Re: Uneasy Street; Rhino; It's Hard (heh heh)

[Jim Topp <jtopp@ophelia.ucs.indiana.edu>]

>Listening to "The Best of Pete Townshend" yesterday, I was struck by how
>awful "Uneasy Street" was for a "best of" collection.  It tarnished an
>otherwise excellent cross-section of his solo career (and a little
>who-related material as well with Pure and Easy). Certainly Pete had a
>wealth of stronger material already released on his albums, and to think
>that this is was "best of" what has not been released....ugh.
>
>After examining all that; I'm glad he removed it from P-Derelict; it IS too
>heavy for the story (which has a few too many sub-plots anyways); and if he
>included in the "best of" collection to help us see deeper into his ideas
>about the story, I wish it was a better song. I would have preferred
>"Somebody saved me" over this song. Opinions?

nostems:

I agree with you (and Pete) that "Uneasy Street" would further complicate a
complicated story. However, musically, it would fit well on P-Derelict, and
therefore, I like its inclusion on this "Best of." We all could choose a
previously released song that we would like to add to this set, but I'd
rather have a new song. And this is a good one. I don't agree that it is
awful or that it tarnishes the album.


>I feel positive the reason "Uneasy Street" is on there is to entice
>hardcore fans like us into buying the thing.  He knows we already have
>everything else, and being the completists that we are, we're forced into
>buying it so we can say we have everything.  I don't fall for this sh**
>anymore--I just taped the song and didn't buy the CD.  After all the money
>I've thrown at these guys over the years I don't feel even slightly guilty
>about doing that.  The Who, maybe more than any other band in history, are
>notorious for spreading their material over as many albums as possible.

Bill:

Well, this completist fell for it. I do stop short of buying movie
soundtracks, so I appreciate LMLOTD (e.cola mix) also. (That was on some
soundtrack, wasn't it?) I didn't buy John's "Best of," because it didn't
include any new tracks and I expected all of his albums to eventually make
it to CD (which they did). I did buy Roger's "Best of," because, even
though it had no new tracks, I wasn't sure all of his albums would make it
to CD (still waiting on CWTSTM). I did buy Hooligans; I didn't buy The
Who's Greatest Hits or Who's Better Who's Best.

So adding previously unreleased songs will get me to buy a "Best of,"
depending on the artist. However, this is very common practice for bands
and/or their record companies. I don't see how The Who are the most guilty.


Mark:

More good Rhino boxes - The Doo Wop Box and Cowabunga: The Surf Box.


>>I think the Toronto show illustates clearly how Pete was feeling in regard
>>to the audience...that is to say: out of touch. Remember, between It's Hard
>>and Eminence Front he says: "Actually, it's not very hard at all. What's
>>hard is making it feel hard." A pause as realization hits. "You don't
>>understand what I'm saying..." And the song begins over this, proving that
>>even the band wasn't paying attention to him.
>
>Did I miss something?  I thought it was a dirty joke.

keets:

Or at least a double entendre. But you could say that about the album title
too.

Jim