Pete Townshend

Believing that nobody but audiophiles and hard-core Who fans would be interested in his one-man-band versions of Who material, guitarist-songwriter Pete Townshend was so surprised with the sales figures of Scoop, that he also released Another Scoop, which also charted respectfully. Both double record sets have been out of print since the ‘80s. And so it is with quite a curious mixture of joy and suspicion that one welcomes this newly released double CD set featuring some of the best tracks from both the original sets, as well as more recent song demos.

Joy: Here, you get Townshend’s versions of “Pinball Wizard,” “Pictures of Lily,” “Bargain,” and even such respectable latter-day Who tunes as “Eminence Front.” What Townshend’s versions of these songs manage is a quiet glimpse into the creative process that is as interesting to contemplate as it is enjoyable.

Suspicion: Also available on CD is the Scoop 3 double set, containing Townshend’s ‘80s-'90s demos. It is only available via his Eel Pie Productions Web site. Which renders this mostly likable little set something close to a marketing ploy of sorts. Hmm.