Pete Townshend - White City

This Japanese pressing is part of a Pete Townsend miniature LP sleeve CD release series that has been fully remastered. Imperial. 2006. Album Description

 WHITE CITY FIGHTING
This is a spectacular Album, coinciding with the Film "White City-A Novel".
Pete is going to a place in time that most of the suppressed, disfunctional Post War machine was well oiled.
The Music...Superb a Masterpiece, angry "Secondhand Love" to "Face The Face" at the Pool...Club..Centre of Peace and Escape.
Enjoy!! September 27, 2007

 A Forgotten Treasure
I was a teen when this ablum was first released. At the time, 'Give Blood' was the hit single and the sole reason I bought 'White City'. This ended up being one of those vinyl albums that I played the hell out of. It's truly epic.... meant to be listened to in order. I never upgraded to cassette or CD, I just forgot about it. Until now. It's really such a treat to listen to this all over again. If you are a fan of Pete's, Pink Floyd (Dave Gilmour) or the Who (Tommy), I think you will love this album. My favorite song on this is 'Hiding Out', so I appreciated the bonus track. June 21, 2007

 Not a Worthwhile Upgrade
If you don't already own this title, by all means, get it. This and Who Came First are my favorite solo outings by Pete. I would buy this CD based only on the title song - I like it that much. That said, the entire Pete Townshend remaster series is a disappointment. I had a hard time deciding, with each title, which one I was going to keep - the original or the remaster. I finally decided that, based on the extra tracks, I'd keep the remastered discs.

The remasters all have a greater clarity, but they possess a hard-edged sound that should have been rectified during remastering. Empty Glass is especially bad about this. So, if you already own these, I'd recommend living with them a while longer. February 25, 2007

 Overlooked and Underappreciated
Many long-time fans of The Who missed out on the underpromoted solo efforts by various members of the band. Of all those works that I have heard, only Pete Townshend's have any real merit. I was pretty stoked when I read in the English music press that some of Pete's early work would be remastered and re-released. But it was obvious from the article that the writer didn't think much of White City.
I disagree. White City is nearly a masterpiece, and is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated of all Townshend's works. I liked it when it was originally released and I like it just as much in the remastered edition. While Roger Daltrey was the Who's powerhouse vocalist, it was always Townshend to whom the band turned when the vocals required a touch of nuance and emotion. And on White City, there is a lot of both.
White City itself is apparently one of the housing "estates" that are the legacy of the postwar socialist policies of the British government. Our equivalent in the US is "the projects". And both seem equally mind-numbing and violent places in which to live. This "estate" seems to be the subject of about half the CD. Songs like Hiding Out, I Am Secure, and White City Fighting paint quite a picture.
Lyrically, White City is flawless. Musically, I have my favorites. Those are the hard-driving Give Blood, the jaunty Brilliant Blues, the pounding Face the Face, the angry Secondhand Love, and the soothing I Am Secure. If you are an old Who fan and never got around to hearing any of Townshend's solo work, well you ought to hear this. And by the way, I had none of the defects on my CD mentioned by another reviewer. Maybe his was from a bad batch. February 21, 2007

 Great album from Pete, Great re-release except...
Ditto to all the previous reviews; however, my copy seems to be defective.

Like a previous customer, one of my favorite tracks is "Hiding Out", and I was excited to have the rare 12" Mix availible here. Unfortunately, 4 minutes and 43 seconds into the track there appears to be a glitch. It's present when I play the CD, when I rip it in iTunes, and even when I open the track in Adobe Audition.

The disc is of course brand new and unscathed, so I wonder if this is a defect in the binary data when the disc was manufactured? If anyone else has this problem, maybe Universal will conduct a recall. If not, I'll just send it back to Amazon for a replacement. January 27, 2007

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