I had been listening to "Scoop 3," the last of the commercially released collections of Pete Townshend demos and I was taken by the track "I Like It The Way It Is." It made me think of some other beautifully orchestrated tracks like "Street In The City" from "Rough Mix" and another demo "Brooklyn Kids." This reminded me of a conversation I had with my buddy and fellow Who fanatic, Geoff. He had compiled a playlist of such tracks. I contacted him and asked how it began.
Here is Geoff:
"...thinking about when Linda Ronstadt was on the cover of Rolling Stone back in the 70s for Pirates of Penzance. Which led me to thinking that I don't particularly care for when Pete writes Who songs that sound like Gilbert & Sullivan - namely Sister Disco. So I put a playlist together and found I like them much better together rather than jammed next to true rock and roll Who songs. It's almost like the soundtrack to a Broadway show. They kind of fit together like a... like a... like a rock opera!!!"
I decided to combine some of Geoff's original playlist with some of mine. This is "Gilbert & Townshend," a joint mix that I think makes a fantastic and very different Who playlist.
Hope ya dig it.
TRACKLIST
Welcome-The Who
I Like It The Way It Is- Pete
Quadrophenic Four Faces- Pete
Sister Disco (Pete's Demo)- Pete
Brooklyn Kids- Pete
Street In The City- Townshend/Lane
Rockin' In Rage- The Who
Helpless Dancer (Pete's Demo)- Pete
Praying The Game- Pete
One Life's Enough- The Who
Football Fugue- Pete
Guitar & Pen- The Who
The Sea Refuses No River- Pete
The Song Is Over- The Who
14 comments:
Great idea for a "reshuffling." Look forward to listening. (Some unfamiliar titles in there too.)
For years I've had a mix on my Ipod of the Another Scoop/Scoop 3 orchestrated songs plus Street In The City. Did I read somewhere that he recorded several of these songs at the same time for a possible project?
Randy
Great idea. Looking forward to digging in. Pete is one of my favorite songwriters of all time and I don't think his solo work gets the credit it deserves,
Thanks for this! Love all the Scoops!
A great fun mix -- thanks Geoff. Thanks Sal.
This is fantastic!!
Bryan
Great idea for a mix. I never really thought about Pete's G&S influence, but listening to a couple of these songs sure makes it plain.
Thanks Sal--and Geoff!
Bill
I never had STREET IN THE CITY in my GILBERT AND TOWNSHEND playlist because I have loved it since I was a teenager. I was surprised to see you didn't include DAILY RECORDS because to me it's one of the central songs to the whole idea and I can't help but adore the WHEN YOU ARE ELEVEN THE WHOLE WORLDS OUT TO LUNCH verse. But every for person that can recite The Major-Generals song by heart, there is another who swears by 3 Little Maids from The Mikado.
Daily Records is one of the few songs I really like on Face Dances, but I was so happy with One Life's Enough working so well, I simply omitted it. It'll be on the remaster!
Also it was actually GUITAR AND PEN,not Sister Disco, that gave me the idea for the playlist. Apologies. I get those 2 mixed up all the time.
Thanks to you and Geoff. Just finished listening. What a wonderful treat. I'm keeping this one in heavy rotation. Loved it.
Consider it deeply dug ! Thank you very much...
How about a Scoop compilation and calling it -SCOOP, THERE IT IS. ( or has that reference become the 21st century's Where's The Beef by now? )
I've been doing some projects in the garage and playing music to keep me company. This playlist has been in very heavy rotation and it keeps getting better with each listen. Kudos!
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