Who Came First (1972)
Pete’s first unofficial yet 'official' solo album came about
due to a set of circumstances that that to do with bootlegs. Pete was signed to
Track Records, and due to his devotion to Meher Baba, he had contributed tracks
to two tribute albums to the guru, Happy Birthday and I Am. When
inferior copies were circulated in the US, Decca asked Pete for permission to
release the recordings, but Pete had other ideas, two songs from those tribute
albums would be included, and tracks from the abandoned Lifehouse project.
Those three Lifehouse songs were “Pure and Easy, Time Is Passing” and “Nothing
Is Everything (Let’s See Action)”. The tracks from the Tribute albums were
“Contact, Evolution” along with “Forever’s Not Time At All” and “Parvardigar”
The remaining tracks were “Sheraton Gibson” and the other cover “There’s A
Heartache Following Me”. The story about the album is more complicated when you
consider the six bonus tracks added from the Ryko Records reissue in 1992, as
well as the three remaining bonus tracks added in the Hip-O release from 2006.
Those added tracks included “His Hands, The Seeker, Day Of Silence, The Love
Man, Lantern Cabin, Mary Jane, I Always Say”, and the Cole Porter cover “Begin
The Beguine”
Regarding the Lifehouse recordings, Pete’s drums and bass
are pretty basic, he wasn’t going to compete with Moon and Entwistle – part of
his genius was always letting them put their own creative stamp in that band. Often the
Daltrey vocals added more power, for example, to “Nothing Is Everything” solo
recording. “Evolution” is a Ronnie Lane song that Pete contributed to – this
wouldn’t be the first time they would work together. “Sheraton Gibson” has
remained the most remembered and celebrated track from this period. Regarding the
bonus tracks, there’s an undeniable charm to songs like “Sleeping Dog” and
others. Of course, “Nothing” and “The Seeker” were recorded by The Who and
released as singles, this was just his take.
Rough Mix (1977)
Former Faces bass player, songwriter Ronnie Lane had
originally wanted Townshend to produce his solo project and it turned into a
collaboration. Yet Glyn Johns was brought in to produce it. During the period
between The Who’s By Numbers record and before Who Are You and
the record developed in earnest with an all-star cast of side players. Lane and
Townshend played, guitars, mandolins, banjos, bass, ukuleles and vocals. Pete
and Ronnie seemed to have a creative sympatico in the late 70s, and there is
often a light feeling on many tracks. The title track and instrumental was co-written by Lane and Townshend. The bulk of the songs would be sung by the
writer. Some of the all-star players included Eric Clapton, John Entwhisle, Mel
Collins, Ian Stewart, Charlie Watts, with support from players like John
“Rabbit” Bundrick, Boz Burrell, Henry Spinetti and Peter Hope Evans. Pete’s
primary songs were “My Baby Gives It Away, Keep Me Turning, Heart To Hang Onto”
and the two most known tracks “Misunderstood” and “Street In The City”. Pete
did trade some lead vocal lines on a few Lane numbers. “Misunderstood” has a
certain unique whimsy, and “Street In The City” has a certain lush
introspection in the arrangement, and it’s not the last time he would work with
arranger Ed Ashley.
Empty Glass (1980)
After Keith Moon passed, The Who were facing their embers,
they soldiered on with Kenny Jones, another Faces alumni, but Townshend must
have sensed the diminishing returns for the band, as I previously suggested,
some would feel Pete was holding back his better songs for himself. In many
respects Empty Glass was a tour de force and a massive hit. Chris Thomas, an
alumnus of George Martin, was brought in to Produce. Musicians like John
“Rabbitt” Bundrick, Tony Butler, Simon Philips, Kenny Jones and Peter Hope
Evans were brought in, while Pete handled the guitars and many keyboard parts.
The album loosely explored themes of the loss of friends, alcoholism, drugs and
relationship problems. His self-reflection and self-confession had started as
far back as 1975, but it was far more evolved by this point.
The opening track, “Rough Boys” was a shot across the bow
that he hadn’t lost his edge with its cluster of horns at the end, it was the
second hit after the significant “Let My Love Open The Door” became massive
single. “And I Moved” was originally written for Bette Midler, who passed on it,
but it raised eyebrows with some over the question if Pete was Bisexual. The
excellent “I Am An Animal” was another type of confessional. “A Little Is
Enough” would be another single, as well as the whimsy of “Keep On Working” Certainly,
the group of “Boys, Animal, Moved” and “Open The Door” demonstrated a new range
to Townshend. The title track, “Empty Glass” was another spry guitar number
with interesting shifts. It also had other lively numbers like “Jools and Jim,
Cats In The Cupboard”, and the pop rock blues of “Gonna Get Ya”. “Cats”
features some great organ work in the mix. Pete sounded liberated on the album,
and it would be the start of more bold risks.
