The Who - Pete Townshend Albums

CDs Sampled: Atlantic (USA, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan), Hip-O (USA), SPV (Germany), Imperial (Japan), UMC (UK)

Non-album Tracks: "Psychomontage" (UK CD single of English Boy Part 1), "Flame" (the Simon Townshend demo, from the UK CD single of English Boy Part 2), "Early Morning Dreams" (demo version, from the UK CD single of English Boy Part 2 or the German CD single of English Boy), "Electronic Wizardry" (demo from the German CD single of English Boy), "English Boy" (Demo), "Uneasy Street" and "There Is No Message From A Broken Heart" (from the 2006 Germany CD)

CD Comments: The USA and German CDs sound identical - Excellent. The Atlantic (Japan) CD has slightly extra bass, which is unnecessary. The Imperial (Japan) CD's vocals are a bit brighter than the vocals on the other CD version. The bonus tracks are louder than the rest of the CD. The bonus tracks on the Imperial (Japan) CD are available on other CDs available from www.eelpie.com The Hip-O (USA) and the SPV (Germany) are louder than the original CDs.

Other Comments: "Psychoderelict" was originally to be released in 1991. However, Pete Townshend had a bicycle accident and injured himself, whereas he was unable to play guitar. In 1993, he made a bold move and reworked the album with dialog mixed in with the songs, creating a sort of theatrical play. The results were absolutely brilliant, but unfortunately, the concept didn't take to well commercially. After slow sales, the "Music Only" version was released and sold along side of the dialog version. Besides deleting the dialog, the content of the "Music Only" version is nearly identical, except that "Predictable" has an extra verse.

Notes: The 1993 Atlantic Germany CD version has the dialogue printed in German in the insert.

The 2006 Hip-O (USA) and SPV (Germany) CDs contain "Psychomontage" as a bonus track. This song was previously available only on one of the two 1993 "English Boy" UK CD singles.

Summary: A slight edge to the Atlantic USA and German CDs over the Atlantic (Japan) and much larger edge over the Japan (Imperial) CD. The Hip-O (USA) and the SPV (Germany) are louder than the original CDs, but the SPV (Germany) is more like a "Deluxe" version, which has both the dialog and music only versions, as well as bonus tracks that are not available elsewhere (see track listings below).

Dialogue version: English Boy, Meher Baba M3, Let's Get Pretentious, Meher Baba M4 (Signal Box), Early Morning Dreams, I Want That Thing, Dialogue Introduction to "Outlive the Dinosaur", Outlive the Dinosaur, Flame [demo version], Now and Then, I Am Afraid, Don't Try to Make Me Real, Dialogue, Introduction to "Predictable", Predictable, Flame, Meher Baba M5 (Vivaldi), Fake It, Dialogue Introduction to "Now and Then", Now and Then (Reprise), Baba O'Riley [demo version], English Boy (Reprise)

Music Only version: English Boy, Meher Baba M3, Let's Get Pretentious, Meher Baba M4 (Signal Box), Early Morning Dreams, I Want That Thing, Outlive The Dinosaur, Now And Then, I Am Afraid, Don't Try To Make Me Real, Predictable, Flame, Meher Baba M5 (Vivaldi), Fake It, English Boy (Reprise)

2006 - Imperial Japan: English Boy, Meher Baba M3, Let's Get Pretentious, Meher Baba M4 (Signal Box), Early Morning Dreams, I Want That Thing, Outlive The Dinosaur, Now And Then, I Am Afraid, Don't Try To Make Me Real, Predictable, Flame, Meher Baba M5 (Vivaldi), Fake It, English Boy (Reprise), Now And Then (live The Empire, 1998), English Boy (live Fillmore West, 1996)

2006 - Hip-O USA: English Boy, Meher Baba M3, Let's Get Pretentious, Meher Baba M4 (Signal Box), Early Morning Dreams, I Want That Thing, Outlive The Dinosaur, Now And Then, I Am Afraid, Don't Try To Make Me Real, Predictable, Flame, Meher Baba M5 (Vivaldi), Fake It, English Boy (Reprise), Psychomontage

2006 - SPV Germany:

CD1 with Dialogue: English Boy, Meher Baba M3, Let's Get Pretentious, Meher Baba M4 (Signal Box), Early Morning Dreams, I Want That Thing, Outlive The Dinosaur, Now And Then, I Am Afraid, Don't Try To Make Me Real, Predictable, Flame, Meher Baba M5 (Vivaldi), Fake It, English Boy (Reprise), Psychomontage

CD2 Music Only version: English Boy, Meher Baba M3, Let's Get Pretentious, Meher Baba M4 (Signal Box), Early Morning Dreams, I Want That Thing, Outlive The Dinosaur, Now And Then, I Am Afraid, Don't Try To Make Me Real, Predictable, Flame, Meher Baba M5 (Vivaldi), Fake It, English Boy (Reprise), English Boy (long intro), Early Morning Dreams (demo), Uneasy Street, There Is No Message In A Broken Heart

THE BEST OF PETE TOWNSHEND (Coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking)

Other Comments: The tracks on this CD have been remixed and remastered, so this album is actually more than just a compilation piece.

Track Listing: Rough Boys, Let My Love Open The Door, Misunderstood, Give Blood, A Friend Is A Friend, Sheraton Gibson, English Boy, Street In The City, Pure And Easy, Slit Skirts, The Sea Refuses No River, A Little Is Enough, Face The Face, Uneasy Street, Let My Love Open The Door (E.Cola Mix)

CD Comments: Excellent sound quality. The majority of this material is sourced directly from the pre-1998 remixed and remastered catalogue of The Who and Pete Townshend.

