he wanted to be some kind of transcendental guru...

 

How many drugs was he taking back then?

 

According to Pete's autobiography he was not taking many drugs during his Tommy-->Quadrophenia writing peak. He experimented prior, continued smoking a little grass here and there, and then in the late 70s-early 80s became a coke fiend and alcoholic. But Pete was supposedly much more sober than the average rock star during the late-60s/early 70s.

 

I for one love the grandiose ambition behind Lifehouse. It's not the same thing as Bono's insufferable hubris, for example. Pete simply had a blazingly creative mind. His ideas could not be easily contained on two sides of vinyl. I love it.

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