-- Who - The Who Sell Out | (Audio CD) MSRP $ 9.98 Amazon Price $ 9.98 Savings $ 0.00 | |  Release Date: 20 June, 1995, Mca
TRACK LISTING - Armenia City In The Sky
- Heinz Baked Beans
- Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand
- Odorono
- Tattoo
- Our Love Was
- I Can See For Miles
- I Can`t Reach You
- Medac
- Relax
- Silas Stingy
- Sunrise
- Rael 1
- Rael 2
- Glittering Girl
- Melancholia
- Someone`s Coming
- Jaguar
- Early Morning Cold Taxi
- Hall Of The Mountain King
- Girl`s Eyes
- Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand (Alternative Version)
- Glow Girl
Usually ships in 24 hours | | | The Who`s Psychedelic Radio Show | | The Who`s third album, 1967`s "The Who Sell Out," was the band`s very first concept album, the theme for the record being a pirate radio station that plays nothing but Who songs, complete with radio jingles & commercials (some genuine, some created by the band) sprinkled inbetween the tunes. It`s a brilliant, fabulously inventive, totally *psychedelic* Who album, and one of the band`s all-time greats. The festivities kick off with a "Monday Thru Sunday" jingle, and then the band charge in with the far-out gem, "Armenia City In The Sky," penned by guitarist Pete Townshend`s chum John Keene, featuring elongated horns, psychedelic guitars, and a studio-tweaked vocal from Roger Daltrey. Pete Townshend`s songwriting contributions to "Sell Out" are all gems, too, every single one of them: "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand," the hilarious "Odorono," the coming-of-age tale "Tattoo," the lovely "Our Love Was," the legendary, explosive rocker "I Can See For Miles" (the Who`s only US Top Ten hit), "I Can`t Reach You," "Relax," "Sunrise," and the mini-opera "Rael" (with it`s instrumental bridge later resurrected as the "Underture" from "Tommy"), while bassist John Entwistle delivers the hilarious jingles for "Heinz Baked Beans" & "Medac," as well as the macbre-ish tune, "Silas Stingy."But this remastered, expanded edition of "Sell Out" doesn`t stop there: there`s a whopping TEN bonus tracks of extra Who goodies recorded around the same time as the album. From Townshend`s songwriting pen, there`s the extended finale for "Rael," "Glittering Girl," the outstanding rocker "Melancholia," the slick rock of "Jaguar," an alternate version of "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand," and the brilliant finale, "Glow Girl," which, like "Rael," was later raided & revised by Townshend for the "Tommy" album ("It`s a girl, Mrs. Walker, it`s a girl"). Also featured is Entwistle`s "Someone`s Coming," drummer Keith Moon`s charming little ditty, "Girl`s Eyes," and the fine popper "Early Morning Cold Taxi" (for which Daltrey received a rare co-writing credit). There`s even a fabulous, barnburning, King Crimson-like rock arrangement of Greig`s "The Hall Of The Mountain King," plus more jingles. The musical chemistry of Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle and Moon is nothing short of superb, and the remastered sound is simply incredible."The Who Sell Out" was a natural lead-in for "Tommy," as the album expanded Pete Townshend`s interest in writing conceptual music. But it`s also a mindblowing Who album all on it`s own, one of the group`s very best releases. So crank up "The Who Sell Out," and enjoy rocking out with the Who`s marvelous psychedelic radio show. | | | | A glimpse into the past | | To say that this is a great album is an understatement. What it is an example of is this: Back in the 60`s when you bought an LP you really didn`t know what you`d get, what new sounds you`d hear, what odd little things might happen on the way through the grooves. It was a fun experience and one that, sadly, generations since have missed. Like "Sgt Pepper," "Are you Experienced" and "Pet Sounds" there was an exploratory adventure going on between the artist(s) and the listener. That`s just one of the things that made the 60`s so very unique. the Who`s creativity wasn`t so concerned with commercial success as it was with being unfettered and bold and those qualities shine on this incredible album. | | | | Buy The Product And Cheer | | "Sell Out" is my personal favorite Who album, although it is completely unlike any the group made before or since. Their first concept album, it is jammed with commercial parodies, station jingles and between-song announcements that give it the zany feel of the pirate radio stations which were being shut down by the BBC at the time. The album`s sense of humor is often cited by critics as one of its many strengths; the stark juxstaposition of such pop-culture silliness in the midst of the group`s most beautiful and serious set of songs to date makes for a kind of postmodern Zen epiphany unique among concept works. Musically, the album is all over the map: elements of perfect pop balladry ("I Can`t Reach You", "Our Love Was") coexist alongside Entwistles`s dark gothic humor ("Silas Stingy"), elements of which later became "Sparks" and "Underture" in "Tommy") and full-blown psychedelia ("Armenia City In The Sky", "I Can See For Miles", "Relax") which take The Who`s thrilling hard rock style to new heights of sonic wizardry. The classic "Tattoo" became a concert staple that encapsulated the album`s effortless mix of the meaningful and absurd in one stroke; Daltrey`s vocal here has an ethereal quality which would unfortunately be discarded in the wake of 70s bombast. As an overall statement, "Sell Out" looks nostalgically back to the innocence of pop music and commercial radio, but is unafriad to embrace the new world of psychedelia; indeeed, one could say that the album as a whole presents the pre-psych world as looked through with a psych lens. Critics of the album complain about the relative lack of more typical hard rock material and the fizzling of the concept in the middle of side two, but these problems have at last been addressed with the remasters. The CD remaster of "Sell Out" presents the album with a vastly superior remix; those fans who complained about missing the reverb once integral to the original can play their old CD`s, and what is gained (far greater clarity, louder volume, excellent balance--and hey, I still hear plenty of the oriignal reverb) makes the album one of the best sounding in the Who`s entire catalogue, second only to "Who`s Next". The bonus tracks present more B-sides and outtakes, "Glow Girl" and "Melancholia" which--while excellent--do not date from the "Sell Out" period. The group`s 1967 studio renditions of "Summertime Blues" and "My Way" should have been included in their stead, but at least these can now happily be found on the "Odds`n`Sods" remaster. As with "A Quick One", someone with the remasters of "Sell Out" and "Odds And Sods" can now compile their own alternate version, which could include the extra commercials to fill out the concept, and the versions of "Summertime Blues" and "My Way" that would provide a greater balance of hard-rock numbers (I personally use these to replace "I Can`t Reach You" and "Silas Stingy", two of the slightly lesser tracks from the original IMHO). Any way you look at it, however, "Sell Out" remains one of the band`s finest works. | | |
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