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Release Yourself from Misery: Pete Townshend Collects Solo Albums (But No Bonus Tracks) for New Box

February 7, 2025 By Mike Duquette 9 Comments

Pete Townshend Studio Albums box

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.CO.UK

A prequel of sorts to UMC's box set of Pete Townshend live recordings is coming this spring: a simple collection of eight of his studio works.

The Studio Albums brings together new CD pressings of Who Came First (1972), the Ronnie Lane collaboration Rough Mix (1977), Empty Glass (1980), All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982), White City (A Novel) (1985), Iron Man (1989) and versions of Pyschoderelict (1993) with and without dialogue. While a 2006 reissue campaign from Hip-O Records featured bonus tracks on all albums (and Who Came First was later expanded for a double-disc reissue in 2018), those tracks are not included in this box. However, all audio is newly remastered by Jon Astley, with newly redesigned packaging and art by longtime Townshend collaborator Richard Evans  (in what appears to be rigid LP-style sleeves), and a 28-page booklet featuring rare photos, memorabilia and liner notes by band archivist Matt Kent with a foreword by Townshend himself.

As the songwriter behind The Who, Townshend's solo output has been at times comparatively muted compared to his band. 1972's Who Came First found Townshend playing nearly every note himself, assembling demos intended for The Who's abandoned concept album Lifehouse (scrapped in favor of the more straightforward Who's Next in 1971) along with a few originals and songs Townshend contributed on two tribute albums to his guru, Meher Baba. (It's here that the only non-Townshend performances occur: Faces' Ronnie Lane played on and wrote "Evolution," while Billy Nichols co-wrote and played on "Forever's No Time At All" alongside multi-instrumentalist Caleb Quaye.) Townshend and Lane would collaborate again on 1977's folky Rough Mix, recorded during a hiatus for The Who. (Lane would be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during the sessions, going public with his battle later that year.)

Beset by substance abuse issues and coping with the death of The Who's drummer Keith Moon two years earlier, Townshend poured himself into two groups of songs: one for The Who's Face Dances (1981), and another for the Chris Thomas-produced Empty Glass (1980). The latter was inarguably the bigger critical and commercial success, thank in large part to the effervescent devotional "Let My Love Open the Door," a U.S. Top 10 hit that year. Townshend and Thomas quickly reconvened for 1982's All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, a dense affair that was largely panned by critics at the time. (Both albums featured rhythmic contributions by bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki, who'd soon become famous as members of Scottish band Big Country.)

With The Who largely inactive for the rest of the '80s - Townshend announced his departure in 1983, but the band would reunite for a set at Live Aid in 1985 and an ill-fated late-'80s tour - Townshend eventually returned to his most stalwart form: the concept album. 1985's White City (A Novel) wove a loose story about a West London housing estate struggling through the '60s through nine original songs (including guest appearances by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on two tracks), while 1989's The Iron Man assembled an all-star vocal cast - including John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, Australian singer Deborah Conway, Billy Nicholls, Townshend's younger brother Simon and Daltrey, billing two tracks to The Who - for a musical adaptation of the novel by British poet laureate Ted Hughes. (Animation fans might recall the cult-favorite, non-musical film version released under the book's original title The Iron Giant, for which Townshend received an executive producer credit.) The final album covered in the set - and to date, Townshend's final solo work - is Psychoderelict, a 1993 rock opera that sort of sends up Townshend's career in and out of The Who, even drawing from some early synth demos that later became "Baba O'Riley" and "Who Are You." The dialogue-heavy interludes were believed to have confounded listeners, and within a year a shorter amended version of the album was released - both of which are included in this box.

The Studio Albums is available March 28 and can be pre-ordered below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Studio Albums (UMC 5583476, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: Who Came First (Track Record 2408 201 (U.K.) / DL 7-9189 (U.S.), 1972)

Disc 2: Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane, Rough Mix (Polydor 2442 147 (U.K.) / MCA 2295 (U.S.), 1977)

Disc 3: Empty Glass (ATCO K 50699 (U.K.) SD 32-100 (U.S.), 1980)

Disc 4: All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (ATCO K 50889 (U.K.) / SD 38-149 (U.S.), 1982)

Disc 5: White City (A Novel) (ATCO 252 392-1 (U.K.) / 90473 (U.S.), 1985)

Disc 6: The Iron Man (The Musical) (Virgin V 2592 (U.K.) / Atlantic 81996 (U.S.), 1989)

Disc 7: Psychoderelict (Atlantic 82494, 1993)

Disc 8: Psychoderelict (Music Only) (Atlantic 82535, 1993)

Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Rock Tags: John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane, The Who

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Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, holding positions at Legacy Recordings and Rhino Records and contributing to Allmusic, Discogs, City Pages, Ultimate Classic Rock and Mondo Records, for whom he penned liner notes for his favorite piece of music: John Williams' Oscar-winning score to 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.' Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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Comments

  1. Kenny says

    February 7, 2025 at 10:32 am

    Empty Glass and Chinese Eyes are superb. But the rest are a bit dodgy and the set aint worth nearly £100.

