Song #4: "Face The Face"--Pete Townshend (1985)

Keen observers of this countdown may have realized, thanks to a hint or two dropped along the way, that we hadn't heard the last of Pete Townshend, longtime member of The Who, and a pretty doggone good solo artist in his own right.

Today begins a stretch of the three songs that "stopped me dead in my tracks" the most when I first heard them over the past fifty years. You know the feeling. The song comes on the radio for the first time and everything else doesn't matter. You ask, "what IS this??" while cranking up the volume, beginning a lifelong relationship with a perfect piece of music.

Such was the case late in 1985 the first time I heard Townshend belt out this, the first single from "White City: A Novel", his fourth solo project.

You have to remember, the radio edit cuts out the actual long piano opening that slowly gives way to the band that jams better than any other ever. Ever. Ever. The super hot start to the song, as a single, was actually the second part of the full event.

How anyone could listen to this song and not "turn it all the way up" is beyond me. It was a cherished favorite my freshman year of college, remembering fondly when I heard it on a Sunday afternoon early in January, 1986 when I was finally allowed to take my car to college with me, specifically because I had landed a radio job, and needed wheels to get back and forth.

In the late 1990's, during my wonderful stay-at-home Dad era, I got Townshend's Best Of CD, and, of course, immediately introduced my kids to the song. Robbie, all the time, would ask, "Hey Dad, you got Face The Face?" when getting in the car. And somewhere, I believe, I have a copy of them singing along to this tune. I hope I find it during my summer break cleaning. I'd love to hear that again!

As Pete noted about the song, "We overdubbed everything." The "Big 80's". Gotta love it.  :)

Get ready for the party jam of party jams!