Review: Pete Townshend’s Box Set ‘The Studio Albums’ – His Reluctant Solo Career
Pete Townshend, guitarist, sometimes vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who has released a box set containing all seven of his solo studio albums. The box is actually 8 CDs (and released only on CD). There’s a “bonus” disc that contains a version of Psychoderelict without the dialogue of the characters running over the music, which is a welcome upgrade. Much like the recent box set David Lee Roth released, there is no additional bonus material on any of the albums. No demo’s or outtakes to be found which is too bad. This is on the heels of Townshend releasing the 14-disc Live In Concert 1985 – 2001 last year that contained every live album he’d ever put out. With these big box sets it feels like Pete is cleaning out his garage. “Here’s… well… everything.”
Most fans of the Who probably followed Pete along into his solo career – when he finally decided to commit to a solo career – but my journey was strangely different. I was actually a Townshend fan before I was a Who fan. I started listening to rock n roll music in late ’77 or early ’78 but somehow missed out on 1978’s Who Are You? (until later). I dug the Who but I didn’t own any Who yet. What I thought was Pete’s first solo album, Empty Glass, came out in 1980 and I bought it immediately. I loved that album. Sadly I purchased it on cassette instead of vinyl (although my friend Drew gave me a copy of it on vinyl when I was in college). It wasn’t until Face Dances came out in 1981 that I bought my first Who album. And yes, I realize it’s one of those albums only I like. I quickly picked up Who’s Next as I began to really get into this band and their leader.
I read somewhere Pete quoted as saying, “I don’t like the Who very much.” But when I look back at his slow entrance into his solo career, I kind of think he dug his day job more than he’s letting on. His first solo album was put together from recordings he’d made to honor his guru, Meher Baba. He’d put out a limited number of copies of the record and it ended up getting highly bootlegged so he acquiesced to the record company and agreed to releasing it as Who Came First. His second solo album was jointly done with Ronnie Lane, formerly of the Faces, Rough Mix. Ronnie was also a follower of Meher Baba. Both of those first Townshend “solo” albums were rather understated. Not exactly Sting trying to launch himself out of the Police into solo stardom. These were really more like side projects. Four of his seven solo records were released while the Who was still a working band which means he’s only put out 3 solo records since 1985, and none since 1993.
Townshend’s most high profile era of his solo career was probably 1980 to 1986. He released his three most popular, accessible albums over that span… and his first live album Deep End Live! I also read somewhere that he said he started the solo career and then realized it was the same “grind” of write/record/release an album then tour. He already did that with the Who, why take on that much extra work? His last two solo records are more intensely tied to a story and are full-blown “concept albums.” As big a fan I am of Pete’s, I struggle with those two final solo albums.
Regardless of my feelings about those last two albums, there is a lot to love in Pete’s solo catalog. I absolutely loved the aforementioned Live In Concert: 1985 to 2001. Townshend is such a great songwriter. I realize that he can be very artsy, to the point of being pretentious. Some of his songs are very wordy as well, but the ideas and emotions he express really grab me, the same way his songwriting in the Who did. If you don’t own any Pete, this box is as good a way as any to catch up on this rich catalog. But alas, much like Roth’s box mentioned above, it does demonstrate the law of diminishing returns.
Here are my thoughts on each of his solo albums:
Who Came First (1972)
I already wrote a review of this album when a deluxe 2-disc version came out a few years ago. That deluxe version I wrote about was expanded almost as much as the Who’s Odds and Sods has been expanded over the years. The Deluxe version was a clearing house for all the rest of the material he had been recording for Meher Baba at the time. I love this record. It’s mostly acoustic. It’s got Pete’s solo versions of “Pure And Easy,” and “Time Is Passing,” both later recorded by the Who. My favorite song is “Sheraton Gibson,” a little acoustic ditty about being alone on the road with your guitar. If you’re looking for the bombast of the Who, you won’t find it here. This is the original, single disc version of the record as it first appeared. It’s just a great, understated album.
