Record-Breakers and Trivia - everyHit.com >>> But what's the longest word in a lyric? Word featuring in most titles The word "The" features in more hit titles than any other word (2506). Runner-up, a long way behind is "You" (1489) (as of w/e 11th Oct 2003) Word starting most titles The word "I" starts more hit titles than any other word (644). Then it's "Love" (234), "Don't" (219) and "You" (214) (as of w/e 11th Oct 2003) Least Different Letters Making Up An Artist - Title Combination U2 - "One" (5 characters). This uses a number so it could be argued that the real record-holders are ABC - "SOS" and Moby - "Go" (both 6 letters). However, "Doop" by Doop has just 3 different letters!

Least different letters for a non eponymous single is 4 for Abba - "SOS." Palindromic Title by a Palindromic Artist "SOS" by Abba is the only palindromic hit song by a palindromic artist. The Vowel-Free Titles: The following are the only titles of four letters or more to be vowel free (excluding numeric titles like "1999"): Crash Test Dummies - "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" Julian Cope - "Try Try Try" Blackout - "Mr DJ" Pop Will Eat Itself - "RSVP" Fall Out Boy - "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" Alphabetically First and Last Words In Titles Alphabetically, the first word to appear in any song title is, somewhat obviously, "A"; it has appeared in several hundred titles. More obscure though, alphabetically speaking, the last word to appear in any title is "Zululand" (in King Kurt's 1983 hit, "Destination Zululand").

Least Different Words Used For Multi-Worded Titles: Excluding single-worded titles, Destiny's Child are the only act to have three Top 40 hits and use no more than three different words in them; "No No No" (no. 5, 1998), "Bills, Bills, Bills" (no. 6, 1999), and "Jumpin' Jumpin'" (no. 5, 2000) Biggest Name-Droppers: Two groups have managed to take six girls' names into the Top 40: The Everly Brothers: "Wake Up Little Susie" (1957), "Claudette" (1958), "Take A Message To Mary" (1959), "Poor Jenny" (1959), "Cathy's Clown" (1960), and "Lucille" (1960).

The Bachelors: ""Charmaine" (1963), "Diane" (1964), "Ramona" (1964), "Marie" (1965), "Hello Dolly" (1966) and "Marta" (1967). Thanks to chart guru Jon Kutner who points out that the Bachelors have a seventh if we include "Walk With Faith In Your Heart"! Lyrical Connections Between Successive Number 1s A favourite question in pop quizzes goes something like this: "Which is the only record to have been knocked off the no.1 spot by a record whose title can be found in the lyric of the first song?" The 'classic' answer is "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. It contains the famous "mamma mia, mamma mia, mamma mia let me go" line. In January 1976, it was replaced at the top of the chart by none other than Abba's "Mamma Mia".

But a more striking (and more bizarre) answer arises from 1959 when Emile Ford & The Checkmates' "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For" unseated Adam Faith's "What Do You Want" from number one. It's particularly odd as, during the transition, the tracks tied for the top spot and shared the position for one week! But there are other examples, albeit less dramatic (ie. one-word titles), of this phenomenon: In 1958, The Kalin Twins made no. 1 with "When". It replaced The Everly Brothers at the top; both tracks on their double A-Side "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "Claudette" contained the word "When." Two years later Anthony Newley made no. 1 with "Why". It replaced Michael Holliday's "Starry Eyed" at no. 1; the opening line of that song is "Why am I so starry eyed?" In 1988, The Pet Shop Boys made no. 1 with "Heart". It replaced Aswad's "Don't Turn Around" at no.

1 (which contains the lines "Don't worry about this heart of mine" and "Coz you're gonna see my heart breaking"). The most recent example was seen in 2000. Madonna made no. 1 with "Music". It replaced Spiller's "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" at no. 1 (which contains the line "While we are moving, the music is soothing").

There are two instances of the reverse of this phenomenon - a track being toppled from no.1 by another which contains its full title in the lyric: In 1960, Anthony Newley's "Why" was topped from no.1 by Adam Faith's "Poor Me" which contained "Why oh why do voices say to me, sit and cry, that this was meant to be." In 1975, Telly Savalas "If" was topped from no.1 by The Bay City Rollers "Bye Bye Baby" which opened with the line "If you hate me after what I say." Here's a interesting sub-category; Lyrical Prophecy Of Topping The Chart On 15th Nov 1980, Blondie's "The Tide Is High" reached number 1.

