chadstep's review against another edition
3.0
So wanted to like this—The Who were my first crush band, the first to be my idol musicians, the alt rock before there was such a thing. Now I love them more after reading this but realize what a manic person Townsend must be to be around—writing vingnettes and stories which would jerk back and forth so quickly it’s sometimes hard to follow. It took him 12 years to write this probably because he’s a magnum opus thinker—Tommy, Lifehouse, the Iron Giant—he think conceptually large and then makes it all happen. But what a love for his band—I’m not sure if The Who was a product, project, or his greatest work of art but it wasn’t his whole life.
frdb's review
1.0
I don't think I will finish this book, what a disappointment! I'm a huge fan of The Who and I was sure that someone like Pete Townshend, who is able to write such powerful, poetic lyrics, should have been great at writing a book: I was wrong. The style is so frustrating: a collection of short sentences, one after the other, telling plain facts, with no emotional connection to the author. It could have been written by a bored 12-year-old. The relationships between the band members are just briefly outlined, there is no depth, no particularly serious feelings about anything and we are speaking about someone with an exceptionally full life, one worth recounting.
Unfortunately you don't feel any of this reading the book, you don't discover anything particularly new about Pete Townshend and that is a shame.
**English is not my native language, so please excuse any mistake**
Unfortunately you don't feel any of this reading the book, you don't discover anything particularly new about Pete Townshend and that is a shame.
**English is not my native language, so please excuse any mistake**
fauxpunk's review
4.0
Who I Am, Or: Everything you never wanted to know about Pete Townshend.
I listened to this doorstopper on audio, and I'm glad I did. It's read by the author, and Townshend makes a charming and engaging narrator. It added a level of sincerity to the book that it would have lacked otherwise.
As a writer, Townshend is prone to ramble and go off on strange tangents. To his credit, though, most of these tangents are fairly interesting. At times, toward the end especially, the narrative tends to drag a bit. He also tends to jump rather quickly from subject to subject, which can lead to abrupt changes in mood. But he's also fairly witty and good at telling a story.
However, the memoir remains compelling, entertaining, and even at times moving. He's brutally honest about his personal failures, his failed marriage, and his battle with drug and alcohol addiction, and this painful honestly is what makes the book not only readable, but interesting. I came away with a greater appreciation of the man and his work and I'll admit this book made me crush on him more than a little.
Townshend is a very intelligent and highly flawed man who has lived a fascinating life, and if you're a fan of him or The Who, this is worth the read.
I listened to this doorstopper on audio, and I'm glad I did. It's read by the author, and Townshend makes a charming and engaging narrator. It added a level of sincerity to the book that it would have lacked otherwise.
As a writer, Townshend is prone to ramble and go off on strange tangents. To his credit, though, most of these tangents are fairly interesting. At times, toward the end especially, the narrative tends to drag a bit. He also tends to jump rather quickly from subject to subject, which can lead to abrupt changes in mood. But he's also fairly witty and good at telling a story.
However, the memoir remains compelling, entertaining, and even at times moving. He's brutally honest about his personal failures, his failed marriage, and his battle with drug and alcohol addiction, and this painful honestly is what makes the book not only readable, but interesting. I came away with a greater appreciation of the man and his work and I'll admit this book made me crush on him more than a little.
Townshend is a very intelligent and highly flawed man who has lived a fascinating life, and if you're a fan of him or The Who, this is worth the read.
marykimball14's review against another edition
3.0
Overall, a bit long-winded and took me a while to finish this. He doesn't speak much about his band-members, except in little passages scattered here and there. I have the impression that when the Who were just starting out, they were all overly passionate men with conflicting feelings for one another, but in their old age, the Who mellowed out. However, Townsend does not really talk about this, or how the band evolved over the years. Even when 2 of his band members die, I feel like Townsend does not devote much of his book to explaining how these deaths affected him and the Who as a whole. Instead, this book was hyper focused on Pete's on egotistical ravings, and only proved to me what a colossal ass he is. There were some interesting parts, and this book does give a detailed history of Pete's life, but I felt that was overall a confused, excessively long memoir
mbondlamberty's review against another edition
4.0
I have been a fan of The Who since a friend, Kevin Corley, introduced them to me in high school. I have enjoyed listening to the variety of music they produced. Reading Pete Townshend's book was enjoyable as I got some of the back story for some of the songs (not all of the songs are explained). It was also incredibly eye-opening to find out how much that man was talented in other areas - literature, technology, etc. Very enjoyable exposure to the developments in the music industry and technology, but perhaps would be more enjoyable to someone with more knowledge of that are and that probably is where I took away the 5th star. That said, you can skim those portions and keep on going because there is so much to learn. On the other hand it is also hard to read about the pain Townshend caused to his loved ones by his actions, but part of the landscape. I listened to this one too and it was a treat having Pete Townshend read this as it includes little chuckles as he reads his past escapades. Well worth the read if you are a fan
wshier's review against another edition
1.0
Abandoned, actually. The memoir is a pitiful genre. 1,000 pieces of self-indulgent trash for every one "Goodbye to All That". Alas, this is one of the thousand. I love ya, Pete. I just don't care what you think about Mick Jagger's package.
ingalls1969's review against another edition
4.0
A solid, very well-written memoir from one of rock music's most famous and revered figures. If you're a fan, you'll probably enjoy it very much.