Rough Mix (with Ronnie Lane, 1977)
Ronnie Lane, formerly of the Faces, approached his friend Pete Townshend to produce this album, but Pete ended up turning it into a joint project. Lane wanted to write songs together, but Pete doesn’t “co-write,” so you get a selection of songs from both Pete and Ronnie. This is another understated gem of an album. If you’re a fan of Pete (or by extension, the Who) or Lane (or by extension, the Faces) this is wonderful union of those two bands. They have some great guests show up: Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts, John Entwistle, and Ian Stewart, to name but a few. Ronnie Lane may not be, say, Rod Stewart on vocals but he was a great song writer and “Annie” and “April Fool” are classic songs that deserve to be heard. If I ever see this in the used vinyl shop, I’m grabbing it and not letting go. Pete’s contributions are really inspired on this record. “My Baby Gives It Away” is the most awkward love song ever but at least it rocks. “Keep Me Turning” and “Street In The City” are also great tunes that pop up occasionally on greatest hits albums. “Heart to Hang Onto” is a duet between Pete and Ronnie (and has been done by Pete and Eddie Vedder in latter years) and it’s the jewel in a sparkling album. And the great “Misunderstood” is quoted above and might be my mantra.
Empty Glass (1980)
This one is probably my favorite… of course it is, it was my first Townshend purchase. The hit “Rough Boys” was inspired by the punk rockers of the time. I just loved the riff. “Let My Love Open The Door” was another big hit. “Let my love open the door, to your heart,” gets me every time. “Gonna Get Ya” was an epic riff rocker that I’ve always loved. There are great deeper cuts here as well, like “Jools And Jim” about the media’s treatment of Keith Moon’s passing and “Empty Glass” with the great lyric, “I stand with my guitar, all I needs a mirror and I’m a star.” “A Little Is Enough,” is another stunner with it’s lyric, “Your love is like heroin, this addict is mellowing.” It was pretty obvious Pete was struggling with addictions to booze and heroin, but I’m right there with him lyrically! This is the quintessential Pete solo album.
All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982)
The title is a dead giveaway that this is going to be the wordiest entry in the Townshend catalog. I remember hearing “Stardom In Action” late at night on the clock radio, but not much else on the local radio. It wasn’t until I got to college and saw the video for “Slit Skirts” (which I love) that I bought the album. The spoken word intro “Stop Hurting People” has only grown on me over the years as I’ve come to understand it. “The Sea Refuses No River” is a great, underrated song. “Face Dances, Pt 2” is a wonderful pop song. “Exquisitely Bored” details Pete’s time in a California rehab clinic, kicking heroin. But for me, the best track, the one that I connected with the most is “Somebody Saved Me.” It’s about that temporary sadness you feel when you miss out on something, mostly a lover, and realize that you were lucky you didn’t get what you wanted. “Somebody saved me from a fate worse than Heaven, ‘Cause if I’d had her for just an hour, I’d have wanted her forever…” I’ve been there… “Uniforms,” about the fashion industry has Pete’s funniest line, “I am frightened, you are frightened, should we get our trousers tightened?”
White City (A Novel) – (1985)
The first single, “Face The Face,” with all the cacophony of horns, threw me off but after his last two albums I bought this one the day it came out. When I heard the first track, with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd also on guitar, it hit me in the lower brain stem – “Give Blood.” That track still resonates today. Every story about Veterans I read, I think about the lyric, “Give blood, They will cry and say they’re in our debt, Give blood, But then they’ll sigh and they will soon forget…” There’s a blues scorcher on here, “Second Hand Love,” that the Rock Chick loves. I chose “Give Blood” for my 1985 Playlist, but it was a close call. “Crashing By Design” could be my theme song from that era. “Hiding Out” has a slight island feel and could be my theme song today… “White City Fighting” is another epic, rocker that lifts me out of my seat. Forget the concept behind this one, it’s a great album full of great songs.
