The Who - Pete Townshend Albums

LPs (vinyl) Sampled: Polydor (UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Spain), MCA (USA, Canada), Atco (USA, Canada), Union (Taiwan), UMC (UK)

LP Comments: The 1983 Atco (USA) pressing is wonderful. All of the other pressings seem to have good sound quality, but their vinyl quality varies.

CD Comments: The Atco (USA, Canada) is a great sounding CD!!! The mastering on the Imperial (Japan), Hip-O (USA) and UMC (UK) adds compression and is a bit louder. The compression diminishes some of the warmth of the Atco (USA) or LP versions, and some tracks sound a little harsh, while others sound pretty good. The Atco (USA, Canada) CD versions are pretty perfect. (Note: The volume of this CD is relatively low, but nothing your volume control knob can't remedy.)

Summary: "Rough Mix" is one of the best-produced, best sounding Who-related albums. The sound is smooth and the mix is "up front" as if Pete Townshend is playing to you personally. The Atco (USA, Canada) CD sounds excellent, as does the Atco (USA) LP. If you don't already have this album in your collection, buy it.

Other Comments: The Imperial (Japan), Hip-O (USA) and SPV (Germany) CD come with 3 bonus tracks, 2 by Ronnie Lane, 1 by Pete Townshend. The track, "Good Question" (an instrumental), is a full-length version of the "Brrr" track from "Scoop"

The Hip-O USA version is a CD on one side and DVD on the other. The DVD features: 2.0 Audio mix, 5.1 surround mix, a picture gallery and video interviews with Pete, Glyn Johns and Ronnie Lane's former manager. Also note that the DVD-A 5.1 mix played at 2.0 has some interesting variations (listen above) vs. the original released versions.

Track Listing: My Baby Gives It Away, Nowhere To Run, Rough Mix, Annie, Keep Me Turning, Catmelody, Misunderstood, April Fool, Street In The City, Heart To Hang Onto, Till The Rivers All Run Dry

Track Listing (2006 - Imperial Japan, 2006 - Hip-O USA): My Baby Gives It Away, Nowhere To Run, Rough Mix, Annie, Keep Me Turning, Catmelody, Misunderstood, April Fool, Street In The City, Heart To Hang Onto, Till The Rivers All Run Dry, Only You, Good Question, Silly Little Man

LPs (vinyl) Sampled: Atco (USA), Atco (UK), Atco (Canada), Atco (Argentina), Atco (Japan)

CDs Sampled: Atco -1st pressing-made in Germany (USA), Atco - 2nd pressing-made in USA, <1st> remastered Atlantic-Gold (USA), Atlantic - <1st> remastered (USA), Atlantic - <1st> remastered (Germany), East-West - <1st> remastered (Japan), <2nd> remastered Imperial (Japan), <2nd> remastered Hip-O (USA), <3rd> remastered HD Download (UK)

Non-album Tracks: "Classified", "Greyhound Girl" (from the "Let My Love Open The Door" EP, 1980 Europe only), "Let My Love Open The Door"- alternative mix (from the 1996 UK CD single)

LP Comments: The Atco (USA) pressing sounds great and has excellent quality vinyl. No need to look further.

CD Comments: This CD was among the earliest of CDs. The first pressings (made in Germany) were extremely bright and hard to listen to. The 2nd pressings offered an improvement, but not enough to make a difference. The USA and Germany <1st> remastered pressings are also too bright and tinny, while the Japan (East West) <1st> remastered version is fine in many spots, but too bright in important areas (i.e. vocals for "Rough Boys" and "Let My Love Open The Door"). The <2nd> remastered Japan (Imperial) and USA (Hip-O) sounds harsh in some spots, OK in others. The bonus tracks on the CD are mastered much better and sound just fine. The 1994 Atlantic - Gold (USA) CD sounds great (see additional comments under "Summary" below). The 2016 <3rd> remastered HD download is way too compressed and harsh.

Summary: Find the 1994 Atlantic-Gold (USA) CD and enjoy it. If you prefer vinyl, the 1980 UK or USA LP will sound just as good. I have not found an explanation as to why the Gold CD sounds so much better than all the other CD versions. The Gold CD's mastering appears to based on the same <1st> Remastering as the other 1994 CD releases (USA, Germany & Japan). However, where as the non-Gold versions suffer from some harsh "bright spots", the Gold version doesn't. Unfortunately, the bonus tracks are not available on the Gold CD, so you basically need 2 CDs to have all the tracks with the best sound quality.

Note: The "Gold" CD is out of print and somewhat scarce. Copies have been selling on eBay for ~$20 to $100+.

