Tommy (album)

Tommy
Studio album by The Who
Released	23 May 1969
Recorded	19 September 1968 – 7 March 1969, IBC Studios, London
Genre	Rock
Length	75:12
Language	English
Label	Polydor, Track, Decca, MCA
Producer	Kit Lambert
The Who chronology
The Who Sell Out (1967) Tommy (1969) Who's Next (1971)
Singles from Tommy
"Pinball Wizard" Released: 7 March 1969 "Go to the Mirror!" Released: July 1969 "I'm Free" Released: July 1969 "Christmas" Released: November 1969 "See Me, Feel Me" Released: October 1970

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
BBC Music	(very favourable)

The Who
Rock Operas Tommy (1969) Lifehouse (1971) Quadrophenia (1973) The Boy Who Heard Music (2006)

Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was the first musical work to be billed overtly as a rock opera. Released in 1969, the album was mostly composed by Pete Townshend. In 1998 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant value". It has sold over 20 million copies worldwide.

Characters

• Tommy: The main character of the story, from whom the album gets its name.
• Father: Sometimes referred to as "Captain Walker", whose son is the album's protagonist.
• Mother: Mrs. Walker, Tommy's mother.
• The Lover: A romantic partner of Tommy's mother.
• Uncle Ernie: Referred to as Tommy's "wicked uncle", an alcoholic paedophile who molests Tommy while babysitting him. Becomes an aide to Tommy at the end of the story.
• Cousin Kevin: Tommy's sadistic cousin, who brutalises him when the two are left alone.
• The Hawker: A pimp for prostitute the Acid Queen, who peddles her services.
• The Gypsy: A prostitute who deals in acid and exposes Tommy to the drug in an attempt to heal him.
• The Local Lad: The reigning champion of the game of pinball, until Tommy beats him.
• The Doctor: A doctor who attempts to heal Tommy and finds out that his disabilities are psychological rather than physical.

Synopsis

British Army Captain Walker is reported missing, and is believed dead. His widow, Mrs. Walker, gives birth to their son, Tommy. Years later, Captain Walker returns home and discovers that his wife has found a new lover. Captain Walker confronts the two, and the lover is subsequently killed in the struggle. To cover up the incident, Tommy's parents tell him that he didn't see or hear it, and that he will never tell anyone about the incident. Traumatised, Tommy subsequently becomes blind, deaf and mute. Now in a semi-catatonic state, Tommy's subconscious manifests as a figure dressed in silvery robes who guides him on a journey of enlightenment. Years pass, and Tommy becomes a young man, now interpreting physical sensations as music.

During Christmas, Tommy's parents worry that his soul is at risk of damnation, since he is unaware of Jesus or prayer. One day, Tommy is left alone with his cousin Kevin, who bullies and tortures him for his own amusement. A pimp referred to as "the Hawker" is introduced and peddles his prostitute's sexual prowess, reputed to heal the blind, the deaf and the mute. Tommy is ultimately taken to this woman, who calls herself the Acid Queen, and she tries to coax Tommy into full consciousness with hallucinogenic drugs and sex. When this does not work, Tommy's parents reluctantly leave him temporarily in the care of his Uncle Ernie, an alcoholic child molester. He takes this opportunity to abuse Tommy without fear of being caught. Eventually, Tommy is discovered to have a talent for pinball, and quickly defeats the local champion of the game.

Tommy's father finds a medical specialist in another attempt at 'curing' him. After numerous tests, the doctor informs Tommy's parents that his disabilities are psychosomatic, rather than physical. Meanwhile, Tommy is internally trying to reach out to them. His mother continues to try to reach him, and becomes frustrated that he ignores her while staring directly at a mirror, despite his apparent inability to see. Out of this frustration she smashes the mirror and brings Tommy back into reality. This "miracle cure" becomes a public sensation and Tommy attains a guru-like status. Thereafter he assumes a messianic mantle and attempts to enlighten those willing to follow him. During one of Tommy's sermons, a reverend's daughter, Sally Simpson, sneaks out of her home to meet with Tommy. As the police try to control the crowd, Sally is thrown from the stage and suffers a gash on her face. Tommy opens his own home to anyone willing to join him, and urges them to bring as many people with them as they can. When his house becomes too small to accommodate them, a camp is built with the intended purpose of spreading Tommy's teachings. Tommy's Uncle Ernie assists him at this camp, but uses it as an opportunity for profit and exploiting Tommy's disciples. Now with all necessary resources at his disposal, Tommy instructs his followers to blind, deafen and mute themselves in order to truly reach enlightenment. They eventually reject his methods and ideology after finding that his enlightenment is not reached by being cured, but by discovering a state of awareness while blind, deaf and mute.

