Pete Townshend Releases Studio Albums Box Set

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Pete Townshend’s solo studio albums have been released as an 8-CD box set. Pete Townshend The Studio Albums, featuring such tracks as “Let My Love Open the Door,” “Face the Face,” and “Rough Boys” as well as his early versions of future Who classics “Pure and Easy” and “Let’s See Action,” arrived April 4, 2025, via UMe. It’s available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

Newly remastered by Jon Astley, the new set is an accompaniment to 2024’s Live In Concert 1985-2001 box. The new collection features expanded deluxe packaging in a CD-sized box with new art by longtime Townshend collaborator Richard Evans, sleeve notes by band archivist Matt Kent, a new exclusive Townshend foreword, and rare photos and memorabilia in a 28-page book.

The box set features seven albums: Who Came First, Rough Mix (with Ronnie Lane), Empty Glass, All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, White City (A Novel), The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend, and Psychoderelict, as well as the music-only version of Psychoderelict.

Who Came First was Townshend’s debut solo record, released in 1972. The album collected demos from the unrealized concept album Lifehouse, part of which became The Who’s classic Who’s Next album. The cover photo of Townshend taken by Graham Hughes (who also shot the cover of The Who’s Quadrophenia) features Pete standing on eggs and is a reference to the philosophical dilemma “Who came first? The chicken or the egg?.”

[Note: The audio clips below are from earlier remasters.]

Rough Mix was initially released in 1977 while The Who were on hiatus. It was a collaboration with Small Faces bassist Ronnie Lane and features contributions from John Entwistle, Eric Clapton, and Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, among others. The orchestral arrangements for the track “Street in the City” were provided by Townshend’s then father-in-law, noted British film and television theme composer Edwin Astley.

Empty Glass, produced by Chris Thomas (Roxy Music, Sex Pistols, Pretenders, Wings), was Townshend’s next solo release, in 1980. The songs predominantly deal with issues Townshend was struggling with at the time, including alcohol, drugs, and the death of The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon. The second single from the album “Let My Love Open the Door” was a U.S. Top Ten hit, propelling the album to #5 on the Billboard chart, and the first single “Rough Boys,” which was dedicated to Pete’s children and The Sex Pistols, was a U.K. Top 40 hit.

All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, released in 1982, contained two singles “Uniforms (Corp d’Esprit)” and “Face Dances (Pt 2),” as well as “Somebody Saved Me” a song The Who had recorded for their 1981 album Face Dances, which didn’t appear until an expanded edition in 1997.

Chris Thomas once again produced the album, featuring Simon Philips on drums and Jody Linscott on percussion, who would later perform with The Who. Promo videos were made for seven tracks from the album by renowned photographers Davies & Starr (Chalkie Davies and his then-wife Carol Starr) and released on VHS.

As the title of 1985’s White City (A Novel) suggests, the album tells a story of cultural conflict, racial tension and youthful hopes and dreams in the London housing estate in the 1960s, not far from where Townshend was raised. The album was again produced by Chris Thomas and features guest appearances by David Gilmour, Clem Burke, John “Rabbit” Bundrick, Pete’s daughter Emma and a young Justine Frischmann, who would later form the Brit-Pop band Elastica. As with his previous album, Pete filmed several videos but this time compiled them into a long-form video, White City (The Music Movie) featuring the singles “Face the Face” and “Give Blood,” directed by Richard Lowenstein.

1989’s The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend is an adaptation of Ted Hughes’ famous short story, The Iron Man. The album was produced and mainly composed and performed by Townshend but also features performances from Roger Daltrey, legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker and Nina Simone. The three then-surviving original members of The Who (Daltrey, Entwistle, and Townshend) perform two songs, “Dig” and a cover of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s “Fire.”

Psychoderelict, released in 1993, is Townshend’s last solo album to date. Structured like a radio play with dialogue, it follows Ray High, a reclusive 60s rock star who resurfaced in Townshend’s novella The Boy Who Heard Music and in the mini rock opera Wire & Glass, the centrepiece of The Who’s Endless Wire album. The album is presented both with and without the dialogue of the original release.

Townshend says of his solo studio work, “I have always written first for myself. Not as an artist but for play, for fun, for joy, for self-expression. For therapy? In a way, of course. These solo songs are therefore not Who exclusions or out-takes, they are part of a story that may well have been very different had I not made some poor decisions in the early ’80s. I have stories to tell about every song, and one day I may write a book that tells of that journey, but I’m probably happier spending my time today writing new music rather than explaining how the old stuff came about.”

2024’s Pete Townshend Live In Concert 1985-2001 set via UMe is available in the U.K. here and in the U.S. here. Townshend’s solo LPs, as well as ones from The Who are available as half-speed masters here.