Personnel: Pete Townshend (vocals, guitar, synthesizer); Pete Hope-Evans (harmonica); Rabbit Bundrick (keyboards); Tony Butler (bass); Mark Brzezicki, Kenney Jones, Simon Phillips, John Asher (drums).

Includes liner notes by Dave Marsh. Originally released on Atco (32100).

Digitally remastered by Ted Jensen (Sterling Sound, New York, New York).

Personnel: Pete Townshend; John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Kenney Jones , Simon Phillips.

Pete Townshend was heading toward collapse as the '70s turned into the '80s. He had battled a number of personal demons throughout the '70s, but he started spiraling downward after Keith Moon's death, questioning more than ever why he did what he did (and this is a songwriter who always asked questions). Signs of that crept out on Face Dances, but he saved a full-blown exploration of his psyche for Empty Glass, his first solo album since Who Came First, a vanity project released to little notice around Who's Next (so limited in its distribution that Empty Glass seemed like his solo debut). Some of the songs on Empty Glass would have worked as Who songs, yet this is clearly a singer/songwriter album, the work of a writer determined to lay his emotions bare, whether on the plaintive "I Am an Animal" or the blistering punk love letter "Rough Boys." Since this is Townshend, it can be a little artier than it needs to be, as on the pseudo-Gilbert & Sullivan chorus of "Keep on Working," but the joy of Empty Glass is that his writing is sharp, his performances lively, his gift for pop hooks as apparent as his wit. Though it runs out of steam toward the end, Empty Glass remains one of the highlights of Townshend's catalog and is one of the most revealing records he cut, next to his other breakdown album, The Who by Numbers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Who mastermind Pete Townshend's strongest solo record was born in a hailstorm of despair, uncertainty, and tribulation. With the once viscerally powerful Who in limbo, the guitarist nearly sunk himself into brandy-drenched oblivion. He emerged with one of his most gripping solo pieces and--perhaps unsurprisingly--the most Who-like album of all his solo work.

Pete plunges into his familiar themes of aging, sexuality, and spiritual decay with fervor, desperation, and commitment. And while EMPTY GLASS does not approach the roaring physicality of the Who at its best, the emotional punch of "Jools and Jim" and "I Am an Animal" is sure to rattle the cage of even the most ardent hard rock devotee. Also of note are Townshend's vocals. Through the entire album, whether on the radio-ready paean to Meher Baba "Let My Love Open the Door," the bracing "Rough Boys," or the sublime "A Little Is Enough," his vocals are hanging on the edge of a cliff, presumably dangling over a certain death.