Analysis and history

Townshend's inspiration for the album came from the teachings of the Meher Baba and other writings and expressing the enlightenment he believed that he had received. A year prior to the album's release, Pete Townshend had explained many of his ideas during a famous Rolling Stone interview.^{[citation needed]}

When asked what his opinion of Tommy was, John Entwistle replied:

I think it's just an association of ideas really. It took us eight months altogether, six months recording, two months mixing. We had to do so many of the tracks again, because it took so long we had to keep going back and rejuvenating the numbers, that it just started to drive us mad, we were getting brainwashed by the whole thing, and I started to hate it. In fact I only ever played the record twice- ever. I don't think Tommy was all about [what] was on the record- I think it's on the stage. The message is much stronger on stage than on record.

When it was released, critics were split between those who thought the album was a masterpiece, the beginnings of a new genre, and those that felt it was exploitative. The album was banned by the BBC and certain US radio stations. Ultimately, the album became a commercial success, as did The Who's frequent live performances of the rock opera in the following years, elevating them to a new level of prestige and international stardom. However, unlike later rock operas, the album was not accompanied by live theatrical shows, but simply raw concerts in which the band performed all of the album's songs in the usual live Who formation of a "power trio" along with a lead vocalist. Recordings of such shows from the Tommy tour can be heard on the second disc of the Deluxe edition of Live At Leeds and on Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970.

Musically, Tommy is a complex set of pop-rock arrangements, generally based upon Townshend's acoustic guitar and built up with many overdubs by the four members of the band using many instruments, including bass, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, organ, drum kit, gong, timpani, trumpet, French horn, three-part vocal harmonies and occasional doubling on vocal solos. Many of the instruments only appear intermittently—the track "Underture" features a single toot on the horn—and when overdubbed many of the instruments are mixed at low levels. Townshend mixes in fingerpicking with his trademark power chords and fat riffs. His interest in creating unique sounds is evident throughout the album, most notably on "Amazing Journey" and the curious chirping/whistle sound heard throughout the song, which was created by playing a taped recording of claves in reverse.

The tracks "Pinball Wizard", "Go to the Mirror!", "I'm Free", "Christmas", and "See Me, Feel Me" were released as singles and received airplay on the radio. "Pinball Wizard" reached the top 20 in the US and the top five in the UK. "See Me, Feel Me" landed high in the top 20 in the US and "I'm Free" reached the top 40.

Several structural precedents for Tommy exist in Townshend's work, including "Glow Girl" (1968), "Rael" (1967), and the sectional work "A Quick One While He's Away" (1966). In 2004, Uncut released a CD titled The Roots of Tommy containing music that they asserted influenced Tommy's creation. Among the included songs are the blues songs that Townshend included or attempted to, such as Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Eyesight to the Blind," as well as The Pretty Things' "S.F. Sorrow Is Born," material from Mark Wirtz's A Teenage Opera, and music by groups such as The Zombies, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Nirvana (UK), The Kinks. Music hall comedian Max Miller is said to have influenced the character of Uncle Ernie.

Recognition

In 2003, the album was ranked number 96 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album was ranked number 90 on VH1's 100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll and appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. NME named it the 16th on "NME Writers All Time Top 100" in 1974. Q ranked it 9th on their list of "The Music That Changed The World: Part One 1954–1969" in 2004. Upon its release in 1969, Life declared, "For sheer power, invention and brilliance of performance, Tommy outstrips anything that has ever come out of a rock recording studio."

Editions and cover art

Tommy was originally released as a two-LP set with a booklet including lyrics and images to illustrate parts of the story. The cover is presented as part of a triptych-style fold-out cover. All three of the outer panels of the triptych are spanned by a single pop art painting by Mike McInnerney. The drawing is a sphere with diamond-shaped cutouts and an overlay of clouds and seagulls rendered with a figure-ground ambiguity. To one side a star-spangled hand bursts from the dark background, index finger pointing forward. (The image above only shows the central panel of the triptych.)