It included the line, "I'm gonna be your number one." It was knocked off the top spot on 29th Nov by Abba's "Super Trouper" which includes the line "feeling like a number one." Most Popular Title For A Top 40 Single Songs entitled "Angel" and "Crazy" have each made the Top 40 in 12 completely different tracks (ie. different tune / lyrics; not different versions of the same song). Runners-up are: "I Believe" (10) and "Stay" (9). The full list is here . First Self-Penned Number 1 Mantovani's "Cara Mia" (July 1954; the 20th no. 1); it was composed by Mantovani and Bunny Lewis (under pen names Tulio Trapani and Lee Lange respectively). Not until the 43rd Number 1 was an act entirely responsible for writing its own chart-topper; The Dreamweavers' "It's Almost Tomorrow" (March 1956).

Over twenty-eight years later Steveie Wonder became the first artist ever to write, produce and entirely perform a Number 1 ("I Just Called To Say I Love You", Sep 1984). Eponymous Number Ones When Mr. Blobby went to number one with "Mr Blobby" in 1993 it was the first time in 41 years of chart history that an eponymously title song achieved this feat. However, less than four months "Doop" hit number one by a band called Doop! Hits In Most Languages German pop/dance trio Sash! are the only act to have hits in four different languages. In 1997/8 they made the Top 40 with "Encore Une Fois" (in French), "Ecuador" (in Spanish), "Stay" and others (in English) and "La Primavera" (in Italian). Furthermore, though Sash's 1999 hit "Colour The World" was ostensively sung in English, it contained African lyrics by Nigerian vocalist Dr Alban and Finish singer Inka!

Petula Clark is the only British act to have hits in three languages; "Casanova" in German, "Ya Ya Twist" and "Chariot" in French and a host of others in English. One group has graced the charts with hits in three languages. Kraftwerk had success with "Autobahn" (in their native German), "Tour De France" (French), five other Top 40 titles in English and one bilingual ("Expo 2000" mixed German and English). Most Expletives The Super Furry Animals 1996 hit "The Man Don't Give A..." contained 49 expletives; a record for a Top 40 single. The most for a solo hit is 33 in Eamon's 2004 track "F**k It (I Don't Want You Back)." This single also holds the record for most expletives in a chart-topper. The 'award' for most profanities in a hit by a female artist goes to Frankee whose 2004 number 1 "F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)" (an answer song to Eamon's) contained 22 swear words.

Biggest Hit By A Non-Human Artist In terms of chart success, this coverted title goes to The Archies for "Sugar Sugar" which spent 8 weeks at number 1 in 1969 (and stayed in the Top 40 for 22 weeks). Created for mass consumption by bubblegum-pop genius Don Kirshner (the man who gave us the Monkees), the Archies existed on television as an animated series based on the comic book characters of the same name. The voices behind the singing cartoon characters were vocalists Ron Dante, Toni Wine and Andy Kim. The biggest-selling single by a non-human group is "Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh" by The Teletubbies (1997, 1.1 million copies). The biggest-selling single by a non-human soloist(!) is "Can We Fix It?" by Bob The Builder (year 2000, 1.0 million). The Weirdness Of Blur's "Song 2" The track "Song 2" was track 2 on the album "Blur". It was single 2 to be released from the album. It reached number 2 in the chart - and was just 2 minutes long!

Position-dodging The Eurythmics have had 9 top ten hits. No two songs have peaked at the same position. The only position they have failed to achieve is No. 7 (they also have one number 11 hit and one number 12 hit, too!) Most Graceful Retreat From Number 1 In chart history, four singles haven fallen from the Number 1 spot by one position for four consecutive weeks (ie. No. 1 to No. 2 to 3, 4, 5).

They are: Dickie Valentine - "Finger Of Suspicion" (1954) [1-2-3-4-5-5-4-9-17] Tommy Edwards - "It's All In The Game" (1958) [1-2-3-4-5-4-8-11-15-27] Michael Jackson - "You Are Not Alone" (1995) [1-2-3-4-5-7-9-13-25-30-31] Eminem - "The Real Slim Shady" (2000) [1-2-3-4-5-7-8-10-11-15-23-33-38] The following singles managed to 'double' their fall from the top for four consecutive weeks: Chicago - "If You Leave Me Now" (1976) [1-2-4-8-16-16-28-30-39] Ian & The Blockheads - "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" (1978) [1-2-4

-8-16-21] Abba - "The Winner Takes It All" (1980) [1-2-4-8-16-30] Wet Wet Wet - "Love Is All Around" (1994) [1-2-4-8-16-21-35- 39] The record for languishing at No.