Iron Man: The Musical (1989)
And then, the wheels came off. Maybe because this is built on a children’s book and not Pete’s own weird concept this one just lost me. I bought it early, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of “A Friend Is A Friend.” Listening to it this week, it’s an okay ballad. I bought this album because I was a huge Townshend solo fan by this point and there were two songs listed as being by The Who, their first work together since the break up in the early 80s. I was… disappointed. The main question that remains for me on this one is, how in the world did Pete talk John Lee Hooker and Nina Simone to participate on this thing? I can’t imagine coming back to this record.
Psychodererlict (1993)
Another deeply confusing concept album, this one lost me. The non-dialogue version is probably better but other than “English Boy,” I just don’t like the songs on this one. I remember my buddy, Young Goodman Brown, really liked this. They did a performance of this and broadcast it on PBS but I couldn’t watch it. I kept thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if they broke into “Let My Love Open The Door” here?” They didn’t. This one is for the deep Pete Townshend fanatics out there. And here I thought I was one?
Despite the last two records – which have a track or two worth exploring – I still think Townshend’s solo career is worth spelunking around in. There’s so much great stuff he did over the years. It’s too bad he didn’t do more in his solo career but I know he was immersed in writing projects and with Broadway so he got his creative Jones satisfied through those activities. The box, with basically 8 discs, is relatively reasonably priced. If you’ve never explored Pete’s solo work this might be a good way to start to do so. Again, there’s some great rock n roll to be found.
Cheers!
“Give me a heart to hang onto, Give me a soul that’s tailored new, Give me a heart to hang onto…” Oh, I’ve been there too…
Great post. I’ve never been the biggest Who/Townshend fan, but appreciate their/his work. My dad, however, was big into Townshend, so I heard my share of his solo albums growing up. I know he played The Iron Man a bunch when it was released, but I can’t remember any of it other than the song you mention. And I don’t even know if he got Psychodererlict or not, I’m guessing if he did it got played once or twice, then forgotten.
It is interesting to think about how little of a solo career he’s had, and compare it to the other giant bands (other than the Beatles): Often “the architect” of the band’s sound was content to put out an occasional solo project, vs. “the face” who would attempt a real solo career with various shades of success. Compare Townshend to Roger Daltrey, who really tried, but I can only remember that “After the Fire” song, which was written by Townshend. At least Daltrey’s stuff is less embarrassing than Jagger’s attempt. Yet Keith Richards can put out the occasional solo record without much fuss or effort, and it’s miles better than Mick’s stuff. The only case that reverses this trend is Robert Plant, who’s had a long and successful solo career with memorable songs and albums. Jimmy Page has done several things since Zep broke up, all of them okay at best (I do have a soft spot for his only true solo record Outrider), but he seems more content with re-re-re-releasing old Zeppelin stuff. I guess with a legacy like that, a band whose music will be discovered by 13 year olds into eternity, why try anything new?
I’ve always been surprised Pete basically gave up on a solo career outside of the occasional single. Jimmy Page’s career post Zeppelin is muddled at best. Like you mentioned he seems content to be Zeppelin’s chief historian vs doing anything new. I’ve always loved Keith Richards solo stuff and have reviewed a lot of it… Mick did do 2 decent solo albums that were largely ignored, ‘Wandering Spirit,’ produced by Rick Rubin and ‘Goddess In The Doorway,’ that are both worth exploring. But I agree, I like Keef’s solo stuff and have lot more! Thanks so much for sharing! Cheers!
“Muddled” is a good descriptor of Page’s solo career. The Firm had promise, but the songwriting wasn’t that inspired, and I’m not much of a fan of Tony Franklin’s fretless basswork. (Fretless isn’t bad in itself, but much like I feel about slap bass, it has to be strategically used.) It’s almost as if he wrote so many killer riffs between 1968 and 1975, his well was dry.
