The new limited edition vinyl albums will be available this fall
Pete Townshend will release the final group of half-speed mastered studio albums on October 18th. The Iron Man: The Musical By Pete Townshend and Psychoderelict (Music Only), which is making its vinyl debut, will be available on limited edition black vinyl.
The sets are mastered by long-time Who engineer Jon Astley and cut for vinyl by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios with a half-speed mastering technique which produces a superior vinyl cut and are packaged with obi strips and certificates of authenticity.
Initially released in 1989, The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend is an adaptation of Ted Hughes’ famous short story, The Iron Man. The album was produced and mainly composed and performed by Townshend but also features performances from Who frontman Roger Daltrey, legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker and the astonishing Nina Simone. The three then-surviving original members of The Who (Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Townshend) perform two songs, “Dig” and a cover of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s “Fire.” A stage version was mounted at The Young Vic Theatre in 1993, where 20 years earlier, The Who had debuted songs for Life House/Who’s Next, which led to a movie version in 1999 for which Townshend received an executive producer credit.
Psychoderelict, released in 1993, is Townshend’s last solo album to date. Structured like a radio play with dialogue, it follows Ray High, a reclusive 60s rock star who resurfaced in Townshend’s novella The Boy Who Heard Music and in the mini rock opera Wire & Glass, the centerpiece of The Who’s Endless Wire album. This Half-Speed Master is presented without the dialogue of the original album and is making its vinyl debut.
The albums wrap a three-part series which kicked off with Rough Mix and Empty Glass in May 2023. The second batch featuring, All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes and White City (A Novel), were released in May 2024.