2 on the way out (for 8 weeks!) goes to: Johnnie Ray - "Such A Night" (1954) [1-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-7-7-9-10-12] Most 'Impressive' Symmetrical Chart Careers For A Title Ten records in history have experienced symmetrical chart careers of four weeks (none has a longer symmetrical career). Of these, only four climbed as far as the top 30.

They are: Gloria Estefan - "Get On Your Feet" (1989) [34-23-23-34] The Beloved - "The Sun Rising" (1989) [37-26-26-37] Re-Flex - "The Politics Of Dancing" (1984) [34-28-28-34] Eric Clapton - "Wonderful Tonight (live)" (1991) [35-30-30-35] Artist 'Lapping' Himself During the time Bryan Adams hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" was at number one, his follow up single, "Can't Stop This Thing We Started", not only entered the chart, but climbed to number 12, fell down the chart and disappeared from the chart altogether. First Chart Has-Been Jane Wyman was the first chart act to completely disappear from the chart, never to return. 12th Dec 1952 was her second and final week on the chart singing 'Zing A Little Zong' with Bing Crosby. When Was The Last Time...? ...

there were no entries in the Top 10: In March 2006, a new chart rule enabled download sales to count towards a single's chart position the week prior to the title being available in a 'hard' form (eg. CD). As download sales represented a relatively low proportion of overall sales at the time, this led to the return of a phenomenon which had been in decline for many years; titles entering the charts below their peak position and climbing! In w/e 29th April 2006 there were no new entries inside the Top 10, the first time that this had happened for more than four years.

This looks set to become a more regular occurrence as it was repeated on the weeks ending 13th May, 8th July, 19th Aug, 2nd Sep, 30th Sep, 2nd Dec 2006 as well as 27th Jan, 10th Feb, 24th Feb, 3rd Mar, 17th Mar, 7th Apr, 5th May, 2nd June, 30th June, 28th July, 22nd Sep, 13 Oct, 17 Nov, 8th Dec 2007, 12th Jan, 2nd Feb, 1st Mar, 8th Mar, 15th, 29th Mar, 26th April, 10th May, 1st Jun, 29 Nov 2008, 31st Jan, 28th Mar, 11th Apr, 16th May 2009. We're going to discontinue this listing soon if this trend continues as it's getting out of hand!

More impressively, on week ending 29th Nov, the highest new entry was at no. 29 (Christian Falk featuring Robyn - "Dream On", though Snow Patrol's "Run" re-entered one place higher). It is rare for the entire upper half of the Top 40 to be devoid of new entries. The previous instances were 26th Apr 2008 when the highest new entry was at no. 25 (Goldfrapp, "Happiness") and 10th Feb 2007, when Kasabian entered at no. 22 with "Me Plus One". Before that, we have to go back to 1994 to find a Top 20 free of debuting singles (outside of the Festive period of course). The 19th Aug 2006 chart not only featured no new entries into the Top 10, but also no "download-to-physical" climbers, making it doubly unusual. Moreover, on the week ending 21st Apr 2007, the entire top 10 was a rearrangement of the previous week's top 10 (i.e.

no songs climbing into, entering, or falling out of the top 10). This also happened on w/e 16th May 2009. Throughout the 80s and 90s the number of "high new entries" grew rapidly as record companies became more focussed in targeting chart sales periods for dramatic debut positions. It was then rare (away from Christmas / New Year) to find a Top 10 with no new entries. The last occurrence of this prior to the aforementioned download rule was w/e 9th Feb 2002 (highest new entry that week; "Dance For Me" by Mary J Blige at number 13). More than seven years before that, in June 1994, there was a very rare new-entry-free Top 20, "Move Your Body" by Anticapella being the highest debutant at number 21. (NB: this excludes charts inside the festive season when it is usual for the chart to be somewhat stagnant.) ... a single climbed back up to number one: Occasionally tracks drop from the number one spot and then do a 'U'- turn.

