MUMBAI: 30 June sees the release of ‘Truancy: The Very Best Of Pete Townshend’ as part of a new deal with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe). The 17-track album features two brand new songs and is part of an extensive reissue program for Townshend’s solo material that will see his catalogue re-mastered and reworked running into 2016.
‘Truancy’ was re-mastered at Abbey Road Studios, features new liner notes, an introduction to the two new songs by Townshend and highlights from nine key Townshend albums including the singles – ‘Rough Boys,’ ‘Let My Love Open The Door,’ ‘Face Dances (Pt. 2),’ ‘English Boy’ and ‘Face The Face.’
Of the compilation Townshend says, “I hope it offers a selection that works to introduce new fans to my solo work. I am a bit of a dabbler I am afraid. I am as interested in building, developing and playing with recording studios as I am with making music. The Who has taken up most of my road hours, and in this year of the 50th anniversary of our first significant year in 1965, we are back on the road again.”
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The two new, previously unreleased songs exclusive to this collection are ‘Guantanamo’ and ‘How Can I Help You.’
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 said, “‘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.”