I don’t believe I heard those two solo albums of Jagger you mentioned. All I know is
Who’sShe’s the Boss and Primitive Cool, which were a big deal when released then quickly forgotten. Of interest is the longform video/movie he put out as a companion to She’s the Boss, called Running out of Luck. It has him, Jerry Hall, Rae Dawn Chung, and uh, Dennis Hopper? Mick gets kidnapped in Brazil and has to find his way back to civilization (while doing a couple song-and-dance routines along the way.) Directed by Julien Temple, who somehow figured out a way to go even lower than his disastrous Absolute Beginners movie musical. It would probably be on the lists of Worst Movies Ever Made (and a candidate for MST3K) if anyone knew about it…Page went deep into a heroin haze after Bonham died. He didn’t touch the guitar for a year. I think the Firm was his first foray back into making serious, non soundtrack music but he was in rebuilding mode as a player. I don’t really think he pulled it together until that second Page Plant tour. But yes, the Firm, a band whose wagon I jumped on immediately never did live up to the “super” in the “supergroup” moniker. And I’m w/ you on Tony Franklin’s bass playing… abysmal.
Gads, I didn’t even know about Jagger’s movie. I liked that first single, “Just Another Night” as it had slight reggae underpinnings but the rest of ‘She’s the Boss’ left me stone cold. ‘Primitive Cool’ was even worse. It was so bad and coupled with the relative ease with which Keith put out his first solo album that everyone loved, he was forced to go back to the Stones. So there was a silver lining. Cheers!
Yeah, Bonham’s death sent Page into a spiral. He was already on smack, but that pushed him even further into the abyss. Plant had a brief moment of indecision after Zeppelin broke up (for a hot second he wanted to be a teacher!) but regrouped and never looked back for the most part.
I will say that at least Page seemed to be into The Firm and gave it his all, even though it wasn’t enough because of the ingredients involved, his diminishing playing ability, or both. He was into The Firm enough that one of the reasons why the secret Zeppelin reunion after Live Aid in 1985 (with Tony Thompson on drums) fell apart was because Page was intent on getting back to work on the second Firm album, an album that only Page/Paul Rodgers superfans still remember. Maybe he wanted to prove himself with his new band, maybe the dark cloud of Bonham’s passing hung too low over the proceedings. But I still find that amazing because a) Plant was actually into the reunion, the only time he wasn’t doing it out of obligation. Perhaps he was unsure of himself after the surprise success of his “Sea of Love” cover (he worried he’d be known as a “crooner”) and the relative failure of “Shaken ‘n’ Stirred” (an underrated album, but too much synth). (Plant would recover by adding more Zep into “Now and Zen”, an album also with too much synth.) And b) Page was into every other Zep reunion, wants more reunions, and is mad that Plant doesn’t want to do it.
“Just Another Night” was a decent enough song. You are right about the reggae influence, having the crack Jamaican rhythm section of Sly and Robbie doesn’t hurt. They were on a lot of 80’s albums, including the contemporary Empire Burlesque by Dylan. She’s the Boss had a large and amazing selection of musicians, so much so that it’s probably easier to say who wasn’t on the album than who has. But a lot of great musicians does not make a great album. I love the bitchy quote from Richard’s Life memoir about the album: “Everybody had a copy, but nobody listened to it.”
This is interesting. What I’d always heard about that time period was that Plant was indeed shocked about the success of the Honeydrippers – Ahmet Ertegun talked him into doing it at stripper bar – and that he was emboldened because it was so different than Zeppelin. He went into the studio for ‘Shaken N Stirred’ wanting to get even farther away from that Zeppelin sound. He sings repeatedly on “Little By Little,” the words “I can breathe again.” He seemed free. I heard his guitar player describe the album and “Little By Little” as saying, Plant wanted to get so far away from the Zeppelin sound that eventually we traveled all the way back to that basic sound on “Little By Little.” After Live Aid Plant was considering a reunion with Zeppelin but I’d heard that because the performance was so awful he was convinced that Page couldn’t pull it off so he demurred. Page went back to the Firm and Plant fired his band. He was approached with a demo tape from Phil Johnstone and some of the guys that ended up in his new band and they pushed for a more Zeppelin sound on ‘Now And Zen.’ They even sampled some of Page’s riffs for a few of the songs. The mid 80s were certainly a tumultuous time for these guys. It was only like 5 years since Bonham had died so I would guess his ghost was a strong presence in all of this…
Keith was always so brutal about Mick’s solo work… But his watching Mick make a mess of all of those musicians made Keith realize he needed a solid backing band – one who could play on every track – and so he recruited drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Charlie Drayton, and guitarist Waddy Wachtel and dubbed them the Xpensive Wino. Keith understood that chemistry amongst the players was as key as the caliber of the musicians, something Mick forgot.