Other Comments: This is a promo only release. The purpose of this release was to market The Who and Pete Townshend (solo) music to be used for movie soundtracks and commercials. The book is of very nice quality with heavy paper stock and nice pictures.

The CD jackets themselves list the tracks by original release date, track title and available source (album and USA record label). However, the "Who Came First" and "Empty Glass" tracks are incorrectly credited to MCA (versus Ryko and/or Atco/Atlantic).

Note: Rumor is that there are also a few of these with "Townshend" spelled, "Townsend" on the cover.

Track Listing: Call Me Lightning (Who), Pinball Wizard (Who), We're Not Going To Take It (Who), Baba O'Riley (Who), Bargain (Who), Going Mobile (Who), Won't Get Fooled Again (Who), Behind Blue Eyes (Who), Sheraton Gibson, Pure and Easy, Join Together (Who), The Real Me (Who), 5:15 (Who), Love Reign O'er Me (Who), Slip Kid (Who), Squeeze Box (Who), Dreaming From the Waist (Who), Keep Me Turning, Misunderstood, Street in the City, Sister Disco (Who), Who Are You (Who), Rough Boys, Let My Love Open the Door, A Little is Enough, You Better You Bet (Who), Another Tricky Day (Who), Athena (Who), Eminence Front (Who), Slit Skirts, Face Dances Part 2, The Sea Refuses No River, Brilliant Blues, Second Hand Love, Give Blood, Face the Face, After the Fire, A Friend is a Friend, I Won't Run Any More, All Shall Be Well, Now And Then, English Boy, Predictable

Other Comments: I wasn't originally big fan of this CD. After having seen Pete's shows 2 years prior at The Supper Club in NYC, I was disappointed to hear his new arrangements (and drum machine) at the Boston show, which was the first part of this USA mini-tour, which included, Boston, Woodstock (NY) and Chicago.

Note: Reissued as: Magic Bus: Live From Chicago in 2004 with edited track list.

Track Listing: On The Road Again, Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere, A Little Is Enough, Drowned, You Better You Bet, Now And Then, North Country Girl, Let My Love Open The Door, Won't Get Fooled Again, Magic Bus, I'm One, Magic Bus, Heart To Hang Onto

CDs Sampled: This CD (set) was only available through www.eelpie.com (Pete Townshend's former website).

CD Comments: This is a great collection of music, which is unfortunately clouded by production issues which caused the sound to be too bright and harsh. The issues appear to have created some time of phase shift when the tapes were converted to CD. This can be somewhat corrected by converting the tracks to MP3. (Compare the "Lifehouse" tracks to the same tracks on your "Who Came First" CD to demonstrate the differences.)

Other Comments: I would like to see this box set corrected and reissued. (Click here if you would like step-by-step instructions how to remaster the CD box set yourself.)

CD 1: Teenage Wasteland, Goin' Mobile, Baba O'Riley, Time Is Passing, Love Ain't for Keeping, Bargain, Too Much Of Anything, Music Must Change, Greyhound Girl, Mary, Behind Blue Eyes, Baba O'Riley (instrumental), Sister Disco

CD 2: I Don't Know Myself, Put The Money Down, Pure and Easy, Getting In Tune, Let's See Action, Slip Kid, Relay, Who Are You, Join Together, Won't Get Fooled Again, Song Is Over

CD 3: Baba M1 (2nd Movement), Who Are You (Gateway remix), Behind Blue eyes (new version), Baba M2 (2nd Movement Pt.1), Pure and Easy (reworked original demo), Vivaldi (M5), Who Are you (Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire November 1998), Hinterland Rag, Pure and Easy (new version), Can You Help The One you Really Love (demo), Won't Get Fooled Again (Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire November 1998)

CD 4: Townshend: One Note - Prologue, Purcell: Fantasia Upon One Note (Quick Movement), Townshend: Baba O'Riley, Scarlatti: Sonata K:212, Townshend: Tragedy, Corette: No. 4 Aria, Corette: No. 2 Giga, Corette: No. 6 in D Minor, Corette: No. 3 Adagio and Allegro, Townshend: Hinterland Rag, Scarlatti: Sonata K:213, Purcell: The Gordion Knot Untied: Overture Allegro-Air Rondeau minuet, Air Jig Chaconne, Air Minuet, Overture Reprise, Townshend: tragedy Explained, Townshend: One Note - Epilogue, Purcell: Fantasia Upon One Note

Other Comments: This CD is edit of "The Lifehouse Chronicles", with the addition of the "New Song" demo.

Track Listing: One Note (Prologue), Baba O' Riley (orchestral version), Pure & Easy, New Song, Getting In Tune, Behind Blue Eyes (new version), Let's See Action, Who Are You (Gateway remix), Baba M1, Song Is Over

CD Comments: Same sound quality as the original source CDs which each track came from.

Other Comments: Similar in concept to the 1998 Windswept Pacific release above - however, this version focuses more on Pete Townshend's solo career.

Track Listing: There's A Heartache Following Me, My Baby Gives It Away, Rough Mix, Keep Me Turning, Misunderstood, Street In The City, Heart To Hang Onto, Rough Boys, Let My Love Open The Door, Jools And Jim, A Little Is Enough, Gonna Get Ya, The Sea Refuses No River, Face Dances Part 2, Communication, Somebody Saved Me, Slit Skirts, Eminence Front (Who version from remixed, "It's Hard"), Athena (Who), Give Blood, Brilliant Blues, Face The Face, Hiding Out, Secondhand Love, Crashing By Design, A Friend Is A Friend, I Eat Heavy Metal, All Shall Be Well, Was There Life, A Fool Says..., English Boy, Now And Then, Predictable, Fake It, Let My Love Open The Door (E.Cola Mix), Who Are You (Gateway Remix)

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