White City: A Novel is a studio solo concept album by Pete Townshend, who is the guitarist for The Who, the album was released in the year 1985 on the label Atco Records in the US, peaking at #26, and was reissued on the label Hip-O Records in 2006. "White City: A Novel" is Pete Townshend's fourth solo album.
The title refers to a story (called a "Novel" in the album title) that accompanies the album, of which takes place in a low-income housing estate in the West London area of White City in...
White City: A Novel is a studio solo concept album by Pete Townshend, who is the guitarist for The Who, the album was released in the year 1985 on the label Atco Records in the US, peaking at #26, and was reissued on the label Hip-O Records in 2006. "White City: A Novel" is Pete Townshend's fourth solo album.
The title refers to a story (called a "Novel" in the album title) that accompanies the album, of which takes place in a low-income housing estate in the West London area of White City in England, near where Townshend had grown up. The story tells of cultural conflict, racial tension and youthful hopes and dreams in the 1960s — a world of "prostituted children", "roads leading to darkness, leading home" and despairing residents living in "cells" with views of "dustbins and a Ford Cortina". The song "White City Fighting", which features David Gilmour's guitar work, tells listeners that the White City was "a black, violent place" where "battles were won, and battles were blown, at the height of the White City fighting". The album opens with crashing guitar chords that capture a feeling of urban chaos, leading into "Give Blood", a song with Townshend's trademark, moral lyrics demanding listeners to "Give Blood, but you may find that blood is not enough".
Pete Townshend wrote in his biography "Who I Am":
I imagined the narrative would be carried by images, and the words would be lyrical, almost the inner dialogue. In researching the project I spent time in White City, which despite its name was an uneasy mix of many diverse ethic groups settled in London. A Romany clan had been moved from a camp by the White City stadium, and some had been given homes in empty flats. There was a substantial Caribbean population, which had been there since I was a Kid. But there were also newly arrived Asians and Somalis. The entire area was full of streets named after the swan-song days of the British Empire: Commonwealth Road, India Way, Canada Day Way, Bloemfontein Road and so on. Ironically, nowhere was it clearer that the days of the Empire were over and a new way of life was beginning.
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