Latest to do this was Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean with "Hips Don't Lie." It had topped the chart for w/e 8th July 2006, then being displaced for a total of three weeks by Lily Allen's "Smile" (2 weeks) and McFly's "Don't Stop Me Now / Please Please" (1 week). On w/e 5th Aug 2006 Shakira and Wyclef Jean reclaimed the no. 1 position. Prior to this, Eric Prydz had returned to the top with "Call On Me" in Oct 2004. ... a single spent more than X weeks at number one:: The last single to spend 5 or more weeks at number one was: Duffy - "Mercy" (Feb - Mar 2008) [5 weeks at no. 1] The last single to spend 6 or more weeks at number one was: Leona Lewis - "Bleeding Love" (Nov - Dec 2007) [7 weeks at no.

1] The last single to spend 8 or more weeks at number one was: Rihanna featuring Jay-Z - "Umbrella" (May - July 2007) [10 weeks at no. 1] The last single to spend 11 or more weeks at number one was: Wet Wet Wet - "Love Is All Around" (June-Sep 1994) [15 weeks at no. 1] The last single to spend 16 or more weeks at number one was: Bryan Adams - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" (July-Nov 1991) [16 weeks at no. 1 - most ever consecutively.] The last single to spend 17 or more weeks at number one was: Frankie Laine - "I Believe" (Apr-Sep 1953) [18 weeks at no. 1 - though in three separate spells at the top.] More information . ... the Top 5 were all New Entries: The most recent occurrence of the entire top 5 consisting of New Entries was w/e 29th Jan 2005.

The previous occasion was w/e 13th Nov 2004; the fact attracted considerable attention as all five of the incumbents were American artists (in descending order: Eminem, Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera featuring Missy Elliott, Usher) - a first. The first instance of all Top 5 singles being New Entries was w/e 31st Oct 1998 (Cher, George Michael, U2, Culture Club, Alanis Morissette). On just two occasions (w/e 15th Apr 2000 and w/e 29th Jan 2005) the entire top 6 were debutantes. ... the Top 5 were all non-movers: The week with most successive non-movers (excluding Christmas weeks) was in July 1955 when the whole Top 7 remained unchanged. Since then, only the whole of the Top 6 has ever remained static - on four occasions (9th July 1955, 8th April 1961, 30th May 1981 and 8th March 2008).

Top 7 : 9th July 1955 Top 6 : 8th March 2008 1 H Two O featuring Platnum What's It Gonna Be Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White 4 Basshunter ft DJ Mental Theo Now You're Gone Where Will The Baby's Dimple Be? Most New Entries In The Top 40 On w/e 17th May 1997, the Top 40 chart contained a record-breaking twenty new entries (of which only one was a climber from further down the chart). The week ending 5th March 2005 also introduced us to nineteen 'pure' new entries, this time with no climbers. Most New Entries In The Top 10 There have been seventeen occasions in chart history when seven titles of the Top 10 have been New Entries to the Top 40. The first such occurrence was w/e 19th April 1997.

The top 10 looked like this: Top 10 : 19th April 1997 1 The Who | uDiscover My Generation ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review An explosive debut, and the hardest mod pop recorded by anyone. At the time of its release, it also had the most ferociously powerful guitars and drums yet captured on a rock record. Pete Townshend's exhilarating chord crunches and guitar distortions threaten to leap off the grooves on "My Generation" and "Out in the Street"; Keith Moon attacks the drums with a lightning, ruthless finesse throughout. Some "Maximum R&B" influence lingered in the two James Brown covers, but much of Townshend's original material fused Beatlesque hooks and power chords with anthemic mod lyrics, with "The Good's Gone," "Much Too Much," "La La La Lies," and especially "The Kids Are Alright" being highlights. "A Legal Matter" hinted at more ambitious lyrical concerns, and "The Ox" was instrumental mayhem that pushed the envelope of 1965 amplification with its guitar feedback and nonstop crashing drum rolls.