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All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982)
The follow up to Empty Glass triggered a significant amount of
critical controversy, which we will get into in a moment. Once again, it was
Produced by Chris Thomas and retained some of the same players as the prior
album, Tony Butler, Simon Phillips, Mark Brzezzicki, Peter Hope Evans and new faces like Virginia Astley. Pete
played all guitars and synths like the Prophet, ARP and Synclavier. Some of the
material were tracks not used by The Who, but it also reflected a willingness
to be influenced by the new wave scene. There has been hints of this influence
on Empty Glass, but it was more pronounced here. Pete might have been listening to the Stadium rock trends that were ubiquitous.
In the
same declaration of intent, the album opens with “Stop Hurting People”, a
partly spoken tone poem with a musically rich chorus, bridge and ending
section. The keyboards with guitars feel fuller, and the track hints at a more
orchestral sound for the album. The great “The Sea Refuses No River” opens with
a slow burn yet with a clever Harmonica line. The drums and percussion is far
more inventive on the first two tracks. The lovely “Prelude” features piano,
synths, acoustic guitar and a simple vocal that leaves the mental image of an
old man lamenting the work. The spry “Face Dances Pt 2” is the most up number
as it was the single and reached the top 20. “Exquisitely Bored” begins as a
folk blues that is insightful about human nature, yet also manages a Reggae
feel in places. The second half opens with a few more experimental numbers,
“Communication” could have been a throw back to The Who, with another tone
poem, the track has a similar feel to The Who's "Cry If You Want" from that very year. “Stardom In Action” is idiosyncratic yet lively, the same is true with
the new wave feel of “Uniforms (Corp D’Esprit)”, the playful, yet insightful
“North Country Girl” plays like a memory. The excellent “Somebody Saved Me”
feels like a self-confession. The closer “Slit Skirts” is the most remembered
track and the most likely single, the Joni Mitchell influence is hard to miss on the track. The maturity and honesty of the record makes
this one fascinating.
Scoop (1983)
If you
want to see a bold move, the compilation of Scoop would have been a surprise
after his second album. Complied by the alias ‘Spike’ Producer Helen Wilkins
put together this collection that featured home recording and demo material
from as far back as 1965 featured such future Who numbers as “So Sad About Us,
Squeeze Box,” Piano from “Quadrophenia” as well as “Bargain” and “Behind Blue
Eyes, Circles, Magic Bus, Cache, Cache” and “Love, Reign O’er Me”. A lot of the
experimental material was fascinating as well, “Brrr” “Zelda, Politician, Dirty
Water” a Piano vamp on “Tipperary”, and such tracks as “Melancholia, Things
Have Changed”, and “Popular” which was re-written as “It’s Hard” on the Who
album, the moody “Initial Machine Experiments” from a Yamaha CS-80, “Body Language”
was another similar voice experimentation from the Chinese Eyes sessions. “You’re
So Clever” was another electro track submitted for Bette Midler. After the
country dobro of “Cookin’”. The last half couldn’t have been more audacious in
it’s range, “Mary” was a lovely ballad from the abandoned Lifehouse sessions.
After the noddle of “Recorders”, you had the psychedelic feel of “Goin’
Fishin’, a clear nod to Brian Wilsom, then the jazzy “To Barney Kessell” and
the playful “You Came Back”, even absent drums – it was a delight.
The album
featured extensive liner notes from Mr. Townshend that offered a glimpse into
his creative process. This would not be the first of these compilations, but
the generous offering must have been interesting as a next release. Pete almost
played just about everything on these recording, including bass and drums with
a few notations. What makes the recordings so inspiring is that Townshend isn’t
just recording demos, he is often using the technology to experiment with audio
effects or microphone positions to leave the listener with an immersive
experience, there’s real artistry within the craft.
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White
City (A Novel) (1985)
His next album had a
loose narrative within a number of the songs that takes place in a low income
West district of White City and a circle of youth struggling with survival and
their dreams as well as racial tensions. The accompanying film directed by
Richard Lowenstein about an aging rock star with concerns about South African Apartheid
that does a charity concert for his former neighborhood growing up. All of this
is where the ‘novel’ idea applies, but the album works as a standalone full of
great songs. Townshend managed to release three singles from the album “Face
The Face, Give Blood” and Secondhand Love”. Once again the album was produced
by Chris Thomas. Some newer faces supported Pete on the project. David Gilmour
played guitar on “Give Blood” and guitar on the co-written “White City Fighting”.
