coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking

[NakedEye10@aol.com]

Dear Fellow Who and Pete Fans,

This is a project I've been wanting to do since the week after Pete's disc
came out.  (But alas, I was busy that week following Pete around the west
coast and, well, I've been otherwise distracted ever since.)

Before I go off, several people who know Who and Pete music less intimately
have asked if Pete's long awaited CD compilation, CWSTSSFS, is "worth" it.
 The brief answer is yes.
OVERALL CONTENT: (A-) 
Sound: (I'll let you all debate it.  It sounds good to me.)
Song Selection:  (B+ / See Extensive Discussion Below)
Sequencing: (A+)
Cohesiveness: (A)

PACKAGING: (A)
Photos: (A) - Great pictures.  A+ on both the front and back cover photos.
 Lots of cool inside photos.  On the back cover, is the pic on the right from
Iron Man and the other one PsycoD?  Anyone know who shot the front cover,
when, and where?
Liner Notes: (A+) - Awesome and informative Pete content.  Still the best
interview in rock.  Only complaint is not lyrics for Uneasy Street.
Musician Info:  (D)  
Other Comments:  I'm really unhappy with the back cover song listings.
 Moderately interesting from a graphics perspective, but incredibly
aggravating to try to read.  Don't even think about it in the car.

As for my more considered opinion on song selection, etc...  Grab your cup of
coffee/tea/or other and pull up a chair.
*****************************************************************

Pete has always created his own recordings, from the first time Kit got him
going with the tape recorders.  Some prefer it, most everyone appreciates it.
 Great pieces and projects.  Yet I've always felt like Pete's *solo career*
began with *Empty Glass (EG).*  That's when the energy shifted.

In a way, John Astley and Andy MacPherson agree with me as they set the
listener into *EG* land by kicking off *coolwalking* with "Rough Boys" (RB)
and "Let My Love Open The Door" (LMLOThD). 

Pre-Empty Glass:  I've always thought of it that way, pre-EG.  The choices on
my current Pete tape are:

So Sad About Us (Scoop Demo)
Unused Piano: Quad (Scoop Demo)
I'm One (Deep End)
However Much I Booze (WBN)
Blue Red and Grey (WBN)
Heart To Hang On To (Rough Mix)

Even though Jon and Andy kick off with EG material, they do include pre-EG
material with they conceptualize in terms of the two specific album projects
- Who Came First (WCF) and Rough Mix (RM).

*Who Came First* - 
J&A: "Sheraton Gibson" / "Pure and Easy"
Can't argue with either of these.  Two great songs.  You saw my choices
above, but I really enjoy these two here.

*Rough Mix* - "Misunderstood" / "Street In The City"
Two very good songs (and great album title line), but I wouldn't have
included either cut.  

In this whole collection the most frustrating piece for me is the absence of
"Heart To Hang On To."  Pete played it most every night on the PsycoD tour
and again on last month's club dates.  It's his favorite song on the album as
well as mine.  

And while I'd probably rather spend a second track on something missing from
somewhere else, I probably would have snagged "My Baby Gives It Away" for a
BO collection.  It got some good airplay and packs a punch. (I would be
willing to entertain arguments for "Misunderstood.")  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*Empty Glass* - 
J&A: "Rough Boys" / "Let My Love Open The Door" / "A Little Is Enough" /
"LMLOTD - e. cola mix"

(My Tape Pics (MTP):  "I Am An Animal" / "Let My Love Open The Door" / "Jools
and Jim" / "A Little Is Enough" (Deep End!) )

"Rough Boys" - Never a personal fave, but it certainly belongs here.  An
important piece of Pete.  Someday I would really like to hear it with Roger
on lead vocals or perhaps some creative harmony vocals between the two (with
John playing too, of course).  Wouldn't that be cool!

"Let My Love Open The Door" - Perhaps the perfect pop single, an odd genre
twisting extension of "I Can See For Miles."  Who knows enough to understand
what I mean?

As for the e. cola remix (What the hell does that mean?  Anyone know?), I
personally love it.  Wouldn't quite give up the regular one for it (yet), but
the more I listen to it, the more I dig it.  Feels more like the essential
essence of that song.  And the Baba progressions...  In all the settings I've
heard them, this feels best.  I thought the VH-1 performance of it was
fascinating.  I was bummed that he didn't try that version on the road.  He
did do it in an extended soundcheck the afternoon of the HOB show.  Wish I'd
been closer than behind the bar.  Rats!!@!!

"A Little Is Enough" - Pete may be right.  It very may well be his best song.
 Not my most favorite, but I do love it a lot.  Poor marks on J&A picking the
studio version over A) Deep End! or even B) Join Together '89.

Note:  I am beside myself that Pete was playing "I Am An Animal" on the '96
Mini Club Tour (what should we call the tour?).  I saw it once at PsychoD (in
Berkeley).  It was a big deal to me.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes*  (Topic Shift Discussion Question -
What do you all think that story is all about?  I've always felt like I don't
quite grasp it.)  

J&A:  "Slit Skirts" / "The Sea Refuses No River"

MTP:  "The Sea Refuses No River" (Deep End! video dub.) / "Somebody Saved Me"
/ "Slit Skirts" / "Stardom In Acton"

"Slit Skirts" - Great choice.  Don't think anyone would argue.  Blows my mind
to realize that I got to see him do that on the piano from mere feet away. 

