WHO do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?

So I went to my venerable old local record store to see if they had the new The Who single, Wire & Glass. They didn't, mainly because it wasn't out yet. Cheeky cunts. But being an impatient sod, I went and downloaded it from iTunes anyway. And the good news is: it continues the good form shown by the tracks Real Good Lookin' Boy and Old Red Wine from a couple of years ago. The first track, Wire and Glass pt1, reminds me in places of QUADROPHENIA, and in others WHO'S NEXT: all faultless touchstones (and infinitely preferable to reminding me of, say, FACE DANCES), with the sounds and instrumentation of classic Who. The real revelation is the change to Pete Townsend's vocal style in the sections he takes the lead in: if Roger Daltrey no longer has quite the range and leonine roar he once had, then the guitarist's always reed-thin voice has assumed a Keith Richards, Bob Dylan style gruffness.

The second new track, Mirror Door, is arguably superior to its A-side, a chest-thumping anthem in the great Who tradition, and far better than one could hope to expect from a band of th-th-th-their generation. Especially a band who, over the years, have lost by the wayside their greatest asset, their peerless rhythm section. None of their contemporaries can come this close to touching the form of their classic years - here Townsend and Daltrey have made such a feat seem effortless.

Holy shit!