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"
- published: 20 Feb 2015
- views: 13313