If you don’t know who Pete Townshend is, well…
On June 30, UMe will release a Pete Townshend collection of tunes called Truancy: The Very Best Of Pete Townshend. This 17 track collection of newly remastered tunes will lead off a previously mentioned deal with UMe that will see the reissue of his nine solo albums.
Truancy will be beefed up with two new tracks, “Guantanamo”, and “How Can I Help You”. Truancy will feature new liner notes.
The following pieces are taken from the Press Release and are Pete Townshend’s words on the two new tracks:
“Pete Townshend on “Guantanamo”: “I thought this song might never see the light of day, but now President Obama has relaxed sanctions in Cuba, it is a happy sign he might go further. Technically this was created in rather a laborious way. I recorded a long organ drone using my vintage Yamaha E70 organ (used many times by me on Who and solo recordings in the past), and then cut it into something that sounded like a song using a feature unique to Digital Performer called ‘chunks.’ This creates blocks of groups of tracks that can be assembled and disassembled easily, like cutting multitrack analogue tape with a razor blade, but with less blood. The lyric grew out of the implicit angry frustration in the organ tracks.”
“Townshend again, “‘How Can I Help You’ was inspired partly by the frustrating emotional difficulties experienced by a valued colleague. He was in great physical pain and it drove him into depression. I performed an acoustic version of the song on my partner Rachel Fuller’s webcast show ‘In the Attic.’ I began this recording with an acoustic guitar, added drum loops and breaks then Gretsch and Rickenbacker 12-string guitars and John Entwistle’s hybrid Thunderbird-Fender Precision bass.””
The Townshend solo extended and remastered solo reissues are expected shortly, pushing outward through 2016.
Truancy: The Very Best Of Pete Townshend
Track-List:
01 – Pure And Easy (from Who Came First)
02 – Sheraton Gibson (from Who Came First)
03 – Let’s See Action (Nothing Is Everything) (from Who Came First)
04 – My Baby Gives It Away (from Rough Mix)
05 – A Heart To Hang On To (from Rough Mix)
06 – Keep Me Turning (from Rough Mix)
07 – Let My Love Open The Door (from Empty Glass)
08 – Rough Boys (from Empty Glass)
09 – The Sea Refuses No River (from All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes)
10 – Face Dances (Pt. 2) (from All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes)
11 – White City Fighting (from White City)
12 – Face The Face (from White City)
13 – I Won’t Run Anymore (from The Iron Man)
14 – English Boy (from Psychoderelict)
15 – You Came Back (from Scoop)
16 – Guantanamo (New song)
17 – How Can I Help You (New song)