The Who Sell Out
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The Who Sell Out (see 1967 in music) is The Who's third album, and regarded as the best of their pre-Tommy output. It is a concept album, formatted as a collection of unrelated songs interspersed with faux commercials and public service announcements. The album purports to be a broadcast by pirate radio station Radio London. Part of the intended irony of the title was that The Who were actually making commercials during that period of their career, some of which are included as bonus tracks on the remastered CD.
The cover is divided into panels featuring each of the band members, two on the front and two on the back. Front: Pete Townshend applying Odorono brand deodorant from an oversized stick; Roger Daltrey sitting in a bathtub full of Heinz baked beans (holding an oversized tin can of the same)(Roger Daltrey accuatly caught pneumonia from sitting for a prolonged period in the bathtub!)). Back: Keith Moon applying Medac from an oversized tube; John Entwistle in a leopard-skin Tarzan suit, squeezing a blonde woman in a leopard-skin bikini with one arm and a teddy bear with the other (an ad for the Charles Atlas course mentioned in one of the album's faux commercials). Originally Moon was seen applying a tube of Clearasil, but the manufacturer objected and the cover was changed for the US and subsequent editions.
The album's release was reportedly followed by a bevy of lawsuits due to the mention of real-world commercial interests in the faux commercials and on the album covers, and by the makers of the real jingles (Radio London jingles), who claimed The Who used them without permission. (The jingles were produced by PAMS Productions of Dallas, Texas, which created thousands of station ID jingles in the 1960s and 1970s.)
"I Can See For Miles" was released as a single and became a hit; it remained in The Who's concert repertoire throughout the rest of their career. "Rael" was an excerpt from one of Pete Townshend's early attempts at rock opera. The plot is not clear from the excerpt, but it apparently involves a heroic "Captain" who is betrayed by his crew during a clandestine attempt to save Rael (Israel) from a looming invasion by the Red Chins (Red Chinese). The dramatic instrumental section in the second half of the song shows up as a dreamy sequence in both "Sparks" and "Underture" of the later rock opera Tommy. A live version of "Tattoo" appears on the remastered CDs of the Live at Leeds album. The remaining songs on The Who Sell Out have had little impact, and are almost unknown outside the circle of Who fans. "Mary-Anne With The Shaky Hand" is variously listed with and without the hyphen, and with or without an -s pluralizing Hand. Like early pressings of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Sell Out ends with an audio oddity that repeats into a locked groove--in this case, an a cappella jingle for Track Records.
In 2005, singer Petra Haden released a complete re-creation of the entire album, done entirely a cappella (even the instruments). Pete Townshend said of her interpretation, "I love it. It is exquisite." (1) He also remarked, "I felt like I'd received something better than a Grammy." Haden's work has prompted a number of fans (and others) to take a closer look at the original.
Track listing
- All tracks written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.
The Who Sell Out (Original 1967 release)
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Bonus tracks (1995 remastered CD)
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- ^ The 1995 remaster also adds a demo of the "Rotosound Strings" jingle between tracks 10 and 11
Editions
- [1967] Track 612 002 (mono) / 613 002 (stereo)
- Original UK LP release. Cover and tracks as described above. The first 1000 copies of the UK release included a psychedelic poster by Adrian George; a detail is shown on the inside of the remastered CD's case. Producer: Kit Lambert
- [1968] Decca DL 4950 (mono) / DL 74950 (stereo)
- Original USA LP release. Cover and tracks as described above. Producer: Kit Lambert
- [1974] Track/MCA MCAD2-4067 (stereo)
- Re-issued as one of a two-LP set along with A Quick One. Track list and order as described above.
- [1988] MCAD-31332 (UPC 07673-11332-25)
- Original CD release (AAD). Original cover on the front; simple track listing on the back. Standard MCA silver label with title and track listing. The front insert folds out to show the original back cover, another copy of the CD's track listing, and some spamish advertisements for other MCA CDs. Producer: Kit Lambert. Executive Producer: Chris Stamp.
- [1995] MCAD-11268 (UPC 08811-12682)
- Remastered CD release (ADD). Original covers on the front and back, except that the back is slightly modified to show the UPC and the modified track listing. Custom disk label showing a section of classified ads from a newspaper of music magazine, plus minimal title and copyright info. Original tracks and concept material plus 10 bonus tracks and a proportional amount of bonus concept material. The cover insert is a 12 leaf booklet including extended credits, facsimiles of period posters and flyers, an article and track background information by Dave Marsh, and period photos of the band. Producer: Jon Astley. Executive Producers: Bill Curbishley, Robert Rosenberg, and Chris Charlesworth.
Personnel
Roger Daltrey-Lead vocals, backing vocals
Pete Townshend-Guitar, keyboards, organ, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Odorono", "Our Love Was", "I Can't Reach You", "Rael 2" and "Glittering Girl"
John Entwistle-Bass, horns, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Heinz Baked Beans", "Silas Stingy" and "Medac"
Keith Moon-Drums, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Girl's Eyes"
Al Kooper-Keyboards, organ
References
- Many of the factual details in this article are derived from the insert to the remastered CD of 1995, UPC 08811-12682.
