Pete Townshend - The Iron Man: A Musical
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Artist: Pete TownshendEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1989-06-19
Music Label: Atlantic / Wea
Soundtracks:
- I Won't Run Any More
- Over The Top
- Man Machines
- Dig
- A Friend Is A Friend
- I Eat Heavy Metal
- All Shall Be Well
- Was There Life
- Fast Food
- A Fool Says
- Fire
- New Life/Reprise
Free Music Notes for The Iron Man: A Musical
Free Music Review: 20 years ahead of its time: only in the post 9/11 new millenium does it seem relevant
Hit: 5 Stars
The Iron Man was released July 15, 1989 on Atlantic Records and peaked at #58 on U.S. billboard charts. It is based upon a 1968 children's novel written by British poet laureate Ted Hughes, but this Pete Townsend musical was clearly written for an adult audience. Many fans who related to Townsend's earlier works, directed towards the adolescent anti-establishment wave of the 1960s, don't get this album. Though I didn't get it in 1989 when it was released, now I feel it was his most visionary piece of work. Whether or not you relate to the baroque influenced metallic progressive sounds (completely uncharacteristic of his previous composition) Townsend brought Ted Hughes' allegorical tale to life 20 years after the story was written and forgotten about, and even so, his prophetic musical was 20 years ahead of it's time, with relevancy that only becomes clear in the post 9/11 new millennium.
The story:
Hogarth, a ten year old boy, watches a beautiful star falling towards him out of the sky.
Iron Man, a giant robot, appears over the hills and crashes off a cliff into the beach below. The fallen Iron Man pieces himself back together: a dislocated hand finds an eyeball, allowing the hand to see, and together they search for the other pieces, reassembling, until finally, the only thing left is a missing ear. The Iron Man walks under the sea to search for it. Later, he comes back to land and eats all the farm machinery across the countryside: an owl observes that he is protecting man from his inventions.
The farmers dig a large hole and Hogarth lures the Iron Man into it. They bury him as he makes eye contact with Hogarth. Hogarth feels remorse because the Iron Man had trusted him. The Iron Man frees himself, attracted by the sound of knives and forks used by picnickers nearby. He eats all military equipment he finds and the government plans a nuclear attack. Hogarth leads the Iron Man to a scrap metal yard, so he can eat his fill without bothering anyone further.
The beautiful star crashes to earth, turning out to be giant black space dragon. Hogarth falls in love with her beauty. The dragon tells all the nations of the world, who join to fight her but cannot hurt her, that she wants living flesh to eat or will destroy the planet. Hogarth realizes he has been a fool, and runs to the Iron Man for help.
The Iron Man challenges the dragon to a duel: if he can withstand the heat of burning petroleum longer than the dragon can withstand the heat of the sun, then she must become his slave. If she outlasts him then she may devour the planet.
The Iron Man prevails. He asks why she threatened the earth. She explains that she used to fly through the cosmos singing the music of the spheres until she saw the violence perpetrated by mankind's wars, and it excited her. The Iron Man orders her to follow behind the sunset forevermore, lulling humanity to peace by her song.
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