Who's back, and deliciously feisty for a geezer duo.

A year ago it would not have seemed possible that an album by the two remaining members of the Who would really be released in 2006, and less likely that I’d become entranced by a Pete Townshend composition these many, many years after his creative heyday. Defying all odds, both unexpected occurrences have come to pass, and gloriously so. I’m enjoying “Endless Wire” immensely.

The album’s finest moment in the pure sense of songwriting craftsmanship and lyrical content, and the object of my current fascination, is “A Man in a Purple Dress,” performed with a simple acoustic arrangement and enhanced by singer Roger Daltrey’s appropriately outraged, bilious delivery.

How dare you wear a robe to preside
How dare you cover your head to hide
Your face from God
How dare you smile from behind your beard
To hide the fact your heart's afeared,
And wave your rod
How dare you be the one to assess
Me, in this God-forsaken mess
You, a man, in a purple dress
A man in a purple dress

You are all the same
Gilded and absurd
Regal, fast to blame
Rulers by lost word
Men above men, or prats
With your high hats

You priest, you mullah so high
You pope, you wise rabbi
You're invisible to me
Like vapor from the sea

How dare you? Do you think I'll quietly go?
You are much braver than you know
For I can't die
Your staff, your stick, your special cap
They'll protect in Hell? What crap!
Believe the lie

How dare you be the one to assess
Me, in this God-forsaken mess
You, a man, in a purple dress
A man in a purple dress

When you place your frown
Between my God and prayer
However grand your crown
Or dignified your hair
Men above men, or prats
In your high hats
You priest, you mullah so high
You pope, you wise rabbi
You are invisible to me
Like vapor from the sea

I lovingly mock you noble lords
We all dress up to grant awards
I do that as well
I dare condemn your fashion sense
At least you're not astride a fence
That would not sell
But I will deliver this address
Your soul's condition don't impress
You, a man, in a purple dress
A man in a purple dress

It’s joyful balm for the anti-clerical rebel in those of us willing to question the nonsensical dictates of religious authority, but the dimensions of Pete’s spiritual side are not neglected, either. He’s no atheist, and in “God Speaks of Marty Robbins,” another acoustic gem, in the composer movingly sings of the fruits of Creation from the Creator’s vantage point:

I heard the heavens sing
Predicting Marty Robbins
I knew I'd find
Music and time
Were the perfect plan

Elsewhere on the album, perhaps “Black Widow’s Eyes” best conjures the instrumental glory of the old Who, as Zak Starkey’s drumming eerily shadows Keith Moon’s frantic rolls, and Pino Palladino offers a fine neo-Entwistle turn on bass. The “Wire & Glass” mini-opera, though uneven, nonetheless offers a kaleidoscope of vintage Who lyrical quotations, power riffs and typically unfinished Townshend ideas, and the end result is energetic and fun.

At the age of 30, Pete famously referred to himself as “a desperate old fart – but not boring!” Now he and Daltrey are in their early sixties, and as the new album’s nuances and textures strongly confirm, they’re far from boring, indeed.

That’s very good news for Who fans like me.