Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane - Rough Mix

Two Classics

Two cuts: "Street In The City" and "Heart To Hang On To" are must-own production numbers. April 5, 2007

Might Be 5 Stars If Properly Mastered

I own tons of Dual Discs and have had no problems with any of them. I own a Sony high-end SACD/DVD player and it'll play anything I throw at it. The CD side of this item plays fine. The extra features are pretty swell, too. The very opening seconds of the DVD side are improperly mastered which causes an annoying "stutter" as the disc attempts to initiate the Surround Sound. I checked it on my other player, same thing. Being that there are no surface scratches or any defects visible, rather than bothering Amazon with returning the item, I have contacted the manufacturer(Hip-O) THREE TIMES to try to have this addressed only to be told someone will get back to me with no replies. This has been since 10-28-06. So if you want to listen to the first cut on the CD side, stop, flip it over to the Dual Disc side and reinitiate play at the second track, it's pretty swell. For those of you nostalgic about missing the flipping over of a vinyl record(not I), it may be right up your alley. No more Hip-O purchases for me. There's plenty of other music out there. January 9, 2007

Pleasing mix of Townshend and Lane originals a pity they didn't do this again...

When Ronnie Lane was having financial difficulty he asked Pete Townshend for a loan. Pete said no. He then suggested that Pete produce his solo album and contribute songs to a solo album Townshend had a counter proposal; they record an album together. The result is the marvelous "Rough Mix" which features both songwriters in top form and meshing to create a unique sythesizer of both their sounds. The album sounds like a collison of these two unique songwriters and their bands (Lane was a member at one time of the Faces and The Small Faces)than just about anything either one of them created by themselves. The production by Glyn Johns and musical contributions from John Entwhistle, Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts and Rabbit makes this marvelous musical confection come together and gel.

Does this album sound better than the previously mastered version? Yeah it's improved. We get the original album remastered for CD with video interviews with producer Johns and Townshend on the DVD-audio side of things. There are also stills from Townshend's collection of the recording of the album. The 5.1 mix of the album sounds quite good as well although I find myself listening a bit more to the stereo CD side only because I tend to listen to music much more in the car than I do at home.

The booklet has information on the recording of the album in a brief essay as well as the original lyrics for all the songs. The big find though is three previously unreleased songs two by Lane and one by Townshend. "Good Question" builds on a demo from "Scoop" that Townshend recorded called "Brrr". Both "Only You" and "Silly Little Man" are exceptional Lane tunes that add to his musical legacy.

A warning to Townshend/Who fans; don't except "Empty Glass" this album has much more in common in tone, feel and sound to Townshend's "Who Came First" album than his later albums.

Pete's in great voice throughout. The opening strains of the odd "love song" "My Baby Gives It Away" which wouldn't have been out of place on a Who record. Townshend's songs tend to rock out a bit more than Lane's but the two provide perfect balance to each other here.
November 26, 2006

Great Album

Glad to have it in surround.
The guy that can't play it on his Pioneer needs only to take in his Pioneer DVD-Audio player to a dealer that can update his firmware, that will fix the problem! I guarantee it! October 21, 2006

Five stars for content and effort

This is a 5-star album. Period. And while I lobbied for a decent remaster, I certainly never expected all this. They did a very good (not great) job of remastering, and you get your choice of conventional CD stereo, Dolby DVD stereo or Dolby DVD 5.1. No DTS, unfortunately. I know I'm picking nits, but I don't find the 5.1 mix all that alluring. First, the sound is anemic, requiring much more volume and amp power to get a decent listening experience. The mix lacks punch and high end and is not at all realistic, e.g. the drums are all in the right front channel, kind of a throwback to the "2-track" stereo mixes of the 60s. Also, some of the vocal tracks are different, which is OK, I guess, but off-putting and not as good as the finished vocal tracks. It's one of the most curious, and disappointing surround sound mixes I've heard. I don't know how the stereo master can be so much improved from the previous LP and CD releases, yet the 5.1 mix sound so different and disappointing.

But, honest, I'm not complaining. You don't have to listen to the 5.1 mix, it's there if you want it, and I'm well pleased with the stereo mixes. The CD stereo remaster seems a bit better than the Dolby DVD remaster, but they are close.

At any rate, I am glad they finally remastered this classic album, and the extras are very much appreciated. October 18, 2006

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