Rough Mix

The Who's ringmaster Pete Townshend and the Faces' bass man Ronnie Lane took their mutual admiration society to its obvious conclusion on this 1977 all-star effort (with guest appearances from guitarist Eric Clapton, Stones' drummer Charlie Watts, and Bad Co. bassist Boz Burrell). Overall it's an appropriately loose-limbed and rocking affair, with some good tunes traded back and forth (namely Pete's "My Baby Gives It Away" and Ronnie's "Annie"). It's also a little schizophrenic, though; with Townshend's sculpted song structures occasionally at odds with Lane's back porch ditties. There's surprisingly little vocal interplay either; although the one real duet, a hushed take of Don Williams's "Till the Rivers All Run Dry," is the clear highlight of the set.