Entwistle’s first solo tour in eight years begins Thursday at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury and plays The Sting nightclub in New Britain Saturday. It comes at a time when The Who’s original albums are being reissued in newly remastered editions with extra tracks, and Entwistle’s own five albums are being readied for reissue, beginning with a 20-track best-of on Rhino.

“There seems to be a resurgence of my solo stuff,” Entwistle, 51, says from New York. “I decided to remix about 21 songs from my solo albums. So many people had been asking where they could get them — and they’ve never been out on CD.”

First to go solo

Entwistle was the first of the original Who to release a solo album, in 1971.

“Smash Your Head Against the Wall” was a reaction in part to the frustration he was having getting his own material on Who albums.

Though tracks like his “Boris the Spider” and “Whiskey Man” had been highlights of Who albums, Entwistle shared a similar fate as that of George Harrison with the Beatles or Dave Davies with the Kinks — being overshadowed by the dominant songwriters in the band (in his case, Pete Townshend).

“I was writing so many songs, there was no room for them in the Who’s format,” he says. “I was writing for my own voice and [Townshend] was writing for Roger’s, so his material was more appropriate for the band. But toward the end, I was writing for Roger’s voice as well.”

Some of Entwistle’s material — which showed a dark humor in comparison to Townshend’s optimism — ended up being centerpieces of Who concerts anyway, such as “Heaven and Hell” and “My Wife” from “Who’s Next.”

And as Townshend was creating his landmark “Tommy,” he asked Entwistle to write two songs integral to the story.

“He basically had three horrible experiences planned for him. One, ‘The Acid Queen,’ was already written. But Pete felt he couldn’t write the other two.”

Songs about being bullied or abused by a perverse uncle were too dark for Townshend; but they were perfect for Entwistle. Today, “Cousin Kevin” and Uncle Ernie in “Fiddle About” were integral parts of the long-running Broadway production.

Some fans feel the final albums of The Who, especially after Keith Moon’s death in 1978, did a disservice to the band’s legacy.

Entwistle agreed “Face Dances” in 1981 and “It’s Hard” in 1982 “didn’t give us the right stage material.”

“What used to happen is we’d meet and everyone would say that the next album will be the up-tempo rock album. Then I’d go away and write up-tempo rock stuff and it would be the only uptempo stuff anybody wrote.”

If his writing wasn’t always appreciated by the band, his groundbreaking bass-playing was. Because the explosive sounds of The Who were carried by three instruments, with Townshend playing a lot of rhythm guitar, many of the lead parts would fall to Entwistle’s distinctive playing.

“Before, I was a French horn and trumpet player,” says Entwistle, who met Townshend when the two played in a Dixieland band — he on trumpet, Townshend on banjo.

“I was used to being the lead instrument. When I first taught myself the bass, I thought maybe this isn’t the instrument for me. But once I started using more trebly strings, I was able to start writing songs for myself. I could turn it into a lead instrument. That’s why I prefer to be called a bass guitarist [rather] than a bassist.”

His furious playing wasn’t always noticed. “It was frustrating in a way,” he says. “The stuff I was playing people thought was Pete.”

Entwistle’s task wasn’t made easier by working with Keith Moon, the most explosive drummer in rock.

“It wasn’t difficult,” he says, “But it was tricky sometimes. When we started, it was way before monitors and stuff like that. Sometimes I couldn’t actually hear him very well. I’d have to look and see what he was doing.”

Tommy, can you hear me?

Hearing has been a major problem with Who members — especially that of Townshend, who was forced to play acoustic for the last Who tour because of tinnitus (caused, it is said, when Moon set off an explosive during a TV appearance).

After years of demanding bigger and bigger amplifiers, Entwistle never suffered hearing loss.

“I had it checked and it was actually above average,” he says. His hearing loss came after using headphones to record 20 takes of a difficult song for a solo album eight years ago.

The loss of about 4 decibels per ear hasn’t affected his music, he says. “I can still mix music; it’s conversation that’s sometimes hard.”

The album he was working on, “The Rock,” was never released, so he had 5,000 copies pressed to sell on the current tour.

Entwistle’s life isn’t all music. He’s putting on a traveling art show of cartoons he has drawn of rock figures; it follows his issuing a lithograph of the cover he drew for “The Who by Numbers” album.

He’s also busy on the first of what will be three books on the history of The Who.

“It’s the funny stories that happend to us,” he says. “It’s more like a novel than a reference work.” The first chapter, due next year, ends at the close of The Who’s legendary 1967 U.S. tour with Herman’s Hermits, on Moon’s 21st birthday, during which a limousine somehow ended up at the bottom of a swimming pool and the band was forever banned from Holiday Inns worldwide.

“I’ve done most of the research, but it’s hard,” Entwistle says. “I have to be in a good mood to write it. And one phone call can put me in a bad mood.”

The mood in most of Entwistle’s songs, by contrast, was dark. “It all started with ‘Boris the Spider.’ A lot of young kids liked it and people told me their kids’ fear of spiders was cured by it. Our manager, Kit Lambert, decided it would be a good idea if I released an album of kids songs — horror songs for kids.” It never happened, although one of its intended tracks, “Silas Stingy” ended up on “The Who Sell Out.”

“Boris the Spider” was just the second song he had written, following “Whiskey Man.”

“It’s still the biggest song I ever wrote,” Entwistle says, dark wit still in display. “I should have stopped there.”

John Entwistle plays Tuxedo Junction, 2 Ives St., Danbury, Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 at the door. Information: 748-2561. He and his band also play The Sting, 667 West St., New Britain, Saturday, where tickets are $12 in advance, $14 the day of show. Information: 225-2154.