Pete Townshend’s Deep End – Face the Face – RSD Double Vinyl Record

Description

Pete Townshend’s Deep End – Face the Face – RSD Double Vinyl Record

Face the Face documents Pete Townshend’s Deep End at MIDEM in Cannes on January 29, 1986, performing for the German television series Rockpalast. The concert followed Townshend’s White City album and his large-scale Deep End live project, placing songs from his solo catalog beside carefully reconsidered Who material. This is not a stripped-down singer-songwriter set. Townshend fronts an expansive ensemble with David Gilmour on lead guitar, Simon Phillips on drums, John “Rabbit” Bundrick on keyboards, Chucho Merchán on bass, Peter Hope-Evans on harmonica, Jody Linscott on percussion, and prominent brass and backing vocals. The size of the band gives familiar songs new weight and color.

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” makes an immediate statement. Rather than imitate The Who’s studio recording, Deep End reshapes its tension through layered keyboards, horns and the contrast between Townshend’s slashing rhythm guitar and Gilmour’s more fluid lead voice. “Secondhand Love” and “Give Blood” move into the dense, urgent sound of White City, with Phillips driving the ensemble through complicated accents while the backing singers widen the choruses. “Behind Blue Eyes” closes the first side by restoring a more exposed emotional center, though even its quieter passages benefit from the concert’s broad instrumental palette.

The second side begins with “After the Fire,” a Townshend song best known at the time through Roger Daltrey’s recording. Here its reflective verses and forceful refrain sound fully integrated with the songwriter’s own concerns about age, responsibility and survival. “Slit Skirts” reaches back to All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, while “Blue Light” returns to the contemporary White City period. Townshend’s voice is rougher and more conversational than a conventional arena-rock lead, which suits material built around conflicted narrators. Gilmour contributes recognizable phrasing without turning the performance into a showcase detached from the songs.

The third and fourth sides broaden the retrospective. “Hiding Out” and “The Sea Refuses No River” emphasize Townshend’s reflective solo writing, then the title song brings the full ensemble into an angular, danceable arrangement. “Pinball Wizard” is concise and theatrical, while “A Little Is Enough” balances affirmation with the tension that runs through so much of his work. “Rough Boys” restores a harder edge before “Night Train” closes the sequence with the band operating as a genuine revue. The set’s shape makes a strong case for the continuity between Townshend’s Who compositions and his more personal solo records.

Issued for Record Store Day 2022, this colored double-LP edition marked the concert’s first appearance on vinyl. The fourteen-track sequence is the dedicated audio program and does not add material found on some video configurations. Spread across four sides, it preserves the scale of Deep End while allowing the changes in mood and instrumentation to register clearly. Face the Face is valuable as more than a meeting between two famous guitarists. It captures Townshend testing his songbook inside a large, disciplined band and finding arrangements that are muscular, thoughtful and distinct from the original records.

Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic

Track Listing

Side A
Won't Get Fooled Again
Secondhand Love
Give Blood
Behind Blue Eyes

Side B
After the Fire
Slit Skirts
Blue Light

Side C
Hiding Out
The Sea Refuses No River
Face the Face
Pinball Wizard

Side D
A Little Is Enough
Rough Boys
Night Train