Pete Townshend

"Rough Mix", Pete Townshend's 1977 collaboration with former Small Faces and Faces songwriter and bass player Ronnie Lane, combines the loose, rollicking folk-rock of Lane's former band, Slim Chance, with touches of country, folk, and New Orleans rock & roll, along with Townshend's own trademark style. Lane's tunes, especially the beautiful "Annie," possess an understated charm, while Townshend, with songs such as "Misunderstood," the Meher Baba-inspired "Keep Me Turning," and the strange love song "My Baby Gives It Away," delivers some of the best material of his solo career. Rough Mix stands as a minor masterpiece and an overlooked gem in both artists' vast bodies of work. Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, and Charlie Watts as guests.

"Empty Glass" is the first solo album of original material, and third album overall, by Pete Townshend, first released in 1980. The album deals with a plethora of issues that Townshend was struggling with, including alcoholism, drug abuse, marital problems and deceased friends, particularly Keith Moon, The Who's drummer died in 1978. With the once viscerally powerful Who in limbo, the guitarist nearly sunk himself into brandy-drenched oblivion. He emerged with one of his most gripping solo pieces and perhaps unsurprisingly the most Who-like album of all his solo work. A strongest record was born in a hailstorm of despair, uncertainty, and tribulation.

"All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" is the third official solo album by English rock musician and songwriter Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who. Townshend had just successfully conquered his life-threatening alcoholism and drug addiction, so „Chinese Eyes“ was the first album in a long time that he did completely sober. Again, Townshend worked with producers Chris Thomas and Bill Price (known for their work with the Sex Pistols and the Pretenders), who give the songs more pop flavor than an expected punk edge. Highlights include the quirky "Face Dances Part Two" (an early MTV favorite), the beautiful yet haunting album-closing "Slit Skirts", "The Sea Refuses No River", and "Somebody Saved Me".

The apparent idea behind this five-CD, 101-song bootleg was a sound one: to gather all of Pete Townshend's best solo demos from the Who's prime era (mid-'60s to late-'70s) in one place. As Who/Townshend fans know, his demos were usually very interesting, and while not as good as the full-on band versions done by the Who, they often boasted a personal, primitive, tenderness not present in the final product. But while there's much fine, and some great, music on here (and certainly there are a lot of great songs), this really isn't the major event it might have been. First, and most importantly, a lot of this stuff actually came out on the very-above-board Scoop and Another Scoop compilations, often with better sound.

White City: A Novel is a solo concept album by English musician Pete Townshend of rock band the Who. It was originally released in November 1985, on Atco. The album's title refers to a story (called a "novel" in the album title) that accompanies the album, and which takes place in a low-income housing estate in the West London district of White City, near where Townshend had grown up. The story tells of cultural conflict, racial tension and youthful hopes and dreams in the 1960s — a world of "prostituted children", "roads leading to darkness, leading home" and despairing residents living in "cells" with views of "dustbins and a Ford Cortina".

On this third collection of Pete Townshend rarities and demos, the Who guitarist/mastermind offers up another compelling set of curiosities that draws from both his solo career and his tenure with his legendary band. In addition to pensive, minimal takes on Who tunes such as "Sea & Sand" and "Eminence Front" (the latter sounding almost nothing like its popular synth-laden counterpart), Townshend presents previously unreleased tracks such as the majestic rock tune "Commonwealth Boys" and the delicate piano-only instrumental "Poem Disturbed." While the compilation is mainly geared toward Townshend's diehard fans, Who aficionados will have much to admire as well, making the anthology a welcome addition to his well-compiled SCOOP series.

THE CLASSIC 1985 BRIXTON BROADCAST• By the end of 1985, Pete Townshend had been off the road with The Who for three years. The pivotal British Rock band had done a farewell; tour in 1982, but had reformed for Live Aid in summer ’85. And despite pleas from both Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle to reform and tour again, the next proper Who reunion would have to wait until 1989. In the meantime, Townshend was determined to keep his solo career on track, which had been propelled by the success of radio hits like ‘Rough Boys,’ ‘Let My Love Open the Door,’ and ‘Slit Skirts.’n• The charity show featured on this CD took place at London’s Brixton Academy on 2nd November 1985, featuring Townshends legendary ‘Deep End’ band, with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, a crack rhythm section and The Kickhorns five-piece brass section, making a perfect complement to Townshend passionate vocals and manic guitar runs. The concert, which also aired on the King Biscuit Flower Hour in 1985, contains all 17 tracks played that night, including a few featuring Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, and keyboardist John Rabbit Bundrick. Opening with a rare-Who B side (from the bands 1967 Sell Out LP), Townshend kicks off with ‘Mary Anne With the Shaky Hands’ a song that was banned on many radio stations when it was first released because it deals with the joys of young girlfriends willing to please their boyfriends with the use of a single hand.