Pete Townshend Reissue Campaign Begins Next Month with New 'Best Of'

Universal Music has announced today that it will be launching a reissue campaign of Pete Townshend's solo catalog this year. It all starts on June 29 with Truancy: The Very Best of Pete Townshend (clearly, the title implies that he sneaked in his solo career while playing hookey from a  certain band). The new comp only includes a couple of previously uncompiled nuggets ("Face Dances Pt. 2"--an early MTV favorite mysteriously missing from Pete's other hits collections-- and "You Came Back"), but it is notable for the inclusion of two new recordings: "Guantanamo", on which he'll likely give his take on a controversial topic, and "How Can I Help You". Hopefully, the big question this collection will answer is what Universal means when it says the following reissues will be "remastered and reworked." I for one hope "reworked" merely means we'll get some nice bonus tracks and not that we'll get remixes of the original LPs or something. We'll know for sure this year and next, as the reissue campaign will continue into 2016. As for today, happy 70th birthday, Pete!

 Truancy: The Very Best of Pete Townshend

1. "Pure and Easy"
2. "Sheraton Gibson"
3. "Let's See Action (Nothing Is Everything)"
4. "My Baby Gives It Away"
5. "A Heart to Hang On To"
6. "Keep Me Turning"
7. "Let My Love Open the Door"
8. "Rough Boys"
9. "The Sea Refuses No River"
10. "Face Dances (Pt. 2)"
11. "White City FIghting"
12. "Face the Face"
13. "I Won't Run Anymore"
14. "English Boy"
15. "You Came Back"
16. "Guantanamo"
17. "How Can I Help You"