While the execution was sometimes crude, and the songwriting not as sophisticated as it would shortly become, the Who never surpassed the pure energy level of this record. Words - Richie Unterberger. A Quick One ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review The Who's second album is a less impressive outing than their debut, primarily because, at the urging of their managers, all four members penned original material (though Pete Townshend wrote more than anyone else). The pure adrenaline of My Generation also subsided somewhat as the band began to grapple with more complex melodic and lyrical themes, especially on the erratic mini-opera "A Quick One While He's Away." Still, there's some great madness on Keith Moon's instrumental "Cobwebs and Strange," and Townshend delivered some solid mod pop with "Run Run Run" and "So Sad About Us." John Entwistle was also revealed to be a writer of considerable talent (and a morbid bent) on "Whiskey Man" and "Boris the Spider." Words - Richie Unterberger.

The Who Sell Out ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Pete Townshend originally planned The Who Sell Out as a concept album of sorts that would simultaneously mock and pay tribute to pirate radio stations, complete with fake jingles and commercials linking the tracks. For reasons that remain somewhat ill defined, the concept wasn't quite driven to completion, breaking down around the middle of side two (on the original vinyl configuration). Nonetheless, on strictly musical merits, it's a terrific set of songs that ultimately stands as one of the group's greatest achievements. "I Can See for Miles" (a Top Ten hit) is the Who at their most thunderous; tinges of psychedelia add a rush to "Armenia City in the Sky" and "Relax"; "I Can't Reach You" finds Townshend beginning to stretch himself into quasi-spiritual territory; and "Tattoo" and the acoustic "Sunrise" show introspective, vulnerable sides to the singer/songwriter that had previously been hidden. "Rael" was another mini-opera, with musical motifs that reappeared in Tommy.

The album is as perfect a balance between melodic mod pop and powerful instrumentation as the Who (or any other group) would achieve; psychedelic pop was never as jubilant, not to say funny (the fake commercials and jingles interspersed between the songs are a hoot). "Someone's Coming," and an alternate version of "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand." Words - Richie Unterberger. Tommy ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review The full-blown rock opera about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy that launched the band to international superstardom, written almost entirely by Pete Townshend. Hailed as a breakthrough upon its release, its critical standing has diminished somewhat in the ensuing decades because of the occasional pretensions of the concept and because of the insubstantial nature of some of the songs that functioned as little more than devices to advance the rather sketchy plot.

Nonetheless, the double album has many excellent songs, including "I'm Free," "Pinball Wizard," "Sensation," "Christmas," "We're Not Gonna Take It," and the dramatic ten-minute instrumental "Underture." Though the album was slightly flawed, Townshend's ability to construct a lengthy conceptual narrative brought new possibilities to rock music. Despite the complexity of the project, he and the Who never lost sight of solid pop melodies, harmonies, and forceful instrumentation, imbuing the material with a suitably powerful grace. Words - Richie Unterberger. Who's Next ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Much of Who's Next derives from Lifehouse, an ambitious sci-fi rock opera Pete Townshend abandoned after suffering a nervous breakdown, caused in part from working on the sequel to Tommy. There's no discernable theme behind these songs, yet this album is stronger than Tommy, falling just behind Who Sell Out as the finest record the Who ever cut. Townshend developed an infatuation with synthesizers during the recording of the album, and they're all over this album, adding texture where needed and amplifying the force, which is already at a fever pitch.

Apart from Live at Leeds, the Who have never sounded as LOUD and unhinged as they do here, yet that's balanced by ballads, both lovely ("The Song Is Over") and scathing ("Behind Blue Eyes"). That's the key to Who's Next -- there's anger and sorrow, humor and regret, passion and tumult, all wrapped up in a blistering package where the rage is as affecting as the heartbreak. This is a retreat from the '60s, as Townshend declares the "Song Is Over," scorns the teenage wasteland, and bitterly declares that we "Won't Get Fooled Again." For all the sorrow and heartbreak that runs beneath the surface, this is an invigorating record, not just because Keith Moon runs rampant or because Roger Daltrey has never sung better or because John Entwistle spins out manic basslines that are as captivating as his "My Wife" is funny. This is invigorating because it has all of that, plus Townshend laying his soul bare in ways that are funny, painful, and utterly life-affirming.

