This album has been on my mind since Pete Townshend’s collaboration with David Gilmour was discussed in the Glimpse of On an Island a couple of weeks ago. Last week we listened to one of Townshend’s favourite guitarists, Joe Walsh, and Townshend has just performed with The Who at the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs. It seemed only right to have a Glimpse at the work of the man himself. I’ll move in a different direction next week - probably.
Click the cover and listen to White City: A Novel on the streaming service of your choice.
Of the seven solo studio albums, I chose White City because it’s both brilliant and neglected, only making number 70 in the UK charts. It did better elsewhere, going gold in Germany and the US, but Townshend was hoping for more.
What makes White City: A Novel (1985) a classic album?
Let’s deal with the title first. There’s no novel to read; the subtitle was a joke rooted in Townshend’s then role as an acquisitions editor at publisher Faber & Faber in London. He has written a novel, but this isn’t it. For much of his career, he’s also been drawn to storytelling in individual songs and across entire double albums. And, yes, White City features characters.
Those characters are Jim and Alice, who live on the White City Estate1 in west London and are having marital problems. A Townshend character called Jim? That’s familiar. Yes, this is Jimmy from Quadrophenia, now 25-26 years old.
White City, though, is not a musical extension of Quadrophenia. Of course, there are sonic overlaps with The Who; but the band assembled for White City were fine musicians in their own right.
The album has a sound and atmosphere unique among Townshend’s albums because even the guitars we hear are not always played by the man. David Gilmour doesn’t simply guest on this album - on tracks such as Give Blood the guitar playing is his, the song being the result of a jam session involving Gilmour and future live Who members Simon Phillips and Pino Palladino, with Townshend adding cries of “give blood” at appropriate points. The song developed from there, but it was a departure from his usual way of working, where he presented virtually complete demos.2
Gilmour is also on the song White City Fighting; this was discussed a couple of weeks ago with Gilmour giving the song It was a contender for his album About Face) back to Townshend as it was too personal - Gilmour lacking the necessary experience of housing estates.
The songs that form White City are mostly told as monologues from different character’s points of view.3 Each song has a specific lyrical theme, ranging across hatred, freedom, creating our reality, pride, and safety.
Three key songs
Give Blood. Gilmour’s guitar sets the aural tone of the album as the track fades in, setting up a great Townshend song about the bonds that (should) bind us; that, by extension, bind the characters in White City. The song rocks, a synthesiser unsettles the mix. The mood is ominous; this is musically and lyrically suggested (“it’s all building up to something”). The best Townshend songs can be enjoyed both superficially and delve deep into our emotions. This emotional connection brings me back to his work, solo and with The Who, year after year, decade after decade.
Face the Face is based on an incredible bass and drum rhythm, with the funky Kick Horns dancing with Townshend’s impassioned, almost rap, vocal. This is a song about running the streets, and it’s also about making judgements and being judged. If only Jim, on the streets of White City in 1985, knew the judgements that would be made via social media in the decades to come. It’s worth asking how social media could change these characters. Indeed, it might be interesting to think about how Jim’s origin story in Quadrophenia might change if he’d been able to talk to fellow mods in a Facebook group or the like.
Crashing By Design is a manifestation song - how many of the difficulties these characters face have been brought upon themselves? Townshend’s guitar sound on this track is incredible, right from the opening chord which sounds like metal scraping on metal. The solo runs retain this metallic animal sound; crashing, by design.
Of course, on an album such as this, all the songs are key; it’s made to be listened to as a whole, even as each song stands up in its own right. Not having a detailed story to tell frees the album from the curse of needing to include filler songs only to explain a plot point.
What’s your emotional response to White City?
You could reflect on what Pete Townshend’s tales of life in the White City made you feel. What do you visualise while you’re listening? Does the ‘film’ (below) add to your emotional response, or diminish it?
Comments are open to all.
Or, of course, you could simply enjoy the music.
White City: The Movie - Part 1
The film was issued on VHS and LaserDisc but is no longer available to buy. But you can watch it here.
HOW TO BUY (Amazon aff. link)
Vinyl (but it’s £161.98 new) | CD (just £5.33 at the time of writing).
RECORDING DETAILS
Tracks
Side 1
Give Blood 2. Brilliant Blues 3. Face to Face 4. Hiding Out 5. Secondhand Love
Side 2
6. Crashing By Design 7. I Am Secure 8. White City Fighting 9. Come To Mama
Musicians
Pete Townshend – vocals; guitar
John "Rabbit" Bundrick – keyboards
Tony Butler, Phil Chen, Chucho Merchan, Pino Palladino, & Steve Barnacle – bass guitars
Mark Brzezicki, Simon Phillips – drums
Clem Burke – drums (tracks 2, 5)[9]
David Gilmour – guitar (tracks 1, 8)
Peter Hope-Evans – harmonica
Kick Horns: Simon Clarke, Roddy Lorimer, Tim Sanders, Peter Thoms
Ewan Stewart – voice (spoken word)
Emma Townshend, Jackie Challenor, Mae McKenna, & Lorenza Johnson – backing vocals
Technical
Chris Thomas – producer
Bill Price – recording
Chris Ludwinski, Dave Edwards, & Jules Bowen – assistant engineers
Artwork
Richard Evans – art direction; cover design; inner sleeve photography
Alex Henderson – front cover photography
Malcolm Heywood – inner sleeve photography
See you again at the end of the week with this week’s playlist, Gems #27.
Enjoy the music,
Ian
The White City housing estate is a real place, situated next to Shephard’s Bush - where The Who’s career began.
Many of these can be heard in Townshend’s series of albums called Scoop.
For a more detailed consideration of White City, see https://petetownshend.net/musicals/white-city
I have heard some of these tracks on my 2CD Townshend solo anthology, but not the entire album. I hope to remedy that by getting a copy.
Since "Quadrophenia" is one of my favorite Who albums, I'm anxious to hear more about Jim.
I enjoyed the film, too.