Polydor Records re-released the album on compact disc in the UK in 1983. The CDs were packaged in a double CD case, with the front and back panels of the case reproducing the middle and right panels of the triptych respectively. The booklet reproduced the tryptych in full, with black and white reproductions of the inner artwork. The booklet also contained the full lyrics, with black and white selections of the artwork from the original LP booklet. MCA re-released the album in the United States as a two-CD set in 1984. The CDs were packaged in separate jewel cases and each had a copy of the original artwork and lyrics in the insert, though the cover only included two panels of the triptych. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab later published it on a single gold-plated Ultradisc in their Original Master Recording series, with a higher-quality reproduction of the artwork (including a fold-out of the full original cover), and with the substitution of an alternate take on "Eyesight to the Blind". Polydor Records released a newly remixed version on a single disc in 1996, complete with artwork and a written introduction by Richard Barnes. This version included instrumental parts that were not present on any earlier version, particularly noticeable in the cymbals of "The Acid Queen".

In 2003 Tommy was made available as a deluxe two-disc hybrid SACD with a 5.1 multi-channel mix. This was done utilising master tapes that were thought long lost. When Tommy was first released, a "sweetened" master tape was used incorporating echo effects and doubling the vocal harmonies. This bare-bones master is said to have a more warm and natural sound to give a more "live" feel. Many critics have hailed this release to be the more definitive edition. The remastering was done under the supervision of Townshend and also includes some outtakes and other cuts during the same sessions. One cut called "Dogs-Part 2" that was only previously available as the B-side of the "Pinball Wizard" single and on the 1987 collection Two's Missing is included. The initial deluxe hybrid SACD edition was replaced in 2005 in Europe by a stereo-only two-CD set in similar packaging.

Track listing

All songs written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Overture"	3:50
2.	"It's a Boy"	2:07
3.	"1921"	3:14
4.	"Amazing Journey"	3:25
5.	"Sparks"	3:45
6.	"Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)" (Sonny Boy Williamson II)	2:15

Side two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Christmas"	5:30
2.	"Cousin Kevin" (John Entwistle)	4:03
3.	"The Acid Queen"	3:31
4.	"Underture"	9:55

Side three
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Do You Think It's Alright?"	0:24
2.	"Fiddle About" (Entwistle)	1:26
3.	"Pinball Wizard"	3:50
4.	"There's a Doctor"	0:25
5.	"Go to the Mirror!"	3:50
6.	"Tommy Can You Hear Me?"	1:35
7.	"Smash the Mirror"	1:20
8.	"Sensation"	2:32

Side four
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Miracle Cure"	0:10
2.	"Sally Simpson"	4:10
3.	"I'm Free"	2:40
4.	"Welcome"	4:30
5.	"Tommy's Holiday Camp" (Keith Moon)	0:57
6.	"We're Not Gonna Take It"	6:45

1996 Polydor Reissue
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Overture"	5:21
2.	"It's a Boy"	0:39
3.	"1921"	2:50
4.	"Amazing Journey"	3:25
5.	"Sparks"	3:47
6.	"Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)"	2:14
7.	"Christmas"	4:34
8.	"Cousin Kevin"	4:07
9.	"The Acid Queen"	3:35
10.	"Underture"	10:09
11.	"Do You Think It's Alright?"	0:25
12.	"Fiddle About"	1:30
13.	"Pinball Wizard"	3:00
14.	"There's a Doctor"	0:24
15.	"Go to the Mirror!"	3:50
16.	"Tommy Can You Hear Me?"	1:36
17.	"Smash the Mirror"	1:35
18.	"Sensation"	2:27
19.	"Miracle Cure"	0:12
20.	"Sally Simpson"	4:12
21.	"I'm Free"	2:40
22.	"Welcome"	4:34
23.	"Tommy's Holiday Camp"	0:58
24.	"We're Not Gonna Take It!"	7:08

Deluxe edition

In 2003, Tommy was released as a deluxe edition on a Hybrid SACD and DVD-Audio. The two formats featured the original album remixed into 5.1 surround sound and both featured a bonus disc of "out-takes and demos". The DVD-Audio edition also includes a bonus video interview with Pete Townshend plus a demonstration of his remixing the original recording into 5.1 sound.

