All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Pete Townshend | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 29, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1982
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B000GFRIWW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,886 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Stop Hurting People

2. The Sea Refuses No River

3. Prelude

4. Face Dances Part Two

5. Exquisitely Bored

6. Communication

7. Stardom In Action

8. Uniforms (Corp D'esprit)

9. North Country Girl

10. Somebody Saved Me

11. Slit Skirts

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Townshend's best solo work..., October 27, 2007

By 

Grigory's Girl "Grigory's Girl" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (Audio CD)

This is Townshend's best solo album (in my not so humble opinion), and it's so good that it can sit alongside several of Pete's classic Who recordings. It came out right around 1982 or so, and it's a vast improvement over The Who's It's Hard, which came out right around the same time. It's like Pete saved all his best material and passion for his solo album here. There are only one or two throwaway songs (Exquisitely Bored and Communication), but they're still good. The rest of the material is absolutely first rate. The opener, Stop Hurting People, is beautiful and majestic even, with a great synthesizer line (Townshend really knew how to use that machine. He never had any cheesy synthesizer lines). The Sea Refuses No River is a great Pete epic. I also love Stardom in Action and Uniforms, and the album's single, Slit Skirts, is a great closer to a great album. The lyrics here are some of the best that Townshend ever came up with. And the obtuse, verbose, somewhat obsfucating title is very cool too. Townshend managed to make up for the mediocrity of It's Hard here. Perhaps he was subconsciously trying to break The Who up. Who knows? Regardless, we have this great album we can enjoy over and over again....

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent alum - taken from bad source, November 21, 2008

By 

Eliza (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (Audio CD)

I have nothing more to say about this album--I love it.

I swear--they took this straight off vinyl. This reissue is not off the tapes at all! There is nothing wrong with that unless you already own a few copies on vinyl and want to hear it "remastered" -- unless this album was recorded poorly or the tapes weren't taken good care of, save your money if you have the vinyl. I know cos I burned a copy straight off my vinyl before I finally found this and it sounds just like this minus noise. "remastered" my a$$!

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Complete Pete louder than last time but not necessarily better than previous versions, January 13, 2007

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (Audio CD)

First up audiophiles beware this album is louder than previous editions making the sound of the album a bit different. Also remastering engineer Jon Astley has remastered compressing it more than previous editions.

Should yo upgrade? Well the bonus tracks certainly make this worthwhile although it is missing stuff I would have liked to see included and the sound is crummy compared to the original CD. The hits from the album included "Face Dances" (which had an amusing MTV video)and Pete's observations about growing older in the marvelous "Slit Skirts" (another MTV video which had an extended harmonica solo which curiously is missing as a bonus track here). We now have them supplemented by the rocking "Vivienne" which was a contender for the album. "Man Watching" sounds like a glorified demo but is compelling. "Dance It Away" has a nice rocking groove.

Unlike the remaster of "Who Came First" there aren't any notes discussing the production, inspiration or reception of the album when it was released. We do get the original lyrics for all 12 of the original album tracks (and credits) but none for the bonus tracks. Compared to "Face Dances" Townshend's "ATBCHCE" is the better release with sharper songs overall and sterling production from Chris Thomas.

Overall the sound is good but it could have been great if this had received a "flat" (i.e., no compression)transfer but sounds good enough to listen to in your car stereo.