Other Comments: It used to be "known" that Japanese pressings were "always better" because of the quality <virgin> vinyl they used or the care they put into the processing. What I've found, is that like everything else that's generalized, this isn't true. For the Who series, Japanese Polydor LPs ranged from bad to excellent and the Sony's were consistently excellent. On the other hand, USA LPs were supposed to be bad. This mostly depended on the label. Who and Who solo related, I've found that Warner Brothers products (including Atco and Atlantic) sounded great for USA pressings, but not so great for Japanese pressings.

The "Gonna Get Yah" bonus track on the Japan (Imperial) CD is actually labeled, "Long Version" (it clocks in at about 11:22). However, it doesn't appear to be an out-take, but more so a work-in-process demo version.

Track Listing: Rough Boys, I Am An Animal, And I Moved, Let My Love Open The Door, Jools And Jim, Keep On Working, Cats In The Cupboard, A Little Is Enough, Empty Glass, Gonna Get Ya

Track Listing (1980 Atco Italy Cassette): A Little Is Enough, I Am An Animal, And I Moved, Let My Love Open The Door, Empty Glass, Keep On Working, Cats In The Cupboard, Jools And Jim, Rough Boys, Gonna Get Ya

Track Listing (2006 - Hip-O USA, Imperial Japan): Rough Boys, I Am An Animal, And I Moved, Let My Love Open The Door, Jools And Jim, Keep On Working, Cats In The Cupboard, A Little Is Enough, Empty Glass, Gonna Get Ya, I Am An Animal (demo), Keep On Working (demo), And I Moved (demo), Gonna Get Ya (work-in-process/demo)

LPs (vinyl) Sampled: Atco (UK, USA, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Yugoslavia) Atco-test pressing (USA), Atlantic (Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain), UMC (UK)

CDs Sampled: Atco (USA, Canada, Germany, Japan), Atlantic (USA - 1st Remaster), Hip-O (USA - 2nd Remaster), Imperial (Japan - 2nd Remaster), UMC (UK - 3rd Remaster)

Non-album Tracks: "Man Watching" (b side of "Face Dances Part 2" in USA, UK and France, as well as b side of "Uniforms" in Holland). "Dance It Away" (b side of Uniforms (UK)) "Slit Skirts" (a different version is available on the Video EP - see VIDEO section).

LP Comments: The 1982 Atco (USA) has excellent sound and vinyl. I slightly prefer it to the Atco (UK) and all of the others. The other LPs all sound very good, but the USA has a slight edge in detail and overall sound. The LP version of the UK 3rd remaster sounds a little better than its CD counterparts, but not as good as the original LP versions.

CD Comments: The original pressings of the CD Atco (USA, Germany, Canada) all sound excellent. The 2000 remastered (USA Atlantic) version turns up the volume, increases the treble and adds more bass in a completely artificial and pointless way. The 2006 versions (2nd remaster) adds too much compression - however, the 2 bonus tracks are very welcome!. The 3rd remaster reminds me of the 2000 (1st remaster) with an artificial sounding boost to the highs and overall sounding un-natural.

Summary: Any of the original (non-remastered) CD versions (as above) would be my first preference. After that, the Atco (USA) LP (which sounds just as good if not slightly better). The bonus tracks on the Imperial (Japan) CD are available on other CDs can be found on eBay. The bonus tracks on the 2006 Hip-O (USA) and SPV (Germany) can only be obtained on this CD ("Vivienne") or vinyl 45s (Dance It Away and Man Watching)

Other Comments: The USA test-pressing has a different track order on its album sleeve and lists the track, "Vivienne". However, the actual record contains the same songs and in the same order as the commercially released version. "Vivienne" has been released on the 2006 SPV (Germany) and 2006 Hip-O (USA) CDs. (See Next Page for uncut Test Pressing LP sleeve.)

Track Listing: Stop Hurting People, The Sea Refuses No River, Prelude, Face Dances Part Two, Exquisitely Bored, Communication, Stardom In Action, Uniforms, North Country Girl, Somebody Saved Me, Slit Skirts

Track Listing (2006 - Imperial Japan): Stop Hurting People, The Sea Refuses No River, Prelude, Face Dances Part Two, Exquisitely Bored, Communication, Stardom In Action, Uniforms, North Country Girl, Somebody Saved Me, Slit Skirts, The Sea Refuses No River (Live La Jolla, 2001), Slit Skirts (Live The Fillmore, 1996)

Track Listing (2006 - Hip-O USA, SPV Germany): Stop Hurting People, The Sea Refuses No River, Prelude, Face Dances Part Two, Exquisitely Bored, Communication, Stardom In Action, Uniforms, North Country Girl, Somebody Saved Me, Slit Skirts, Vivienne, Man Watching, Dance It Away

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