Pete Townshend - All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes

If you are a Pete Townshend fan

This is a good album. Probably not for the casual Pete Townshend fan or Who fan for that matter. Pete does capture some great guitar tones and some really hooky songs, and then some are just plain weird, it would be a good addition to a music fans collection August 13, 2008

"The sea runs with oil and gas..."

Pete's 1982 follow up to 'Empty Glass' was filled to the brim with unique ambition. Was it pretentious? Yes, to a degree. But he had the license and clout to try just about anything. Everything from the sleeve and artwork, to the somewhat abstract narrative prose of the insert, to the songs that acted as confessionals to his psyche, demonstrated a willingness to venture into new territory. There seems to be a veiled concept behind the album that linearly doesn't add up, yet if his intent was to play with surrealist imagery, then he manages it. The point is the songs of course and if they work, and they do for the most part.

'Stop Hurting People' is an excellent opener. 'The Sea Refuses No River' manages to offer foresight and passion with a memorable harmonica line. 'Prelude' is a nice, theatrical vignette with a nice segway into the light pop of 'Face Dances Pt 2' One of the least interesting tracks for me is 'Exquisitely Bored'. The other filler for me is 'Communication', which strikes me as a little too similar to 'Cry If You Want' from 'It's Hard'. While 'Stardom in Action' is excellent, 'Uniforms' has never really grabbed me, although I appreciate it's humor and it's observations. 'North Country Girl' is an interesting re-working of a folk piece. For myself, 'Somebody Saved Me' is the most dramatic and heartfelt vocal by Townshend. 'Slit Skits' is simply a stunning track and album closer, as well as being the primary single from the album.

The three bonus tracks are a worthwhile edition, and fit in within the flavor of the time, with 'Dance It Away' being the best as far as an outright rocker. 'Vivienne' is somewhat interesting, but 'Man Watching' seems to be the least developed. These three tracks fall within 'B side' status and will probably only interest the completist.

The original CD was very thin sounding and Jon Astely has done a good job with this mastering, there's an added depth and clarity, having said that, I can't comment on if this compares to the previous import remasters from several years back. The packaging is an improvement as well.

Definitely worth your while. August 5, 2008

Well Worth Hearing

With all the attention Townshend's other band The Who got and still gets, it seems that much of his solo work has been both overlooked and underappreciated. I heard All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes back when it was originally released and liked it but never got around to buying it. Subsequently, I forgot all about it until I saw it recently on sale at a local big box book and music store.
The low price, the remastering, the extra tracks, and pleasant recollections made buying it easy. Am I glad I did! This is the second of a trio of pretty good albums Townshend issued in the late seventies and early eighties that for some reason never really caught on. And though its not my favorite of the three, there are some classic tracks here that are well worth hearing over and over.
As a singer, I have always preferred Townshend to Roger Daltrey anyway. His delivery is more expressive and nuanced, just perfectly suited for the material here. The bonus tracks are OK, I'm always glad to have them, but the original core of this album remains the best part. The following are the tracks that make this a keeper: Stop Hurting People, The Sea Refuses No River, Exquisitely Bored (the last two lines remain so true!), the jaunty, stirring Uniforms, and the bittersweet Slit Skirts.
If you are a Pete Townshend or Who fan who missed this when it was first issued, give this a listen. I highly recommend it! December 29, 2007

Townshend's best solo work...

This is Townshend's best solo album (in my not so humble opinion), and it's so good that it can sit alongside several of Pete's classic Who recordings. It came out right around 1982 or so, and it's a vast improvement over The Who's It's Hard, which came out right around the same time. It's like Pete saved all his best material and passion for his solo album here. There are only one or two throwaway songs (Exquisitely Bored and Communication), but they're still good. The rest of the material is absolutely first rate. The opener, Stop Hurting People, is beautiful and majestic even, with a great synthesizer line (Townshend really knew how to use that machine. He never had any cheesy synthesizer lines). The Sea Refuses No River is a great Pete epic. I also love Stardom in Action and Uniforms, and the album's single, Slit Skirts, is a great closer to a great album. The lyrics here are some of the best that Townshend ever came up with. And the obtuse, verbose, somewhat obsfucating title is very cool too. Townshend managed to make up for the mediocrity of It's Hard here. Perhaps he was subconsciously trying to break The Who up. Who knows? Regardless, we have this great album we can enjoy over and over again.... October 27, 2007

An Absolute (Poetic) Masterpiece...

What a heck of an album cover!! This album has been in my collection since it first came out......An absolute masterpiece- the lyrics in "Stop Hurting People" is very profound yet cannot help laugh and smile listening to Pete's English humor in all of its seriousness. August 8, 2007

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