A Mixed Tribute to Townshend

Pete Townshend’s greatest contribution to rock was the unique combination of intellect and emotion he infused in his music. While the mix has inspired countless fans and musicians, it is also what makes the music of the Who leader so difficult to reinterpret, because the songs demand great thought and feeling.

“The Songs of Pete Townshend,” a benefit tribute revue sponsored by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences on Saturday at Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, featured some valiant forays into the Townshend repertoire, yet yielded predictably mixed results. There was plenty of earnest emotion, but a bit too little imagination.

The evening’s most bizarre homage was by Ye Olde English, a Los Angeles octet that worked up an ambitious ska version of Townshend’s “Tommy” two years ago. As clever as the zesty renditions of “I’m Free” and “Pinball Wizard” were, the novelty factor tended to upstage the obvious affection for the rock opera.

Equally stylized, but more substantive, was actress-musician Ann Magnuson’s performance. After a dramatic entrance complete with velvet cloak, candle and caldron, she launched into a version of “The Acid Queen” that combined literary and pop culture references in a manner that simultaneously celebrated and poked fun at Townshend’s obsessions with both.

Magnuson conjured witch allusions from TV’s “Bewitched” to “Macbeth,” ending the song by dousing herself in stage blood a la Sissy Spacek in the film “Carrie.”

On a more low-key note, Love Jones (a quintet from Louisville, Ky., smartly clad in matching lounge-lizard outfits) delivered a winsome unplugged rendition of “One” as well as a warmly twisted cocktail version of “Behind Blue Eyes.”

Several of the evening’s other 12 artists opted for more straightforward interpretations of Townshend’s material, with the most powerful by the Plimsouls, the prized L.A. band from the ‘80s, and Permanent Green Light.

Because White Flag, the punk veterans who closed the show, were not allowed by event organizers to shatter equipment a la the Who, they improvised by miming the slow-motion destruction of their instruments, which they gently laid in quiet disarray all over the stage. Townshend would be proud.