    Reply
  2. JAMES VANDEGRIFT says

    February 7, 2025 at 11:08 am

    No Bonus Disc? No Outtakes? No Remastering? All we get is nice packaging? Sad and a easy pass....

    Reply
    • Rob M says

      February 7, 2025 at 2:56 pm

      “… all audio is newly remastered by Jon Astley”

      Still, not enough reason to pay for this. No bonus anything, at that price? I’m releasing my wallet from misery.

      Reply
      • JAMES VANDEGRIFT says

        February 7, 2025 at 3:15 pm

        Rob, I missed that. Thanks. The lack of outtakes that were on the previous reissues is a big disappointment. Unless the new remastering is above par I won't be purchasing. I have The deluxe edition of Who Came First and was hoping all of them up to White City were going to get the same treatment. As a Big Who / PT fan I am disappointed

        Reply
  3. wardo says

    February 7, 2025 at 11:30 am

    The Who Came First 45th Anniversary Edition was promising, but I guess it didn't sell enough to keep Pete's interest. This set is unnecessary.

    Reply
  4. gradese says

    February 7, 2025 at 5:49 pm

    well, come on... complain about anything, but not the price!...
    I pre-ordered from Sound of Vinyl, €103 shp included: that's less than €13 per LP.
    I haven't seen any new vinyl release/reissue at that price point.

    I just have Rough Mix, which I like a lot by the way, so even without bonus tracks it's a nice way to expand my collection, I just hope the mastering and - most of all - the pressing are good.

    Reply
  5. Michael Grabowski says

    February 7, 2025 at 6:27 pm

    I'm curious what made The Who's late-80s (1989, right?) tour "ill-fated?" I remember it being sneered at somewhat by music press, and it ultimately was drastically over-shadowed when the Stones suddenly reunited mid-summer for a fall '89 US tour, but it seemed like fans and rock radio were very happy to have The Who back on the road finally. Did they fail to Sell Out?

    Their early-2000s tour... sadly that one was very ill-fated.

    As for this release (and the latest pending Fleetwood Mac vinyl rerereleases), I'm glad there's a market for these whether or not they are redundant to big fans. If I was a bit younger I'd be interested in this set myself. Keep these things available as physical items, as many iterations as the market will bear. It's all optional entertainment, but only if the option is there.

    Reply
    • Mister Stick says

      February 8, 2025 at 3:06 pm

      "I'm curious what made The Who's late-80s (1989, right?) tour "ill-fated?""

      I wasn't going to say anything, but yeah, that is a curious comment. I don't recall anything about the 25th Anniversary Tour that was unsuccessful, at least in terms of ticket sales and publicity. Some people didn't like the huge band format, but The Who were back on the cover of Rolling Stone (and other rags, I'm sure), and they played the largest stadiums in the country with huge attendance. I remember three nights at Alpine Valley, which seats about 40,000, I think, and I believe they were all sell-outs, with tens of thousands of fans making the trek from Chicago.

      I don't recall the 1989 tour being overshadowed by The Stones, but they have always had the superior hype team.

      The early 2000s... Well, you are surely referring to Entwistle's passing on the eve of the 2002 tour. But the shows in 2000 were spectacular, the best they had played and their most exciting shows in almost thirty years.

      I can understand people passing on this set. If only the previously-released or any newly-found extras were there, even on supplemental discs (as you'd expect there to be more in the bank somewhere).

      But notice that the demo-collective Scoop albums are nowhere to be found. I believe I heard Pete mention in a recent interview that he plans to reissue those as well, presumably in a package like this one, with as yet unreleased demos included.

      Thanks so much.

      Reply
      • David Olstein says

        February 9, 2025 at 8:23 am

        Ill-fated would suggest some type of Altamont-like disaster. I was too young to see The Who in their prime. So this was the first time I saw the band live. There were certainly things about the tour your could criticize - like the Las Vegas review style big band, Pete playing primarily acoustic, Pete's ponytail, etc. But looking back, it was an interesting tour from a music selection standpoint. There was a lot of music performed on the tour that was never performed before or since. And it was a LOT of music - 2.5 hours+ each night.

        Reply

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