Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane - 1977 Rough Mix

• published: 20 Feb 2015
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Rough Mix, Pete Townshend's 1977 collaboration with former Small Faces and Faces songwriter and bass player Ronnie Lane, combines the loose, rollicking folk-rock of Lane's former band, Slim Chance, with touches of country, folk, and New Orleans rock & roll, along with Townshend's own trademark style. Lane's tunes, especially the beautiful "Annie," possess an understated charm, while Townshend, with songs such as "Misunderstood," the Meher Baba-inspired "Keep Me Turning," and the strange love song "My Baby Gives It Away," delivers some of the best material of his solo career. Rough Mix stands as a minor masterpiece and an overlooked gem in both artists' vast bodies of work. Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, and Charlie Watts guest. (allmusic) 00:00 "My Baby Gives It Away" 4:00 04:00 "Nowhere to Run" 3:12 07:12 "Rough Mix" 3:08 10:20 "Annie" 2:50 13:10 "Keep Me Turning" 3:40 16:50 "Catmelody" 3:09 19:59 "Misunderstood" 2:57 22:56 "April Fool" 3:28 26:24 "Street in the City" 6:03 32:27 "Heart to Hang Onto" 4:24 36:51 "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" 3:43 reissue bonus tracks 40:34 "Only You" 4:25 44:59 "Good Question" 3:35 48:34 "Silly Little Man" 3:43 On October 21, 1976, The Who closed a brief North American tour in Toronto at the Maple Leaf Gardens, a show that would be the last with Keith Moon before a paying audience. The band members then took a hiatus to pursue various individual interests. Townshend had been initially contacted by Lane to produce his next album, the project instead turning into a full-blown collaboration between the pair. The album featured songs written by both principals in a vein less like that of The Who or The Faces but instead close to the folk-rock vogue of the early 1970s among various English bands. A number of famous colleagues appeared on the recording, among them Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, Ian Stewart, and Charlie Watts. Orchestral arrangements for the track "Street in the City" were provided by Townshend's father-in-law, noted British film and television theme composer Edwin Astley. Rough Mix was remastered in 2006 and released by Hip-O Records, the reissue label for the Universal Music Group, in both 5.1 surround sound format on Dualdisc and standard stereo compact disc. The reissue featured three outtakes as bonus tracks. Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend — vocals, guitars, electric guitars, mandolins, bass guitars, banjos, ukuleles Edwin Astley — orchestrations on "Street in the City" John "Rabbit" Bundrick — organ, Fender Rhodes on "Nowhere to Run," "Rough Mix," "Keep Me Turning," "Heart to Hang Onto" Boz Burrell — bass guitar on "Heart to Hang Onto" and "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" Mel Collins — saxophones on "Catmelody" Eric Clapton — guitars, dobro on "Rough Mix," "Annie," "April Fool," "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" Julian Diggle — percussion on "Misunderstood" John Entwistle — horns, vocals on "Heart to Hang Onto" and "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" Peter Hope Evans — harmonica on "Nowhere to Run," "Misunderstood" Benny Gallagher — accordion on "Annie" Tony Gilbert — orchestral leader on "Street in the City" Chris Green — principal cello on "Street in the City" Charlie Hart — violin on "Annie" Chris Laurence — principal bass on "Street in the City" Graham Lyle — twelve-string guitar on "Annie" David Marquee — double bass on "Annie" and "April Fool" Billy Nicholls — vocal on "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" Steve Shingles — principal viola on "Street in the City" Henry Spinetti — drums on "Nowhere to Run," "Rough Mix," "Keep Me Turning," "Heart to Hang Onto," "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" Ian Stewart — piano on "Catmelody" Charles Vorsanger — principal second violin on "Street in the City" Charlie Watts — drums on "My Baby Gives It Away" and "Catmelody"