Once again, John “Rabbit” Bundrick, Tony Butler, Mark Brzezicki, Simon Philips,
Peter Hope Evans returned along with Pino Palladino, Phil Chen and Clem Burke.
Pete just played Guitar.
The
opener, “Give Blood” has some powerful guitar work from Gilmour, and was a plea
for non-violence and world peace, it was also a top five single in America.
“Face The Face” was the other top 30 single in the US, a modern yet retro swing
number with horns that reconnected with Pete’s father’s big band jazz
background. The bright and poppy “Brilliant Blues” managed to be reflective
about maturing. Pete might be one of the rare rockstars from the 60s who
realized he needed to grow up. The poppy “Hiding Out” manages to have a world
music influence. The driving blues of “Secondhand Love” had an updated edge and
released as another single. The edgy “Crashing By Design” had the most pop new
wave feel on the album. The lovely, and partly acoustic “I Am Secure” is
deceptive, it opens with a heavy two
chord groove before it shifts to the proper acoustic song. The aforementioned
“White City Fighting” has a compelling guitar figure by Gilmour before it
becomes lively. A reflection that the character childhood life wasn’t rosy as
was remembered. Pete also adds some great extra lead guitar in the last half. The
closer “Come To Mama” has a slow, instrumental build before coming to life in
the second half with the vocal. A surprisingly solid album, and not surprisingly
it did well.
Deep
End, Live! (1986)
Pete assembled
a stellar band to promote White City, and did a series of charity
concerts, and his appearance Brixton Academy in late 85, it was a mix of solo
material, Who classics and various covers. Aside from Pete on guitar and
vocals, it featured Gilmour on guitar, Simon Phillips, Chucho Merchan, once
again John “Rabbitt” Bundrick, Jody Linscott, Peter Hope Evans, and the Kick
Horns of Simon C. Clarke, Tim Sanders, and Roddy Lorimer. The show held a high
quality and vibrancy. The track “After The Fire” was a Townshend original that
featured on Roger Daltrey’s Under A Raging Moon. The numbers by the Who
were “Behind Blue Eyes, I’m One, Pinball Wizard” and on the extended issue,
“Magic Bus, Won’t Get Fooled Again” The covers included a new take on “Eyesight
To The Blind” The solo tracks included, “Stop Hurting People” and “A Little Is
Enough”, the other covers new takes on “I Put A Spell On You, Save It For Later”
and “Barefootin’”. Much of Gilmour’s input is supportive but he has his moments
in the spotlight and virtuoso Evans has a few moments to shine. There’s a
certain freedom and interplay within the band. The live “Save It For Later”
differs from the studio take that was included as a ‘b’ side. In later interviews
Townshend would comment about his ambivalence about performing live yet the
feel of the material has a fun, spry spirit and worth a listen.
Another
Scoop (1987)
Sales from
the first Scoop compilation must have done well enough to justify another two
disc collection, of course, Pete had already reached iconic stature at this
juncture, so that helped. Producer Helen Wilkins came back to oversee the
project. Once again, it featured a wealth of demos for who material. “You
Better You Bet, Pinball Wizard, Happy Jack, Substitute, Long Live Rock,
La-La-La Lies, Christmas, Pictures Of Lily, Don’t Let Go The Coat, The Kids Are
Alright” and “Call Me Lighting”, a drum less track that has some good guitar,
bass, and decent guitar leads for 64. But the most impressive aspect is the
originals, many from his home studios, and others are proper sessions with an
orchestra that were shelved. To Begin with, there’s the incredible piano ballad
“Brooklin Kids” and the acoustic “Praying The Game” from 78, all arranged by Ted Ashley, the idiosyncratic
“Football Fugue” or the evocative “The Ferryman”, three tracks that were
shelved and one is puzzled as to why.
Just
looking at the instrumental synth material. “Prelude: #556” sounds like an
outtake from Vangelis ‘Blade Runner’, technically, “Prelude: The Right To
Write” as an orchestral synth piece that was impressively put together. The
moody “Baroque Ippanese” is a light electro percussion and synth piece, and
“Cat Scratch” is a complex blend of electric percussion and random synth
patters that is evocative. “Ask Yourself” is an adventurous instrumental and
vocal that harkens back to ‘Eminence Front’, that takes a surprise shift. The
vocal cover of Porter’s “Begin The Beguine” is lovely, and he even took a stab
at a Sinatra flavored number with “Never Ask Me”. The laid back “The Shout”
with light percussion, acoustic and Piano was an interesting summation of where
he was before 85. The poppy “Girl In A Suitcase” may be a little out of his
range vocally, but quite good.