"Who I Am" doesn't really deviate much from your standard autobiography structure: Pete writes about his upbringing as the son of a British swing band musician, which planted the seeds of his own career. He also talks about living with his dangerous, mentally unstable grandmother. This phase of his life mixes positive nostalgia with childhood terror.
He talks about the formation of the Detours, which essentially became the Who. There's plenty of rock star "sex, drugs and rock and roll," but Pete also writes in quite detail about his wealth of musical concepts, both simple and complex, where they came from and how - if at all - they came to fruition. I say "if at all" because there are many projects (musical and otherwise) that didn't reach their full potential, due to financial restraints, record company objections, etc. I get the feeling that Pete was often disappointed with the results of these unrealized projects, particularly his "Lifehouse" project, the concept and intended execution of which is detailed painstakingly here. In fact, one of the few actual tangible results of this infamous project is the 1971 album "Who's Next," which consists mostly of outtakes from "Lifehouse." Because of this, the impact of "Who's Next," considered one of the Who's greatest achievements, is given very little positive acknowledgement in this book.
You get a lot of personal details (his marriage woes, relationship issues, his obsession with boats), lots of great stories about life on the road (including well-documented debauchery with infamous Who drummer Keith Moon), some very moving insights on Pete's alcoholism and eventual sobriety.
As can be expected by an artist of Pete's intelligence, it's very well-written. It's also extremely frank and open, without being catty. Townshend is one of rock's true elder statesman and his is a story worth reading.
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order WHO I AM on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062127242
"Who I Am" doesn't really deviate much from your standard autobiography structure: Pete writes about his upbringing as the son of a British swing band musician, which planted the seeds of his own career. He also talks about living with his dangerous, mentally unstable grandmother. This phase of his life mixes positive nostalgia with childhood terror.
He talks about the formation of the Detours, which essentially became the Who. There's plenty of rock star "sex, drugs and rock and roll," but Pete also writes in quite detail about his wealth of musical concepts, both simple and complex, where they came from and how - if at all - they came to fruition. I say "if at all" because there are many projects (musical and otherwise) that didn't reach their full potential, due to financial restraints, record company objections, etc. I get the feeling that Pete was often disappointed with the results of these unrealized projects, particularly his "Lifehouse" project, the concept and intended execution of which is detailed painstakingly here. In fact, one of the few actual tangible results of this infamous project is the 1971 album "Who's Next," which consists mostly of outtakes from "Lifehouse." Because of this, the impact of "Who's Next," considered one of the Who's greatest achievements, is given very little positive acknowledgement in this book.
You get a lot of personal details (his marriage woes, relationship issues, his obsession with boats), lots of great stories about life on the road (including well-documented debauchery with infamous Who drummer Keith Moon), some very moving insights on Pete's alcoholism and eventual sobriety.
As can be expected by an artist of Pete's intelligence, it's very well-written. It's also extremely frank and open, without being catty. Townshend is one of rock's true elder statesman and his is a story worth reading.
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order WHO I AM on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062127242
jbleyle63's review against another edition
4.0
Started this one after catching The Who at 50 tour in March of 2016 planning to make it a long read while supplementing reading with listening to the music covered during certain sections and chapters. Thankfully this book was perfectly suited to that sort of plan. Pete has always been an articulate voice in music and remains so here. Pete has organized it chronologically and in a diary style so there are paragraphs that simply list where he was and who he was with at a certain moment mixed with others where he takes the time to give insightful voice to how other events fit within a broader context of his complicated artistic life, especially as Townshend continues to come to terms with sexual abuse experiences in his childhood. This sprawling autobiography gives me hope that Pete might offer future more focused writings exploring some of his own works in greater detail.
Who are you Pete indeed?!
Who are you Pete indeed?!
mpvb's review against another edition
1.0
Self-indulgent and rambling, but he was at least kind when talking about other artists. The book is twice the length of Roger's memoir and only a fraction as interesting. Every time he talked about reworking Tommy for some new project, I did some eye-rolling. The Who was a notoriously tumultuous band & after reading both Roger's book & Pete's, I firmly believe Roger wasn't the bigger problem. Roger's got more in his life than music, which makes him an interesting human. Pete is robotic and tedious. The things he chose to talk about, and his inability to scratch anything from that list in order to make this book a palatable size, were either dull or told with such bland language that I can only assume you had to be there.