Album Reviews

The Who recorded their “sell out” concept album in the fall of 1967 at around the same time Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were in the studio creating We’re Only In It For The Money. Coincidence? Collusion? A general feeling among like-minded rock cognoscenti that rock musicians were getting self-righteous, self-absorbed and that after all it’s only rock’n’roll?

I don’t know. However, Zappa’s concept was fulfilled musically, while Townshend’s was mere window dressing—not that there’s anything wrong with that.

For those of us who bought the album when it was first issued late 1967, the playful cover art and the disc’s radio station and advert jingles combined to produce an attractive and novel package, but more importantly, there were the songs. A song cycle that runs the gamut from charmingly innocent, heartfelt teenage-boyhood diary entries (“Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand” and “Tattoo”) to the evocative, anthemic, mini-opera closer (Rael 1 and 2) that was the follow up to "A Quick One," and prequel to Tommy (that’s Al Kooper on organ), and even a bossa nova (“Sunrise”) that I would have loved to have heard Antonio Carlos Jobim cover. And then, of course, there’s the ultimate revenge tune, the Townshend/Who masterpiece “I Can See For Miles.”

The album opens with Speedy Keene’s psychedelic sci-fi epic “Armenia.” Keene, who was Townshend’s driver, later was part of Thunderclap Newman, which scored a hit with the Neil Young-sounding “Something In The Air.” If you don’t have the album, (Hollywood Dreams) (US Track 8264), score yourself a copy. The Townshend-produced set maintains its tuneful whimsy and you can make a case that Ray Davies was a fan of “Hollywood” (all three nostalgia-soaked variations contained therein), and was inspired by it to create “Celluloid Heroes.” Or I’m talking out of my ass again. The side ends with “I Can See For Miles,” one of the greatest Who songs ever and what’s in between, “Mary Anne…” and “Our Love,” makes for a substantial side of music (and fun links).

Side two is equally nourishing, and that goes for “Silas Stingy,” Entwhistle’s nursery rhyme follow-up to “Boris The Spider,” which I used to think dragged the side down a bit (it’s about Entwhistle’s first home buying experience). The opener, “I Can’t Reach You,” communicates Townshend’s nascent spiritual quest.

Anyway, I hate reviews of reissues because it doesn’t get much lamer than “analyzing” forty year old tunes. So I’ll stop with that, except to say that the story goes that the tape of “Rael” was accidentally thrown out one night by a studio janitor and recovered the next day in a dumpster (in pieces!). It was successfully reassembled, save for the intro section, which is why the instrumental section is in mono. Apparently the engineer had taken home a mono mix to have a listen.

The Who Sell Out was recorded in the U.K., in New York and in Los Angeles, with mixing sessions equally spread around. Released in the UK just before Christmas of 1967, it never quite made it to the top ten, which is a pathetic showing, not for The Who, but for UK record buyers, and it barely made it to the top 50 in America, which is even more pathetic, but American Decca had no idea what to do with the group.

I remember buying my original UK Track stereo copy at The Harvard Coop in the spring of 1968 while visiting Boston for the ECAC Hockey Tournament. Now you tell me how many kids today are going to remember when they downloaded a track to their iPod?.

Like an idiot, I traded it in for a Japanese reissue during my early 1980’s Japanese LP fetish era. I got sucked in by the perfect pressing quality of those Japanese discs. What a mistake! I’ve gotten everything back (including some original British Decca Stones albums traded in for the King Records LAX series, which I’ve kept and they’re actually quite good) except for that original UK Track of The Who Sell Out.

So I compared these two Classic reissues to that Japanese pressing and to two other UK pressings I have: the “Backtrack” LP issue (2407 009), part of a series of £1 Track reissues,which I believe, were issued to protest a tax or the revaluation of the money in the UK. Again, if you know the backstory to the Backtrack series, let me know, and a Track “twofer” (Select Double 2683 038), featuring a mono A Quick One and a stereo The Who Sell Out.

The “twofer” version combines some of the Classic reissue’s resolution with the Backtrack’s pleasing tonal balance. The Classic reissue is easily the most dynamic and detailed of the bunch, and it has the most fully developed and well-defined bottom end, but you’ll also have to put up with a noticeably bright, hard and pinched top end that’s fatiguing as hell. It’s a narrow band of brightness that shines a spotlight on sibilants, cymbal hits, vocal chords, guitar strums and other transient information. It’s not harsh and hashy, just bright.

This is a problem Classic has sometimes (but not always) and part of the reason may be the mellow-sounding Tannoy Gold monitors used at Bernie Grundman Mastering. I am sorry, but you can’t turn this reissue up to anything near rock and roll SPLs without the top end bulging forward and assaulting your ears. Yes, there’s great clarity, detail and resolution, but I think you could get that without the jacked-up top end that makes stuff like tambourines and strums stick out of the mix like proverbial sore thumbs.

This is not a problem with my system. It is a problem with the EQ/mastering process. At the very least a modern loudspeaker, typical of what a Classic buyer is likely to have at home should be brought in as a reality check, instead of EQing these reissues using a speaker with a rich, almost mellow top end that’s wildly atypical of what most end users have at home.

Listen to “Tattoo,” and compare Moon’s cymbals and Townshend’s acoustic guitar strums on the “twofer” and Classic’s reissue. One gels, and reveals the warmth of the acoustic guitar’s wooden body and one is all about the pick hitting the strings as if there wasn’t a hollow body resonating underneath. The guitar strums separate out of the mix and take on an unpleasant life of their own.

Yes, all versions of this album tend to be somewhat bright and sparkly sounding but at least the “twofer” has a pleasing silkiness in the midband that’s partially obliterated on the Classic reissue. If you’ve got a soft sounding front end, or you’re heavily into SET tube gear, you may find the balance more pleasing, but how many with that kind of system are listening to The Who?

Still, unless you have an original UK Track (and few do), I have to recommend this stereo reissue, although (hold onto your styli) the remixed CD reissue (MCAD-11268) makes for more pleasant listening, plus it has worthwhile bonus tracks. It may not reveal all of the detail, and it does represent full-blown revisionism, but its balance is richer.



The mono mix holds more interest because it includes a unique Townshend pedal steel guitar part on “Our Love,” that will startle the DNA of long time Who fans who’ve lived with the stereo mix for decades. Same with “Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand,” where, at the end, a heavily tremeloed effect gets inserted in the word “shaky.” The effect was on the original mono but not the original stereo. It’s been inserted on the stereo CD remix.

But aside from these two quirks, the mono mix is just better than the stereo mix and I think you’ll agree even if you’re listening with a stereo cartridge. The front to back layering is cleanly and deftly accomplished and the overall organization is superior. Unfortunately the EQ problem is also present, perhaps to an even greater degree since everything is doubled when a mono mix goes to two speakers.

If you’re buying one, I’d go for the mono. Good luck finding an original in good shape and for a reasonable price. Just don’t turn this reissue up too high. The packaging is superb and both mono and stereo reissues include the full color glossy limited edition poster that came with the original for a very short time.

Great care went into this, but the EQ does damage to what should have been and could have been a superb reissue. Instead it’s merely very good.