Why no solo albums from Pete Townshend ?

I've wondered that myself.

I also think that Pete tends to overthink things and can get kind of bogged down in the CONCEPT - rather than just picking 10 or 15 songs that he thinks are good and releasing that.

Not one to wish an artists does this or that differently but I do sometimes wish Pete could have had a simpler approach to what he chooses to release and/or work with Roger - god knows Roger is always game to sing.

 

Pete's voice still sounds good and he can write a catchy tune:

 

Has rjp weighed in yet? His insightful comments on this type of thread are always welcomed.

 

Anyway, I'm a big Pete and Who fan, and I just recently dug into some of his old "signature series" live releases, BAM 1993 and Empire 1989. But I'm not too concerned about Pete not putting solo material out at this point.

 

I always liked Psychoderelict but nowadays tend to listen to the music only version as I find the dialougue version a bit of a "wade" through. Some great songs and instrumental passages for me though. I also remember Pete saying he wasn't interested in releasing any more solo albums after Psychoderelict, although one of the mods at the the official Who site last year claimed that a new Pete solo effort was on the way. I'll not be holding my breath on that one.

 

I remember when Empty Glass came out. I thought man he's going to have an amazing solo career. Boy was I ever wrong.

 

Pete may very well not want to put in the effort and energy it takes to produce a proper studio album, the associated promotional activity, etc. He doesn't seem interested in committing to a solo recording career.

 

It kind of just dawned on me that it's been almost 35 years since Pete released an album of songs, free of any kind of concept or storyline, since All The Best Cowboys... Concept things are great when they worked, but I think they've really held back his output, since he doesn't seem interested in just taking the twelve best pieces he has and putting them out.

 

Yeah, I think that's true. He seems to need something to tie it all together, while that has worked really well on several projects, Tommy, Quad, and I really like White City, there have also been successful albums of unrelated or stand alone songs. The songs on Who's Next while salvaged from Lifehouse also work very well together as just a seemingly unrelated collection. Who by Numbers is, for me a great collection of unrelated songs, though, admittedly they all have a somewhat downbeat theme. An album from Pete would be great but I think another Scoop type collection of demos is the most likely thing. That's not a bad thing though.

 

Thanks.

 

I guess. I never really bothered with all the Scoop albums. I'm a fan, but I'd rather hear fully realized recordings than home demos. Although I suppose I should hop on Apple Music and make a playlist of all the otherwise-unreleased songs on those albums. That'd probably be a worthwhile listen.

 

Lots of interesting stuff and some less so, I think there's a recent thread on the subject of Pete's demos on here. For what it's worth I would really like a new album of fully realised songs too, but I don't think it'll happen. I'd love to be wrong on that one.

 

As if by magic..

Max Hole teams with Pete Townshend to work on catalogue re-releases »

 

Everything is a "concept" and IMHO has bogged him down. The whole Floss idea, from what I read, seems over the top. Lifehouse was unachievable yet so much of his music since 1972, both solo and w/The Who, owes much to Lifehouse. He chooses to works in these conceptual realms that never get fully realized, which explains why he returns to similar themes and characters again and again.

Townshend doesn't owe me anything, but if he should be reading this: Put Ray High and Jimmy to bed. Stop focusing on people as some inter-connected force w/in musical notes. Quit attempting to be a literary writer. Focus on a stand alone tune, repeat 9 or 10 times, get a studio full of musicians to breathe life into the songs (not just gussied up demos), and "You are forgiven!"

 

Don't underestimate the Scoop albums. There are songs like "Mary" that should be right alongside the material from his proper albums.

And the 1980-81 Face Dances-era demos on the Scoop collections are excellent alternates to The Who versions, particularly if Face Dances seems a bit mellow as an album.

In some ways, I think of his albums and demos as being part of a larger legacy of work all together. He was one of the first artists to cut demos at home, since Kit Lambert help him set up his first home recording unit in the '60s.

 

I've been flipping through his autobiography again in the past couple weeks. I think there's something to the idea that he wasn't creating unless there was some kind of internal turmoil going on. The Psychoderelict era also overlapped with a pretty tempestuous extramarital affair and a relapse into heavy drinking.

Now he just seems content riding out what's left of the rest of The Who's (or The Who brand's) touring career, all while being quite dismissive of it all, and otherwise not succumbing to too much drama.

 

In 1993, Billy Joel (more or less, with a handful of exceptions) decides to stop writing new music (or at least writing new music and sharing it with the public). In 1993, Pete Townshend did much the same thing, except he never really came out and said so, like Billy Joel did. He hemmed, he hawed, he promised things were in the works (Roger promised it way more than Pete did), but, again, with a handful of exceptions, he's been rather creatively quiet for the last 23 years. My personal opinion (expressed elsewhere I'm sure):

1 - He doesn't believe he can write fresh material that will stand up next to his "classic" material.
2 - He (and Roger, finally) think that it is not a good use of time and money to create new music that hardly anyone will buy (partly because of downloading, and partly because of disinterest in new music by legacy acts).
3 - He was legitimately hurt by the media and audience response to "Psychoderelict".
4 - Not everybody is Leonard Cohen, and can produce great material in their senior citizen years.

 

Some excellent responses. I think part of it is simply that these days live concerts = $$$, studio albums not so much.

 

I think Townshend and Ray Davies have the same problem. They've become so self-conscious about their past work that they can't just do a regular album of good songs. They approach everything like it has to be a masterpiece and can't trust themselves. Too much thinking and not enough doing.

They both probably have 100's of semi-complete tracks they are afraid for anyone to hear. They need to pick 12 to 14 songs, do some fast final work on them, say screw it and just release an album. Then they need to ignore the reviews and get back to work.

Working for many years on something that won't be finished or released sounds like a method that would drive me crazy. Make a quick judgement and don't keep second guessing yourself.

Unless, they both really want to retire which is fine. Retire and enjoy life, nothing wrong with that either. I wish them both the best.

 

The re-releases have been out in the UK for a while. I've not heard any of them, (i've got multiple copies of all the albums on all formats) but I believe some have said that there's no great improvement in sound over previous remasters. No bonus tracks either I believe. I think they can be had fairly cheaply from AMAZON uk.

 

Pete seems content to run victory laps these days. I wish it weren't so, and I wish that if he did choose to release something else, it was better than his last few releases before he effectively retired as a solo artist.

But then again, the work he did from 1965-1973 is amazing. The stuff from 1974-1985 is inconsistent but has its moments. If he's done, he still leaves a great legacy.

 

What does this have to do with the thread subject?

 

Artistically: His new material isn't that good.
Commercially: The people who would pay for a solo Townshend tour would pay a lot more to see "The Who".