''Endless Wire'' is the eleventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the English rock band

the Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

, released on 30 October 2006 in the UK through Polydor Records and the following day in the US by Universal Republic. It was their first new studio album of original material in 24 years following the release of '' It's Hard'' in 1982, as well as their first since the death of their founding bassist

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band the Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band ...

. It was originally due to be released in early 2005 under the working title ''WHO2''. ''Endless Wire'' received generally positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. It debuted at #7 on the ''Billboard'' album chart and #9 in the UK. Portions of it were featured on The Who Tour 2006-2007. Most of the songs from this album were used in the rock musical adaptation of ''

The Boy Who Heard Music ''The Boy Who Heard Music'' is a rock opus that began life as an Internet novella written by musician and songwriter Pete Townshend. Townshend wrote in the foreword to the novella that he typically sketches out his opera in this way to lay out ...

'' which debuted in July 2007 as part of

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

's Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series.

History and composition

Most of what is known about the development of the album has come from Pete Townshend's website. On 21 March 2005, Pete Townshend announced the postponement of the new Who album. On 24 December 2005, Townshend announced that manager Bill Curbishley had introduced a "great scheme" to allow the band to tour in mid-2006 in support of new material, even if Townshend did not have "a full thirty tracks ready to go." On 20 March 2006, Daltrey announced that he and Townshend were making progress with the album and that Townshend had written a song about

Stockholm syndrome Stockholm syndrome is a proposed condition or theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors. Emotional bonds can possibly form between captors and captives, during intimate time together, ...

, titled "Black Widow's Eyes". Daltrey also said that Townshend was playing some bass on the album. On 28 March 2006, Townshend announced through the diary portion of his website that a mini-opera, titled "The Glass Household", now formed the core of the album. It is based on his novella ''The Boy Who Heard Music''. He also announced plans to have a shortened version of the opera released prior to the release of the full album. This diary entry also confirmed the line-up of the band:

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A session bassist, he has played bass for a number of acts such as the Who, the John Mayer Trio, Gary Numan, Paul Young, Don Henle ...

on bass, Pete Townshend on guitars, his brother

Simon Townshend Simon Townshend (; born 10 October 1960) is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of the Who's guitarist Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members ...

on backing vocals, and John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards. Peter Huntington, from Rachel Fuller's band, was on drums because

Zak Starkey Zak Richard Starkey (born 13 September 1965) is an English rock drummer who toured and recorded with the Who from 1996 to 2025. He is also the third drummer to have appeared with Oasis. Other musicians and bands he has worked with include Johnny ...

was touring with

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentWire & Glass'', was complete and that the tracks would soon be sent to Polydor. Townshend anticipated a mid-June release for the EP, and a mid-September release for the full album. He had also announced that the Who would begin rehearsing for their tour, during which time Townshend would finish recording the rest of the album with

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

. A version of "It's Not Enough" was released online at artistdirect.com. "It's Not Enough" had tentatively been announced as the first single off the album, to be released simultaneously. On 3 October 2006, "It's Not Enough" was made available on iTunes. "Tea & Theatre" was also made available. Then on 14 October 2006,

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

built a website for the album, endlesswire.co.uk, on which samples of the songs "We Got a Hit", "Endless Wire", "It's Not Enough", "Black Widow's Eyes", "Mike Post Theme", and "Man in a Purple Dress" were made available to listen to, but not to download. As of 23 October 2006, the entire album was available to stream on music.aol.com. "Mike Post Theme" alludes to the ubiquity of Mike Post's work in television theme music. ''Endless Wire'' debuted at #7 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling about 81,000 units in its first week of release.Hasty, Katie
"'Montana' Zooms by Manilow For Second Week at No. 1"
billboard.com. 8 November 2006.

Additional songs

In addition to the 19 tracks listed below, three songs were either considered for inclusion on the album or reportedly recorded for the album but were left off: *"Ambition" Reportedly written in 1971 for the ''Lifehouse'' concept, Townshend debuted this song on '' In the Attic'' in 2006. *"Uncertain Girl" Another song that was debuted by Townshend on ''In the Attic'' in 2006. It was recorded in the studio with Zak Starkey on drums, and Daltrey on vocals, but Townshend expressed doubt on whether it would make it on the album or not when he first played it on in the Attic, and it was not included. However, it did make an appearance in the

workshop performance of the rock musical ''

''. *"How Can I Help You, Sir?" On 18 December 2005, Pete Townshend posted a diary entry that chronicled the recording of this track: The video can be downloaded from Townshend's site. In 2015 the track was released on Townshend's solo compilation

Truancy Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorized, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will and usually does not refer to legitimate excused absences, such as ones related to medic ...

