Pete Townshend will always be best known as the guitarist and songwriter for The Who, but he has made some great solo music as well. This song is one of my favorites. It came from his 1985 album White City: A Novel, which was a concept album about growing up in a working-class neighborhood in London and what happens to the people who live there. The song has a completely different feel from The Who’s music. It has a driving beat, a big brass section, and an almost danceable sound. When the video came out, it was hard to miss. Pete was running around the stage while the horns and backing musicians kept the whole thing moving.
The song was released as a single in 1985 and became one of Townshend’s best-known solo recordings. It features a cool horn arrangement and backing vocals, giving it a sound that was very much of the mid-eighties without losing Pete’s personality. He had been experimenting with synthesizers and electronic sounds for years. He brought them into The Who in a big way on the 1971 Who’s Next album. Here he mixed them with horns and a strong rock rhythm. The result is catchy, energetic, and a little different from what people expected from him.
What I like about this is that Pete didn’t simply try to make another Who song without Roger, John, and Keith/Kenney. He went in a different direction and made it work. The song has a great groove, and the horns make it stand out. Townshend’s solo work deserves attention. He was one of rock’s great songwriters, and songs like this show that he could step outside the band and still come up with something memorable.
The album peaked at #26 on the Billboard Album Charts, #10 in Canada, #20 in New Zealand, and #70 in the UK in 1985.
The song peaked at #26 on the Billboard 100, #17 in Canada, #11 in New Zealand, and #89 in the UK.
Face the Face
Face the face, got to face the face
Face the face, got to face the face
You must have heard the cautionary tales
The dangers hidden on the cul-de-sac trails
From wiser men who’ve been through it all
And the ghosts of failures spray-canned up on the wall
We’ve got to judge the judge
Got to find the finds
We’ve got to scheme the schemes
Have to line the lines
We must stake the stakes
And show the shown
We must take the takes
And know the known
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
We got to face the face
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face
Face the face, got to face the face.
Face the face, got to face the face.
Got to
Got to
You must have tried and defied belief
Maybe found futility in insular grief
I need your hunger you need mine
A million appetites can swallow up time.
We’ve got to fool the fools
We got to plan the plans
We got to rule the rules
We got to stand the stands
We got to fight the fight
We must fall the falls
We got to light the light
We got to call the calls
We must race the race
So we can face the face
We got to race the race
We must race the race
So we can face the face
Face the face
We got to face the face
We got to race the race
We got to
Keep looking…
New York! Chicago!
London and Glasgow!
Keep looking!
Keep on looking
Keep on cooking
Gotta stay on this case
Study the pix
Watch the flix
We’ve got to find the face.
Face the face ,got to face the face
Watch the flix
Got to
We’ve got to judge the judge
We got to find the finds
We’ve got to scheme the schemes
We got to line the lines
We got to fight the fight
We got to fall the falls
We got to light the light
We got to call the calls
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
We got to face the face…
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
Try to place the place
Where we can face the face.
Keep looking, keep looking
We must race the race
So we can face the face.
We got to race the race
We must race the race.
So we can face the face
We got to face the face
We got to race the race
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I bought two maybe three of his solo albums. But just didn’t connect with this one. But listening to that live clip has given me a greater appreciation.
Me as well Randy…I was graduating in 1985…and it took me a few years to catch on…it’s quite different than what he usually does…more of a jump style music in this one.
Well he did like to jump after all…
I see what you did here, Max – first The Who and now Herr Townshend.
Can you believe initially I was lukewarm about this ‘Face the Face’ since I didn’t love the drums? Well, I guess I was young and still a bit innocent. Nowadays, I dig this gem BECAUSE OF THE CRASHING DRUMS!!! 😆 In fact, the entire ‘White City’ album is a gem and my probably my favorite Pete solo effort!
It took me a while to catch on as well. The 80s sound turned me off for a while but then I saw through that and started to like it as time went on. He is so energetic in this one…it’s hard not to like it.
I remember this one, didn’t realize it was that ‘recent’ ( I might have guessed ’78 or ’79) but I always thought it was pretty OK and it still sounds decent to me. I’d never consciously noticed the horns or how different it made the song from The Who, first thing I notice is it’s Townsend singing not Daltrey.
Oh that bass sound was pure 80s and the horns…it took me a while but it caught on with me…I really like this album. It has a 40’s jump style music in this…
yeah it does. Listening to it again, it stands up even better than I thought and I did think it was fairly good back then. Can hear a bit of that Joe Jackson ‘Jumpin Jive’ sound in it and various new wave/punk influences… it reminds me a bit of ‘One night in Bankok’ somehow and various other tunes but it’s all its own.
I did hear some more of that style at that time…and yes…I could see jackson doing something like this.
Loved The Who but never really followed Pete Townsend’s solo career
I see that most of his solo music charted high in the US and Canada and not as much in the UK.
It’s interesting…he kept it a different style from The Who..
Glyn, check out Who Came First by him. It’s wonderful.
Pete’s having a good time, the band is having a good time and we join in on the fun. Infectious music. Dave Gillmor on lead guitar, a ways away from the Floyd boys. Like Christian said , this is a fantastic record with some gems. Pete’s music is sneaky sometime and it catches us eventually.
It really does…it took a while to catch on with me but I finally caught up with it in the 1990s. His songs are good and catchy…hard to do both at times.
Ive spent a lot of time with his music, with the band and solo. I’m a pretty big fan.
The album in the early seventies as well…is great and doesn’t get a lot of attention…but yes…I like this one as well.
Pete Townshend’s Face the Face sounds a bit like jump jive as if it is from an earlier era.
Jump jive…THAT is what I was looking for! Thanks Jim…of the 1940s or so.
Good track and you’re right about Pete kinda shifting gears away from what he was doing in his day job. (The Who). I was psyched out in the vid where he is not playing guitar…lol…at the time I was thinking “what ya doing man?” lol
LOL…yea it’s wierd seeing him jump around without a guitar. Pete seems happy in this one anyway.
Yes he was happy. Getting to keep all the dough for himself haha
It’s good that he DIDN’T just go ‘Who Mk 2’ and did his own thing. When you have a long career you must keep yourself fresh if only for your own sanity I’d say.
Yes…and this would not have worked with The Who at all… so yea I agree. He wrote most of the Who songs for the Who in mind…so yea it’s different.
Bought that album on vinyl initially, but got the CD too, later on. Some very good songs, “Secondhand Love”, “Give Blood”. I haven’t listened in a while, have to dial it up. Sometimes you have to look beyond the production to see the essence of the song. Good choice.
Give Blood was what I was going to post…but I decided on this one. Yes…in the 80s I had to look past the production at times.
Loved this album, got it when it first came out. “Give Blood” is my favorite track on the album but this track really moves too.
I was going to cover Give Blood…I just happen to pivot to this one…it is a great album!
I didn’t know about that album. The only thing I remember about him was him smashing that Rickenbacker guitar to pieces at the end of their show in Dallas in 68. I was sick about that. And they were too damn loud, their amps must have gone up to 15 on the dials.
Yea…they helped Marshall design that amp and then they moved on to HiWatt amps. Phil…I almost bought a Hiwatt amp one day…but I thought about it…if this breaks down…good luck on getting parts over in America.
not really up to the best standard, but, a fully listenable album.
Yes…it’s not up to the Who’s best work…but yes I do enjoy the album Roger. It’s good to see you again!
I like it, always enjoyed his voice. Sounds like i should delve into the solo albums.
This one really pops! A lot of energy in his songs on here. I think most people only know Empty Glass because of the big hit.