That is what the Who was about, not the rock operas, and that's why Who's Next is truer than Tommy or the abandoned Lifehouse. Those were art -- this, even with its pretensions, is rock & roll. Words - Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Quadrophenia ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Pete Townshend revisited the rock opera concept with another double-album opus, this time built around the story of a young mod's struggle to come of age in the mid-'60s. If anything, this was a more ambitious project than Tommy, given added weight by the fact that the Who weren't devising some fantasy but were re-examining the roots of their own birth in mod culture. In the end, there may have been too much weight, as Townshend tried to combine the story of a mixed-up mod named Jimmy with the examination of a four-way split personality (hence the title Quadrophenia), in turn meant to reflect the four conflicting personas at work within the Who itself. The concept might have ultimately been too obscure and confusing for a mass audience.

But there's plenty of great music anyway, especially on "The Real Me," "The Punk Meets the Godfather," "I'm One," "Bell Boy," and "Love, Reign o'er Me." Some of Townshend's most direct, heartfelt writing is contained here, and production-wise it's a tour de force, with some of the most imaginative use of synthesizers on a rock record. Various members of the band griped endlessly about flaws in the mix, but really these will bug very few listeners, who in general will find this to be one of the Who's most powerful statements. Words - Richie Unterberger. The Who By Numbers ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review The Who by Numbers is the seventh album by English rock band The Who, released on 3 October 1975 in the United Kingdom through Polydor Records, and on 25 October 1975 in the United States by MCA Records. It was named the tenth-best album of the year in The Village Voice critics poll.

Live At Leeds ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Rushed out in 1970 as a way to bide time as the Who toiled away on their follow-up to Tommy, Live at Leeds wasn't intended to be the definitive Who live album, and many collectors maintain that the band had better shows available on bootlegs. But those shows weren't easily available whereas Live at Leeds was, and even if this show may not have been the absolute best, it's so damn close to it that it would be impossible for anybody but aficionados to argue. Here, the Who sound vicious -- as heavy as Led Zeppelin but twice as volatile -- as they careen through early classics with the confidence of a band that finally achieved acclaim but had yet to become preoccupied with making art. In that regard, this recording -- in its many different forms -- may have been perfectly timed in terms of capturing the band at a pivotal moment in its history. There is certainly no better record of how this band was a volcano of violence on-stage, teetering on the edge of chaos but never blowing apart.

This was most true on the original LP, which was a trim six tracks, three of them covers ("Young Man Blues," "Summertime Blues," "Shakin' All Over") and three originals from the mid-'60s, two of those ("Substitute," "My Generation") vintage parts of their repertory and only "Magic Bus" representing anything resembling a recent original, with none bearing a trace of its mod roots. This was pure, distilled power, all the better for its brevity; throughout the '70s the album was seen as one of the gold standards in live rock &a roll, and certainly it had a fury that no proper Who studio album achieved. It was also notable as one of the earliest legitimate albums to implicitly acknowledge -- and go head to head with -- the existence of bootleg LPs. Indeed, its very existence owed something to the efforts of Pete Townshend and company to stymie the bootleggers. Who Are You ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Who Are You is the eighth studio album by English rock band The Who, released on 18 August 1978 through Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and MCA Records in the United States.

It peaked at number 2 on the US charts and number 6 on the UK charts. It is The Who's last album with Keith Moon as the drummer; Moon died twenty days after the release of this album. Face Dances ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Without Keith Moon, the Who may have lacked the restless firepower that distinguished their earlier albums, but Face Dances had some of Pete Townshend's best, most incisive compositions since Quadrophenia. "Don't Let Go the Coat" was one of his better odes to Meher Baba, "You Better You Bet" was a driving rocker, as was the rueful "Cache Cache," while "How Can You Do It Alone" was a solid ballad. While Townshend's songs were graceful and introspective, Roger Daltrey delivered them without any subtlety, rendering their power impotent. Words - Stephen Thomas Erlewine. It's Hard ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Driven by Pete Townshend's arching musical ambitions, It's Hard was a final effort from the Who.

Featuring layers of synthesizers and long-winded, twisting song structures, the album featured the anthemic "Athena" and the terse "Eminence Front." Endless Wire ALBUM REVIEW - click to view review Opening with a synth riff that strongly recalls, if not directly quotes, the famed loop underpinning "Baba O'Reilly," Endless Wire often hearkens back to previous Who albums in its themes, structure, and sound. The "Baba O'Reilly" riff pops up in "Fragments," the pummeling triplets of "The Punk Meets the Godfather" resurface in "Mike Post Theme." Like The Who by Numbers, it has its fair share of stark acoustic introspection. Like The Who Sell Out and A Quick One, it closes with a mini-rock opera, this one called "Wire & Glass." This closing suite also shares a lineage with Townshend's 1993 solo album Psychoderelict, a record that's not well loved but one that is connected thematically to Lifehouse Chronicles, his often-muddled yet often-intriguing futuristic rock opera that seemed to suggest portions of a technologically saturated internet age.

