PETE TOWNSHEND: (All the best cowboys have) Chinese Eyes (ATCO).

Long, long ago Uncle Pete famously (and foolishly) declared a wish to die before he grew old. He's been paying the price for that statement ever since.

Chinese Eyes (no. 1 don't know what it mens either) is a severe disappointment, a portentous and mostly tedious essay on the evils of ageing and the benefits of Meher Baba's teachings. The lyrics are over-ripe and self-obsessed while the music, sadly, is plain dull. After problems with drink, drugs and marriage

in whatever order

it

's a pity that Townshend couldn't find it in himself to produce something tougher than this collection of emotional and pretentious fluff.

"Can't pretend that growing older never hurts," he sings on "Slit Skirts," the album's best song. The implication is unmistakeable: I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn. The attitude, never mind the joke, is old hat.