Who Came First [45th Anniversary Expanded Edition]

by Pete Townshend

Overview

Pete Townshend's first solo album was a homespun, charming forum for low-key, personal songs that weren't deemed suitable for the Who, as well as spiritual paeans (direct and indirect) to his spiritual guru, Meher Baba. Who fans will be immediately attracted by the presence of a couple of songs from the aborted Who concept album Lifehouse (much of which ended up on Who's Next), "Pure & Easy" and "Let's See Action." The Who did eventually release their own versions of both those songs. But Townshend's own versions aren't the highlights of this record, which shows a folkier and gentler side to the Who's chief muse than his albums with the group. "Sheraton Gibson" is a neat tune about rock & roll road life, and "Time Is Passing" takes very subtle inspiration from Baba. Most of the rest of the album contains some of the most unusual pieces Townshend has released: his acoustic cover of Jim Reeves' "There's a Heartache Following Me" (recorded because it was one of Baba's favorite tunes), "Evolution" (which is actually pretty much a solo track by his buddy Ronnie Lane of the Faces), "Parvardigar" (adapted from Baba's Universal Prayer), and "Content" (a philosophical poem by Maud Kennedy that Townshend put to music). The 1993 reissue of this LP for compact disc fleshes out the program considerably with six previously unreleased tracks, including Townshend's demo of the Who single "The Seeker." The other bonus cuts are by no means filler; meditative and melancholy originals, they're just as strong as the tracks on the original release. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	04/20/2018
Label:	Universal
UPC:	0602567302902

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Pure and Easy
2. Evolution
3. Forever's No Time At All
4. Let's See Action
5. Time Is Passing
6. There's a Heartache Following Me
7. Sheraton Gibson
8. Content
9. Parvardigar

Disc 2

10. His Hands
11. The Seeker [2017 Edit]
12. Day Of Silence
13. Sleeping Dog
14. Mary Jane [Stage A Version]
15. I Always Say [2017 Edit]
16. Begin The Beguine [2017 Edit]
17. Baba O'Reilly [Instrumental]
18. The Love Man [Stage C Version]
19. Content [Stage A Version]
20. Day Of Silence [Alt. Version]
21. Parvardigar [Alt. Take]
22. Nothing Is Everything [Earlier Incomplete Take]
23. There's A Fortune In Those Hills
24. Meher Baba In Italy
25. Drowned [Live in India 1976]
26. Evolution [Live at Ronnie Lane Memorial]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pete Townshend   Primary Artist,Vocals,Multi Instruments
Caleb Quaye   Multi Instruments
Ronnie Lane   Guitar,Vocals
Billy Nicholls   Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic)

Technical Credits

Katie McInnerney   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Ray Baker   Composer
Pete Townshend   Composer
Ronnie Lane   Composer
Billy Nicholls   Composer
Michael McInnerney   Composer
Maud Kennedy   Composer