Such ideas bubble up throughout Endless Wire and not just on "Wire & Glass," yet that opera specifically shares a character with Psychoderelict in Ray High, a rock star who was the central figure in that 1993 opus and functions as a semi-autobiographical distancing device for Townshend, particularly on this record where the narrative ebbs and flows and sometimes disappears completely. Since the whole of Townshend's rock operas always were overshadowed by the strength of their individual parts -- musically and emotionally, "Pinball Wizard," "Bargain," "Behind Blue Eyes," "The Real Me" and "Love Reign O'er Me" carried as great a weight, if not greater, on their own as they did as part of a larger theme -- this is not unusual or unwelcome, because the focus turns away from the specifics of the narrative and to the merits of the songs and the Who's performances, and how they connect at a gut level.

And, like much of the best of the Who's work, the best of Endless Wire does indeed connect at a gut level, even if it's in a considerably different way than it was in the past: instead of being visceral and immediate, this is music carries a slow burn. This is partially because they are no longer driven by Moon and Entwistle, but quite frankly, this most manic of rhythm sections never really anchored the Who; Townshend always did with his furious windmills and propulsive rhythms, and there was never any question that this, along with his songs, formed the complex, contradictory heart of the Who, while Daltrey gave the songs both muscle and a commonality, undercutting Townshend's pretensions -- or giving him a voice behind which to hide, a voice to act out his best and worst impulses. After all the upheaval of the first part of the 2000s, Townshend needed to have Daltrey interpret his songs, which do confront many tough emotions and questions regarding faith, mortality and persecution, albeit often in oblique ways.

Here, the band is indeed changed, and while they have top-notch professional support from drummer Zak Starkey and bassist Pino Palladino, they do not sound like a session band: they sound like the Who, only older, with their boundless energy replaced by a bittersweet melancholy undercurrent. It's a sound that fits Townshend's new songs, alternately sweetly sad, bitterly reflective and, despite it all, cautiously optimistic. Unlike the fussy theatricality of The Iron Man or the impenetrable mess that was Psychoderelict -- or any Townshend project since It's Hard, really -- Endless Wire is not a slave to its concept; the songs fuel the album instead of the other way around. Even when it goes off the tracks -- and it does, most grandly on the bizarre "In the Ether," where Townshend affects Tom Waits' patented growl -- it feels as if it was written from the heart, which is why it's always appealing even though it feels curiously disjointed, with the The Who by Numbers-styled first half not quite synching up with the mini-opera that dominates the second side.

It may not add up to a totally satisfying whole, yet within both halves of Endless Wire there is much to treasure: on the first half, there's the incendiary "A Man in a Purple Dress," the powerful yet understated "Mike Post Theme," the delicate "God Speaks of Marty Robbins," a surging rocker in "It's Not Enough" (whose lyrics are riddled with the self-doubt of Empty Glass) and the sweet song sketch "You Stand by Me"; on the second, there's the mini-opera of "Wire & Glass," a ten-song suite beginning with the rampaging "Sound Round" and closing with the haunting "Tea & Theatre," that manages to touch on every one of the band's strengths. Taken on its own, "Wire & Glass" does stand as the greatest Who music since Who Are You, so it's a bit hard not to wish that the entire album had its thematic cohesion, muscular melody, and sense of purpose, but if it meant losing the quite wonderful highlights of the first half, it may not have been worth it because they're not only strong songs, they give this record its ragged heart.

No, Endless Wire is not perfect -- its parts don't quite fit together, and not all of the parts work on their own -- but it is an endearingly human, impassioned work that more than justifies Townshend's and Daltrey's decision to continue working as the Who. Hopefully, it will lead to another record or two but if it doesn't, Endless Wire is certainly a better final Who album than It's Hard, which is quite an accomplishment after a quarter-century hiatus. Words: Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Question: Both of Art Garfunkel’s no. 1 UK hits contained which word in the title?
Answer: EYES