{"id":22570,"date":"2022-03-25T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22570"},"modified":"2022-05-19T08:45:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T12:45:41","slug":"march-through-time-pete-townshend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/25\/march-through-time-pete-townshend\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: Pete Townshend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22571\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_pete.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_pete.jpg 1200w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_pete-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_pete-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_pete-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_pete-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>As the primary songwriter for The Who, Pete Townshend created a staggeringly significant body of work. But he recognized that some of his material wasn\u2019t right for the group, so he launched a concurrent solo career. (We won\u2019t get into the way in which many of the songs on <i>Face Dances<\/i> and <i>It\u2019s Hard<\/i> seem like Pete solo tunes.) Even if one sets aside his work with The Who \u2013 which one should not do \u2013 Townshend\u2019s solo material is impressive. Here\u2019s a quick look at it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i><b>Who Came First<\/b><\/i><b> (1972)<\/b> \u2013 A modest release that feels a bit like a collection of demos, it nonetheless contains embryonic versions of some of Pete\u2019s best songs.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Rough Mix<\/b><\/i><b> (1977)<\/b> \u2013 A collaboration with Ronnie Lane, this one has a very different feel from The Who (and from Pete\u2019s other releases). More folk-leaning than one might expect.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Empty Glass<\/b><\/i><b> (1980)<\/b> \u2013 Pete\u2019s answer to punk. It\u2019s not punk itself, but the energy is there. It was a hit, and deserved that status.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes <\/b><\/i><b>(1982)<\/b> \u2013 A deeply idiosyncratic release on the heels of a hit LP, this one mystified many. But I consider it a high water mark, with great songs and thrilling production values.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>White City: A Novel<\/b><\/i><b> (1985)<\/b> \u2013 From this point out, Pete seems to have made the decision to steer clear of grand concepts with The Who, saving those for his solo albums. Overlooked at the time, <i>White City<\/i> (the film) was pretty interesting stuff, and the soundtrack is well worth hearing. Oddly, it\u2019s of a piece with albums made around the same time by David Gilmour and Roy Harper (<i>Whatever Happened to Jugula?<\/i>). Trust me.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Deep End Live!<\/b><\/i><b> (1986)<\/b> \u2013 Featuring a crack band that included David Gilmour and a horn section, this shows Pete as his most gleeful. No concept, little pretension, and lots of energy.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend<\/b><\/i><b> (1989)<\/b> \u2013 When Townshend applies his creativity to the work of others, the results are, alas, less compelling. Interesting but somewhat short of essential.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Psychoderelict<\/b><\/i><b> (1993)<\/b> \u2013 This one came in for all manner of brickbats. I think it\u2019s inspired \u2013 quite possibly <i>great<\/i>, even \u2013 and the songs are quite good. There also exists a \u201cmusic only\u201d version, but it\u2019s best avoided (though I seem to be alone in that viewpoint). Get the one with the dialogue. It\u2019s funny, and filled with the kind of self-knowledge and candor that characterizes Townshend\u2019s best work. Sadly, this record from nearly 30 years ago is to date the last solo release from Townshend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also worth tracking down are the several albums made under the <i>Scoop<\/i> label, featuring Townshend\u2019s demos. These show his skill as an arranger and songwriter, without the muscular context of The Who.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the primary songwriter for The Who, Pete Townshend created a staggeringly significant body of work. But he recognized that some of his material wasn\u2019t right for the group, so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[1689],"class_list":["post-22570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-pete-townshend","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22570"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22989,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22570\/revisions\/22989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}