Psychoderelict
	no producer credited, no wonder
	Released on June 1993
	US CHART POSITION #118
	Find it at GEMM
82494-2 cover [high resolution scan]

I t hit me when the 18th individual track rolled around, a stretch of talking called "Dialogue Introduction to Now And Then (Reprise)," how unnecessarily complicated this all was. If you thought Radio K.A.O.S. was work, it’ll feel like a freakin’ vacation next to this. In light of Pete’s recent travails (which appear to be unfortunate for everyone involved), I’ll leave discussion of the principal action -- an aging rock star apparently corresponds with a 15-year-old girl -- for another, brighter day. Psychoderelict is ambitious, telling the story of a ‘70s rock star who tries to revive his career with a live performance on the Grid (something of an evolution on the Internet that allows people to escape their own realities) while simultaneously being manipulated via a smear campaign architected by a rock critic whom he falls in love with. Complicated, I know, but luckily there’s the lyric sheet to follow -- except that half of the lyrics are printed upside down (this was a group conspiracy). The dialogue from the trio of unsympathetic characters (Ray Hines, his manager and bitchy Rosalyn) covers the listener in a greasy, uneasy feeling much of the way; even when Ray redeems himself with the revelation that leads to “Fake It,” it’s hard to feel good about any of this. In fact, it seems like a weak whitewashing of events after all the dark ugliness that has been squeezed from the story. By album’s end, Townshend’s concept acknowledges its own inability to deliver a better world, once again saving his most scathing remarks for himself. Salvaging songs from this convoluted concept is probably fool’s work, but here goes: “English Boy” is nearly as fun as “Face the Face,” the combination of “Meher Baba m4 (Signal Box)” and “Early Morning Dreams” is strangely transcendent, and “Outlive the Dinosaur” has a quiet intensity to it. Still (and I never thought I’d say this about any work of art that features gratuitous spanking) I don’t like Psychoderelict. Note that the album was also released in versions with the dialogue edited and the dialogue removed, as if that were the problem.

82494-2 lyric gatefold	82494-2 back sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. ENGLISH BOY    5:08
2. MEHER BABA M3    3:31
3. LET'S GET PRETENTIOUS    3:37
4. MEHER BABA M4 (SIGNAL BOX)    2:23
5. EARLY MORNING DREAMS    3:55
6. I WANT THAT THING    3:58
7. DIALOGUE INTRODUCTION TO "OUTLIVE THE DINOSAUR"    0:33
8. OUTLIVE THE DINOSAUR    3:25
9. FLAME (DEMO)    1:08
10. NOW AND THEN    4:25
11. I AM AFRAID    4:35
12. DON'T TRY TO MAKE ME REAL    3:00
13. DIALOGUE INTRODUCTION TO "PREDICTABLE"    0:34
14. PREDICTABLE    2:17
15. FLAME    (Simon Townshend/Josh Phillips-Gorse/Gavin Lewis/Mark Brzezicki/Jaz Lochrie)    2:41
16. MEHER BABA M5 (VIVALDI)    2:36
17. FAKE IT    (Pete Townshend/Jon Astley/Billy Nicholls/Jon Lind)    3:30
18. DIALOGUE INTRODUCTION TO "NOW AND THEN (REPRISE)"    0:33
19. NOW AND THEN (REPRISE)    2:58
20. BABA O-RILEY (DEMO)    1:21
21. ENGLISH BOY (REPRISE)    7:04
    
    All songs written by Pete Townshend unless noted

CREDITS

PETE TOWNSHEND --
Jeremy Allom --
Jon Astley --
Richard Barnes --
Paul Bonnick --
Ian Broudie --
Mark Brzezicki --
John "Rabbit" Bundrick --
Chyna --
Allan Corduner --
Bruce Davies --
Barry Diament Audio -- mastering
Julia Duff (of Anne Henderson casting) --
Andrew Eccles -- photography
Nick Goderson --
Linal Haft --
Deidre Harrison --
Steve Hill --
Peter Hope-Evans --
Icon Communications --
Nicola Joss --
Kick Horns --
Roger Knapp --
John Labanowski --
Jamie Lane --
Dee Lewis --
Gavin Lewis --
Jody Linscott --
Jaz Lochrie --
Andy Macpherson --
Billy Nicholls --
Michael Nicholls --
Tessa Niles --
Phil Palmer --
Josh Phillips-Gorse --
Bob Pridden --
Jan Ravens --
Smion Rogers --
Adam Seymour --
Paul Stevens --
Paul Townshend --
Simon Townshend --
Nigel Walker --
Cleveland Watkiss --
Suzy Webb --
Lee Whitlock --
Paul "Tubbs" Williams --
Ian Wilson --
Tom Bowman -- cover design
Frank Gargiulo -- booklet design

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