Coming almost four years after The Who took their first final bow in 1982 "Deep End Live!" would mark a few things for Pete Townshend. The end of the old and the start of the new for a couple. His foray into semi regular charity gigs for another, which at the time were very often the only things that motivated this artist to take the stage. Weary of the road from his years in The Who and finally clear of the demons and substances which plagued him in that bands later years, Pete Townshend would perform with his new band at Deep End for the cause of battered women and make a pretty good case for himself as a great live performer in his own right. After all, The Who
were Pete Townshend, although he had a few others helping him out. So it only makes sense he would head up a new band just as well. And he does.
Using the same basic and uncredited group of players that would make up the "Big Band Who" when Roger, Pete, and John would return for a reunion tour four years later, Pete gets things started on some old ground taking us back to the roots of his old band with a lively horn driven version of the mid-sixties Robert Parker R&B hit "Barefootin'." Which is not to say this sounds anything like you would find on 'The Who Sing My Generation" from two decades earlier. Rather it's Pete leading his musicians (percussionist, lead guitarist, horns, harmonica, back up singers, keyboards, etc) through a lively and soulful version of the kind of song that inspired The Who. Giving it another sort of "Maximum R&B" treatment (his last bands slogan for a bit) Barefootin' is a big band R&B dance song at it's core, and Townshend and company capture it perfectly, if not quite authentically. But then again this is rock n roll. The authentic need not apply.
From here on Pete and band would mix covers, solo material, and of course Who material, seamlessly for the duration of the set that would make for a truly wonderful night of music. And its captured on this record nearly perfectly. In fine voice and well rehearsed for the occasion Townshend is generous with the music here giving us soulful, heartfelt versions of his solo work such as the Daltrey recorded "After The Fire" and the sweeping "Stop Hurting People" from his excellent "All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" album, as well as the deeply spiritual Townshend classic "A Little Is Enough" from the "Empty Glass" album. From The Who side of things we're treated to the now familiar solo acoustic reading of "I'm One" from Quadrophenia that finds Pete picking and strumming just fine, full band versions of "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", and once again solo acoustic versions of a revelatory "Pinball Wizard" and an ill advised "Magic Bus", the only miscue of the entire bunch.
The glue that holds all this together however are the cover tunes which lend this set it's heart, soul, and direction. Along with the aforementioned Barefootin' we're treated to the old Screamin' Jay Hawkins mojo blues number "I Put A Spell On You", Townshend going passionate with the vocals and the excellent harmonica playing of Peter Hope-Evans leading the way, Sonny Boy Williamson's "Eyesight To The Blind", and perhaps most special a spare version of The English Beats "Save It For Later", complete with a Saxa (The English Beats legendary horn player) inspired sax break at the bridge. Which went to show Townshend still had a good ear not only for the old pop stuff, but the new as well.
Townshend would never tour extensively with this band outside it's big band Who incarnation. Nor would he ever record with it in studio. But what he assembled to help bring his music to life onstage after the initial demise of The Who was about the most anyone could of hoped for and a genuine surprise at the same time. Full of life and spirit and soul and with numbers impeccably arranged and rearranged, the small series of Deep End gigs captured here on a single disc show an artist spreading out, exhaling the old, and inhaling the new to meet the music world once again in the absence of his old legendary clothes. Perhaps with a little something to prove with The Who only a few years behind him the genius of Pete Townshend is
alive and well on Deep End Live! Passionate, inspired, and heartily performed, it's almost enough to make you ask "The Who who"? But even if it doesn't, it's still essential Townshend at one of his finest moments onstage. And that's more then enough to get the job done.
