Originally Posted by
theeggman
That statement is not very clear. What I think Townshend means by "more mature" is "more progressive rock". The Beatles did some progressive stuff at the end of their career like with You never give me your money or I want you, but they were not a progressive rock band. They wrote tunes. Art-pop-rock tunes but tunes.
In my opinion, they stopped at their peak really. They could have made one more terrific album with songs like Imagine, Jealous Guy, How?, Maybe I'm amazed, Junk, Every Night, My Sweet Lord, Isn't it a pity, What Is Life, I don't come easy, but after that point, their best years were behind them really.