Kicking up a musical storm

Not for Pete Townshend the coattails of past glory EMPTY GLASS, Pete Townshend (Atco) Townshend, as any rock fan over the age of eight well knows, is and always has been the mind, heart and guts of The Who. His voice and manner have established and sustained the collective image of the group. Townshend is one of the last of the '60s British superstars who has not succumbed, in front of God and man, to the embarrassing, dissipatory style of so many rock "legends," who seem content to merely linger and ride the coattails of past glory. I won't mention any names... for instance, McCartney and Jagger. What does this all mean, if anything. Well, for one thing, rock is pretty important to quite a lot of people and, therefore, so are its ostensible leaders. As they, and we, grow older, the idea is to gain in stature. Humping grass into foreign countries and playing dress-up at 40 just don't, or at least, shouldn't, make it. Songs with style and substance should. What we have in Empty Glass is a show of strength, imagination, integrity and maturity. Townshend sings with more inflection and emotion than he has in a long time. Perhaps, among other reasons, it is because they contain more meaning to him. You wouldn't really say that Pete has discovered religion, because that evokes the lumpish image of a Dylan. Instead, what Townshend has done is simply hooked his wagon to subject matter, including biblical imagery, that has meaning for everyone. Musically, Townshend has lost none of the drive that he instilled into The Who. There is substantial evidence here that he's still pushing his creativity to the limit. In sum, Pete Townshend has done something very special with Empty Glass. He has produced an album of songs of lasting merit and appeal for which we can be very thankful. He can be very proud. - Craig W. J. Goebel

Pete Townshend: He still pushes himself to the limit.

Record reviews

album available to us. This is something of a family affair. Rosanne's style, while quite different from that of her famous father Johnny, is derived from those early years of working with him. The album is produced by her husband, Rodney Crowell. Rosanne is rather tepidly putting one foot in country music while keeping the other firmly planted in rock. It's been called second generation country. The album includes two pace-setting standards, Man Smart, Woman Smarter and Big River. The latter is the only song where she really lets go, the rest of her selections being somewhat bland. Emmylou Harris lends her voice to the harmony on a distinctive if she is to be given her due as a talented performer. - Clifford Cunningham

THE UP ESCALATOR, Graham Parker and the Rumour (Arista) Like most Parker albums, this one takes some getting used to. Even the cut Endless Night, which is already being hailed as a classic in some quarters, has some very muddled music. Nonetheless, Side 1 is a direct hit, on target from beginning to end, with the peak coming in the centre with the glorious Stupefaction, which is a tougher Rolling Stones song than anything on first time Parker and the Rumour have had that advantage. No major breakthroughs, but a confident conception just the same. - Rolling Stone

FOUND ALL THE PARTS, Cheap Trick (Epic) The bold-face lines above say it all. This extended-play album is simply a cheap trick on all the Cheap Trick fans out there. The disc begins with an irresistible, hard-rocking version of one of the Beatles' greatest songs, Daytripper. In fact, the album has a definite late-Beatles sound to it. True Cheap Trick fans will find four good live cuts here. However, it's unfortunate that those four numbers weren't included on the Live at Budokan album. They would have increased the excitement level on that album tremendously. The only way you can fight that kind of waste is by not buying the album. What a shame! - Robert W. Rittinger

BE TRUE TO YOUR SCHOOL, The Cichlids (Bold) You know power-pop has penetrated when it's recorded by what sounds like a reformed bar band for a label that's part of the disco-based TK empire. At best, on With My Girl and a couple of others, this sounds like Abba meets the Who, with the two female vocalists getting way out in front of the guitar riffs and then soaring. But at worst, it features a batch of botch jobs on not-so-obscure oldies like Ups and Downs and Ubangi Stomp. Or, it simply simpers, as with the unappetizing Jewish Girls. The Cichlids missed a bet by not doing the Beach Boys song from which they got the title. In these trying times, that one might be due for revival. - Rolling Stone

I'M SO HOT, Denise LaSalle (MCA) Actually, she's not so hot as on last year's Unwrapped. But LaSalle remains a first-rate soul vocalist and one of