Lost Gem: Rough Mix

Rough Mix - Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane

Best Song: Annie

Ronnie Lane is one of those artists who will never be a household name, a writer of solid folk rock songs that never pushed any envelopes. Pete Townshend on the other hand is considered one of the most important innovators in rock music, but experiments don’t always work and though he is responsible for some of the greatest and most powerful music ever produced he also has a lot of crappy songs attached to his name. This album can’t claim any innovation but it can claim to be enjoyable from start to finish.

Rough Mix is a competition. There is only one song that is actually a collaboration and that is the title track. Every other one either belongs to Lane of Townshend (except for the closing track). The best song belongs to Lane. Annie is often considered the best song that he ever wrote and it isn’t hard to see why. It is a song you will feel like you already should have known with its traditional form and heart felt singing.

Townshend takes his highlight in the delightful and chugging Misunderstood. This song would not have looked out of place on a record by The Who. One thing this album shows is that, especially later in the bands career, The Who really needed a second major creative force (John Entwistle was great but never a major songwriter). Townshend had burnt himself out after the grandiosity of Quadrophenia and this album helped revitalize him long enough to pump out one more timeless album (Who Are You).

Now every other track on here is also highly enjoyable which is why I am not mentioning them individually. The closer is a great cover of ‘til The Water All Runs Dry. It is a great way to close a folk influenced album, with a cover of a strait up country song. This is a great album that should be considered a classic. So find it, get it, and spread the word.