I bought ‘Empire Burlesque’ and I agree with Springsteen who said, if anybody else had released that album it’d have been heralded as a great record. Although, admittedly the production is very dated… It was the last album Dylan would do before falling off a cliff creatively.
Ah, the mid-80s, a crazy time.
The “secret reunion” was talked about in the big Rolling Stone interview Plant did around the time of Now and Zen’s release. It was the surviving three plus Tony Thompson, and they hid away in some English village to rehearse and see if anything would come of it. The big reason it fell apart was Thompson got into a car crash, but IIRC Plant mentioned that Page didn’t seem fully on-board.
And that’s the irony, because this is the only time that Plant would acquiesce to something like this, every other time seemed to be out of pained obligation, whereas it seems like Page would reform Zep at the drop of a hat if Plant signed on. (And I’m sure Page is cross that Plant didn’t want to do a full tour and more after the success of the Celebration Day concert, whereas Plant probably breathed a sigh of relief, “Finally, a competent reunion! I don’t ever have to do this again.”) And I wonder how much of this willingness was due to the cool reception of Shaken ‘n’ Stirred and the surprise success of The Honeydrippers, like “well, my solo career is floundering, might as well reform Zeppelin.” The relative success of Now and Zen got his confidence back, he didn’t need to try that again. Yes, he did reunite with Page, but a) it was on his terms and b) it was Zeppelinesque but not “Zeppelin”.
As for Jagger, I think the problem was that since he was the frontman of the Rolling Stones, he could work with anyone on his solo project, but then ended up working with everyone. What point is having the world’s greatest x player, if you have them play for just a snippet on a song? Keith was smart in that regard: Have a solid backing band not an array of guest musicians who just walk on and record their snippet.
The mid-80’s was definitely a tough time for some Boomer rockers that ruled the world in the 60’s and 70’s. Some managed to navigate the choppy waters okay, like Plant, and others ended up making their Empire Burlesques and Landing on Waters.
Oh don’t get me started on ‘Landing On Water,’ I bought that damn album…
Thank you for sharing all this background, wish I’d read that Plant interview back then. I guess it all boils down to what Pete Townshend said recently about Robert Plant, something along the lines of, “Robert would make a lot of people happy if he’d do a reunion tour with Zeppelin, I’m not saying he should, I’m just saying he’d make a lot of people happy.” I think I’d go to that concert, given the opportunity!
Cheers!
To Neil’s credit, he made Landing on Water the most 1986 album imaginable. Do you want big banging drums and synth mixed higher than anything else? Neil will deliver. (And he used Steve Jordan too!) While his songwriting well had dried up a bit during this era (not helped by his habit of releasing an album almost every year, something his peers had given up doing when they weren’t forced to anymore), there are a few good songs on it, like “Touch the Night”. But that production did what little good material he had any favors. Saying all that, I actually like Trans.
Yeah, I would love to see a reunited Zeppelin, though who knows if I even be able to get tickets, and how absurdly expensive would they be? If it’s going to happen, it needs to happen soon–Page just turned 80, Jones will next year, and Plant isn’t too far behind. But one of the things I’ve admired about Plant is that he follows his own muse, vs. doing what would be the easy paycheck.
“Touch The Night” was the reason I bought that album. Wasted the skills of Steve Jordan and session guitarist Danny “Kooch” Kortchmar. I do think if Neil had dumped the synths and recorded that album with Crazy Horse we’d be having a different conversation.
I have nothing but respect for Plant’s solo inclination to do whatever seems to interest. He certainly follows his muse wherever it takes him. I’m hoping we get new music from him this year!