The range
makes this an impressive collection.
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The
Iron Man (1989)
This is
more a full project collaboration than a Townshend solo album, the project was
inspired by his interest in the Ted Hughes tale of the same name from the late
60s and he wanted to build a narrative concept. A noble idea that featured an all
star cast of singers and musicians. The first thing that was notable is the
addition of Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle under the banner of The Who, for
two songs. Plus the appearance of a blues legend like John Lee Hooker on
several tracks or jazz piano legend Nina Simone on a track. Other songs
featured Simon Townshend and Deborah Conway. Aside from Pete other musicians
were Simon Phillips, Charlie Morgan, Chucho Merchan, John “Rabbitt” Bundrick,
Peter Beachill, John Barkley, Patrick Clabzrv, and Pat Halling.
The
premise is fairly straightforward, a Giant metal robot rises from the oceans,
settles on a beach and befriends a boy named Hogarth, who after being
frightened befriends the bemouth . Hogarth witnesses the machine fall, shatter,
then put itself together again, before heading back to the sea, in a panic the
boy runs, and later finds the Iron Man eating whatever scrap metal he finds.
The boy runs to his father and the local farming community digs a hole and
try’s to trap, but the machine isn’t tricked. The boy has to lure him into the
trap with a metal bribe. After which the boy feels guilt after he starts to
develop a connection with the metal man. The machine is freed and Hogarth leads
him to a scrap metal yard. The machine starts to deal with waste problems. At
the start of the tale, there has been a star in the horizon the grows closer,
it is a massive space dragon that lands in Australia, nearly covering the
continent, it demands living things to eat or it will destroy the planet.
Globally military efforts fail and Hogarth asks the metal man to be their
champion, and he agrees. They face each
other in the ordeal of a challenge by fire. The dragon gives up, and it is
learned he was attracted to the negative things on earth, the dragon’s original
purpose was the create celestial music, the creature is sent back into space
and the Iron Man becomes a hero.
With some
of the more abstract ideas in the second half of the tale, it makes sense that
Townshend would be attracted to it. Many of Townshend’s songs have a
philosophical bent to them on the project. Most of Pete’s solo vocal tracks
are “I Won’t Run Any More, A Friend Is A
Friend, Was There Life,” and “A Fool Says…” John Lee Hooker’s vocals are “Over
The Top, I Eat Heavy Metal:” The Who perform “Dig” and “Fire”. Simon Townshend
sings “Man Machines”, and Nina Simone performs “Fast Food”, there’s also the more
ensemble of “All Shall Be Well” and “New Life / Reprise” with Townshend,
Deborah Conway, Chyna, Nicola Emmanual. “Fire” is a cover of an Authur Brown
song, and it’s a little heavy handed with the standard 80s production. The
album is strongest with the more introspective songs sung by Pete. In many
respects, the idea of the album reminds me of the 1969 Jesus Christ Superstar album that acted as a template for the later Broadway show – well get back to
that in a moment. Yet the absence of Producers Chris Thomas or Glyn Johns was
notable as Townshend was the producer. There was a lack of quality control that
the sure hand of an outside producer could have helped with. The album was
reviewed poorly as people didn’t understand it. But stage musicals were on the
way for both Tommy and this project.
The
concept paid off as a theatrical staged version debuted at the Young Vic in
late 1993 and ran for several months. The story didn’t end there as Hollywood
decided in 1994 to develop the story for an animated feature. While Townshend’s
work wasn’t used in the finished film, The Iron Giant, directed by Brad Bird,
and written by Tim McCanlies, was Executive Produced by Townshend, and became
highly regarded as an animated film.
Psychoderelict (1993)
What’s
interesting about the bulk of Pete’s solo work is that he wasn’t doing concept
records for most of it. There may have been general themes, but most were
individual songs. It makes it fascinating that he went back to the narrative
concept, and while The Iron Man may have seemed a focused outlier, he
had committed to this approach with this album. Two versions of this album was
released, the full narrative scope and a ‘songs only’ release. It was
structured more like a radio play, and while it doesn’t reach the heights
of Quadrophenia, it does share a
similar ambition. The album was produced by Townshend and it faces the same
issue as the prior album, it needed a Chris Thomas or Glyn Johns to exert the
extra quality control, but indeed there’s a greater focus than on the prior album,
just a few choices drop the result down.