Adaptation as a rock musical

Townshend is also working the songs from this album into a full-length rock musical, a rough version of which debuted 13 July 2007 as part of

's Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series. The production was adapted and directed by Ethan Silverman and presented as a staged concert reading with minimal dialogue. The cast included John Hickok as Ray High, Jon Patrick Walker as Josh, Matt McGrath as Gabriel, and Bree Sharp as Leila. Songs in this adaptation included: Act I *"Prelude" *"Pick Up the Peace" – Ray *"In the Ether" – Josh, Ray *"God Predicts Marty Robbins" – Gabriel, Ray *"Unholy Trinity" – Gabriel, Josh, Leila *"Trilby's Piano I" – Gabriel *"I Can Fly" ( Fuller) – Leila *"There's No Doubt" – Gabriel, Josh, Ray *"Endless Wire Prelude" – Josh, Leila, Gabriel, Ray *"Sound Round" – Ray and Company *"Real Good Looking Boy" – Ray, Josh, Gabriel *"Trilby's Piano II" – Trio *"Fragments" – Company *"Endless Wire" – Company Act II *"We Got a Hit" – Company *"She Said He Said" – Gabriel, Leila *"Uncertain Girl" – Josh *"Heart Condition" – Leila *"It's Not Enough" (Townshend/Fuller) – Gabriel, Josh, Leila *"They Made My Dream Come True" – Ray *"In the Ether" – Ray *"Trilby's Piano III" – Gabriel, Josh, Leila *"Mirror Door" – Company *"Fragments" – Company *"Tea & Theatre" – Ray, Josh, Leila The song "Real Good Looking Boy" was previously issued on the Who's compilation album '' Then and Now''. The song "I Can Fly" was previously issued on Fuller's EP ''Shine''.

Track listing

All songs written by

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

except where noted.

Compact Disc edition of ''The Who Live at Lyon''

Recorded at the Théâtre Antique,

Vienne, Isère Vienne (; ) is a town in southeastern France, located south of Lyon, at the confluence of the Gère and the Rhône. It is the fourth-largest commune in the Isère department, of which it is a subprefecture alongside La Tour-du-Pin. Vienne w ...

, France (near

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

) on 17 July 2006. Included as an extra in Europe, Asia, and at

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

stores in the US.

DVD edition of ''The Who Live at Lyon''

I Can't Explain "I Can't Explain" is a song by English rock band the Who, written by Pete Townshend and produced by Shel Talmy. It was released as a single in the United States on 19 December 1964 by Decca and on 15 January 1965 in the United Kingdom by Bruns ...

" – 3:04 #"

Behind Blue Eyes "Behind Blue Eyes" is a song by the English rock band the Who. It is the second single from the band's fifth album, ''Who's Next'' (1971), and was originally written by Pete Townshend for his '' Lifehouse'' project. The song is one of the Who's b ...

" – 4:39 #"Mike Post Theme" – 3:41 #"

Baba O'Riley "Baba O'Riley" is a song by the English Rock music, rock band the Who, written by guitarist and principal songwriter Pete Townshend. It is the opening track to the Who's fifth studio album, ''Who's Next'' (1971). In Europe, it was released as a ...

" – 5:59 #"Won't Get Fooled Again" – 10:03

Personnel

The Who principal musicians

– lead vocals (1–3, 5–6, 8, 10–12, 16, 18–19) *

– guitars, lead vocals (4, 7, 9, 13–15, 17), backing vocals, bass guitar, drums, piano, keyboards, violin, banjo, mandolin, drum machine *

– drums (5) *

– bass guitar (10–11, 14, 16–18) * John "Rabbit" Bundrick –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(10–11, 18) *

– backing vocals (10–11, 14)

Additional musicians

* Peter Huntington – drums (8, 10–11, 14, 16–18) *

Billy Nicholls William Morris Nicholls Jr (born 15 February 1949) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and musical director. He was born into a musical family, his father Billy Nicholls (Sr.) being a double bassist and big band singer ...

– backing vocals (10–11, 14) * Lawrence Ball – electronic music (1, 15) * Rachel Fuller – keyboards (8), orchestration supervisor (13) *Gill Morley – violin on (13) *Brian Wright – violin (13) *Ellen Blair – viola (13) *Vicky Matthews – cello (13) *Stuart Ross – bass guitar (8) * Jolyon Dixon – acoustic guitar (8)

Design

* Richard Evans – Design and art direction utilising elements created with the Visual Harmony software designed by Dave Snowdon and Lawrence Ball.

Charts

"It's Not Enough" reached number 37 on the US ''Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Tracks chart Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the "active rock" and " heritage rock" for ...

, where it was released as a B-side with "Black Widow's Eyes".

Certifications

References

External links

*
Endless Wire liner notes – Song-by-song liner notes for the album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Endless Wire (The Who Album) 2006 albums Polydor Records albums The Who albums Universal Records albums Albums produced by Pete Townshend