"The Sea Refuses No River" - One could make an argument for other cuts, but
this would be my choice for this disc.  (Though my personal pick is "Somebody
Saved Me."  Who version anyone???)  I'm seriously bummed that while Andy and
John were cool enough to peg Sea, they didn't pull the Deep End! version.
 It's pissed me off for ten years that it's not on the Deep End Live disc.
 And while I'm on the topic, why aren't there 70 minutes of that show on that
disc.  I move that it be the next remaster project after Quadrophenia.
 Comments?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*White City*
J&A: "Give Blood" / "Face The Face"
MTP:  "Hiding Out" / "Crashing By Design" / "I Am Secure"

Although they are the two with the most airplay and attention, neither GB nor
FTF makes my second, much less my first cut off of WC.  (Heck, I cut
"Brilliant Blues" and "Secondhand Love" to make room on my tape for PsychoD.)

All that said, "Give Blood" is a good song and it sounds good here.  Dave
Gilmour's guitar thing is pretty cool, and there is some primal sentiment
that gets satisfaction here.  I remember Pete talking on Rockline about this
song and the problem that "we menfolk seem to have with violonce" (or
something to that effect).

"Face The Face" - Overall one of my least faves, at least in the studio.
   Definitely comes alive on stage.  I could go for including the 89 San
Diego version from JT.  What a night!

(Note:  In response to previous question about worst PT single, or at least
one that should never have been released as the single, I pick FTF.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*The Iron Man*
J&A:  "Friend Is A Friend" 
MTP: "I Won't Run Anymore" / "A Friend Is A Friend" / "All Shall Be Well" /
"Was There Life"

Lots of people are down on this album, and I just don't understand it.
  Granted it lacks cohesiveness, the guest vocal approach was mostly a
misfire, and The Who are underutilized (perhaps).  Regardless of all that,
all of the tracks with Pete on vocals are gems.  Not his very best, but
awfully, awfully good.  As for the CWSTSSFS selection, even though "Friend"
got the airplay, I'd go for "I Won't Run..." or "All Shall..."  I was totally
stoked that Pete played "All Shall Be Well" this year!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*Psychoderelict*
J&A: "English Boy" / "Uneasy Street"
(MTP: "Now and Then" / "I Am Afraid" / "Predictable" / "Don't Try To Make Me
Real" / "Fake It")

While EB is a strong summary anchor on this collection (and of themes Pete's
worked with for nearly thirty years), I always thought that it was a poor
choice for the first Psychoderelict single.  Atlantic should have sold "Don't
Try To Make Me Real" to every rock station in America, with a secondary push
for English Boy to the more "alternative/punk/noise" market.  "Make Me Real"
could've become classic Townshend, one of those radio songs like "Rough Boys"
that led people to lament about what it might sound like performed by The
Who.  

Atlantic also should have done either a simultaneous release or mid-priced
double CD of the two versions (with and without dialogue).  

Note:  I had a promo with songs only early on, and after six weeks of
studying the play, followed by seeing it onstage for five nights, I mostly
listened to the non-dialogue.  More on that discussion another time. 

As for "Uneasy Street," I didn't impress me much at first (although it was
kind of cool).  It's musically unimpressive, but it "sounds" real good and
it's starting to grow on me as I pick up more of the lines.  Could be a good
radio track.  Comments?  Two thumbs down on not including lyrics to this one.

Final PsychoD comment...   I am compelled to share that aside from "Love
Reign O'er Me" (maybe), "Now And Then" is the most extraordinarily touching
Pete creation.  Both in the studio and on the stage.  Every one of the eight
times I've seen it has been deeply moving.  (I retract that statement.  I
should have said "Every time I've seen Pete do it..."  Seeing/listening to
Lou Reed make a mockery of it at Carnegie Hall was a gut wrenching experience
for me.  BTW, in other circumstances, I like Lou Reed's work.)

And if nothing else, I would have given up the second "Rough Mix" track to
get another PsychoD cut on here.   

So, there you have it.  My rather extensive discourse on Jon Astley, Andy
MacPherson, Pete Townshend, and Atlantic Records selection of
CoolWalkingSmoothTalkingStraightSmokingFireStoking.  

All that said, in light of the material they did select, I think they did an
extraordinary job of sequencing the album.  Interestingly enough, I'd go as
far as to say that they have created a new and formidable Townshend project
in the process.  

In anaswer to the long ago asked questions, "Is it worth it?" "Should I buy
it?" I would respond, Is it what I would have done?  Not quite.  Is it a
killer fucking album?  Yes!

I welcome any comments via email or posting and encourage people to pick up
any of the many threads I have tossed out.  And thanks to each of you for
reading.  It's very cool to have a place to share these thoughts with people
who might not only have some idea of what I'm talking about but who actually
care about the music. 

Personal Digression:  With only a few exceptions, as someone who has gone to
many Who related gatherings in the past ten years (most of you saw my posting
of a few days ago), I have found Who fans an extraordinary lot.  Most are
very different than myself (to say the least),  but the common denominators
(besides love of Who music) seem to be a thread of civility, integrity, and
caring well above the norm.   While I have seen many elements of that here on
this mailing list out in cyberspace, I've also seen much disrespect,
hurtfullness, and  rudeness.   I do not support it.  I do not understand it.
 And I wish those of you who promulgate it would ask yourself what that's
about and find a way to stop.  Thank you all for your time and efforts.