Aside from
Townshend, the album featured many of the standard players, Bundrick, Brzezicki,
Hope-Evans, members of the Kick horns, and a wide roster of musicians, singers
and voice actors that helped the project along. Some of the guitar work doesn’t
sound characteristic as Townshend wasn’t the only player, as Phil Palmer and
Billy Nichols did play on the album. Perhaps this was done to compete with the
popularity of alternative rock players at the time, hard to say. I had to
listen to the music only version as well as the full album to access it. The story has to do with an aging rock star
with addiction issues, named Ray High, who get’s cynically used by his manager
and a critic to revive his career, and bring back a long abandoned project to
keep his relevance, in the process Ray gets entangled with a underage girl*,
actually the critic, a teen, and that leads to murky and questionable waters. In time, the critic
takes credit for a hit song Ray wrote.
“English
Boy” is the strongest cut on the album and not surprised it was the single. “Let’s Get Pretentious” is the second best
number. “Meher Baba M3 and M4” as instrumentals take nods to Who’s Next
and Who Are You. “Early Morning Dreams” has some nice vocal harmonies, “I
Want That Thing” opens with some in depth keyboard work before it edges into a
60s nod. Some light drums and bass drives “Outlive The Dinosaur” along with
some funky acoustic. Some gothic organ leans into the laidback “Now And Then”,
it features a strong chorus, The pop leaning “I Am Afraid” is pensive, but some
great bass work anchors this. A false start sets up the up-tempo “Don’t Try To
Make Me Real”. The next number, the laid back blues of “Predictable” has some nice harmonies. The heavy and
up-tempo “Flame” features another great lead vocalist. The keyboards of “Meher
Baba M5” take a variation of the accordion from “Squeeze Box” with some clever
over lapping synths. The closer takes a nod to 60s 12-string electric with
“Fake it”.
If
anything, the narrative helps take away from some good songs, the same problem
would face David Bowie with Outside two years later.
Scoop 3 (2001)
The third,
and allegedly, final of the two disc compilations of demos and released
recording, The album was released and offered directly from his website,
seemingly to by- pass record label issues Many of the songs were from The Who, “The
Real Me, No Way Out (However Much I Booze), Sea And Sand, Eminence Front, Did
You Steal My Money? How Can You Do It Alone,” Or “Theresa (Athena)” or
“Variations on Dirty Jobs” or cuts from his solo albums. The German version of
“Parvardigar”, “I Am Afraid, Tough Boys, Iron Man Recitative, Outlive The
Dinosaur, Man and Machines, It’s In Ya”.
Often it is the unreleased material that has been delightful, another acoustic version of
“Dirty War”, another track from the White City, “Commonwealth Boys”, a number
with a driving beat, guitar and piano and an ‘outside’ piano section. “Theme
15, 16 and 17” is a variation on a synth instrumental, curious, but not
essential. The acoustic “Marty Robbins” is a plaintive and lovely little number.
“I Like It The Way It Is” is from the same 78 Ted Ashley session, a self-admission
of a man who doesn’t want to change his habits, more stunning work. “Collings”
is another acoustic number. At times Pete is a vastly underrated acoustic
player. The self-explanatory “971104 Arpeggio Piano” is a vibrant, digital
piano and synthesizer sort of prelude. “Maxims For Lunch” is an electronic
blues pop, and guitar, that has a certain whimsey, painting a picture of a
slice of life moment. “Wistful” is another acoustic blues number with a few
nice Jazz dynamics. “Lonely Words” sounds like a polished, country flavored
ballad with some nice organ work.
“Prelude 970519”
is a nice and brief Piano synth piece. The Synth string based “Iron Man
Recitative” is another song narrative that retains the child like quality of
the tale. “All Lovers Are Deranged” is a very different version from the David
Gilmour take from his About Face album, this is far more pop and melodic.
“Elephants” is a moody, blues based, synthesizer groove, interesting layers. “Wired
To The Moon, Pt 2” is another atmospheric piano piece with a vocal
improvisation. “Poem Disturbed” is a live piano and synth moment. Lastly,
there’s “Squirm Squirm” is a charming acoustic and vocal number, it’s child
like quality is similar to ‘Sleeping Dog’. The compilation does a good job representing
where he was at, even if some of the material doesn’t have the same dynamic as
the prior Scoop albums.