Bonus disc

The first twelve tracks are out-takes and demos and the last five are stereo-only demos.

1. "I Was"  – 0:17
2. "Christmas" (out-take 3)   – 4:43
3. "Cousin Kevin Model Child"  – 1:25
4. "Young Man Blues" (Version one) (Allison)  – 2:51
5. "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" (alternate version)   – 1:59
6. "Trying to Get Through"  – 2:51
7. "Sally Simpson" (out-take)  – 4:09
8. "Miss Simpson"  – 4:18
9. "Welcome" (Take two)   – 3:44
10. "Tommy's Holiday Camp" (band's version)   – 1:07
11. "We're Not Gonna Take It" (alternate version)   – 6:08
12. "Dogs (Part Two)" (Moon)  – 2:26
13. "It's a Boy"  – 0:43
14. "Amazing Journey"  – 3:41
15. "Christmas"  – 1:55
16. "Do You Think It's Alright"  – 0:28
17. "Pinball Wizard"  – 3:46

A cover of "One Room Country Shack" was also recorded and considered for inclusion but was scrapped from the final track listing as Townshend could not figure out a way to incorporate it in the plot of "Tommy."

Live recordings

While The Who regularly played Tommy live at the time of its release, they rarely, if ever, played it in the form in which it was released. They instead decided to change the running order and omit some tracks entirely. Four tracks that were never performed during The Who's initial tour were "Cousin Kevin", "Underture", "Sensation", and "Welcome".

A live recording of Tommy in this altered state is available on the 2002 Deluxe Edition of the 1970 live album Live at Leeds. It is also available on the official release Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 from the same period, which was released in 1996. Another live version is available on the 2007 video release At Kilburn 1977 + Live at the Coliseum. Also, a bootleg of their performance at the Woodstock Festival is available online. In addition the website Wolfgang's Vault released a live recording of "Tommy" recorded on 7 July 1970 at Tanglewood as part of Bill Graham's "The Fillmore at Tanglewood" series.

The Who also performed Tommy for its twentieth anniversary during their 1989 reunion tour, reinstating the previously overlooked "Cousin Kevin" and "Sensation" but still omitting "Underture" and "Welcome". Recordings from this tour can be found on the Join Together live album and the Tommy and Quadrophenia Live DVD. The Los Angeles version of this show featured special guests such as Phil Collins (Uncle Ernie), Patti LaBelle (The Acid Queen), Steve Winwood (The Hawker), Elton John (The Pinball Wizard) and Billy Idol (Cousin Kevin).

Other incarnations

1971 Seattle Opera production

In 1971, the Seattle Opera under director Richard Pearlman produced the first ever fully staged professional production of Tommy at Seattle's Moore Theater. The production included Bette Midler playing the role of the Acid Queen and Mrs. Walker.

1972 orchestral version

On 9 December 1972, entrepreneur Lou Reizner presented a concert version of Tommy at the Rainbow Theatre, London. There were two performances that took place on the same evening. The concerts featured the Who, plus a guest cast, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Measham. The concerts were held to promote the release of Reizner's new studio recording of this symphonic version of Tommy, which was released on Ode Records

Both in concert and on record, major singing roles were performed by leading pop and rock stars of the day – Graham Bell, Maggie Bell, Sandy Denny, Steve Winwood, Rod Stewart, Richie Havens, and Ringo Starr. Pete Townshend also plays a bit of guitar, but otherwise the music is predominantly orchestral. Richard Harris sang-talked the role of the specialist on the record, but he was replaced by Peter Sellers for the stage production, which was repeated with a substantially different cast including David Essex, Elkie Brooks, Marsha Hunt, Vivian Stanshall, Roy Wood, and Jon Pertwee on 13 and 14 December 1973.

The studio version of the orchestral Tommy was issued in boxed-set format. It featuring original artwork and photography, which used a pinball as its main motif, was designed by Tom Wilkes and Craig Braun and won the Best Album Package Grammy in 1974.

The orchestral version was also performed twice in Australia in March and April 1973, to thousands at open air venues (Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl and Sydney's Randwick Racecourse). Keith Moon appeared as Uncle Ernie (in Melbourne only), Graham Bell as the Narrator, with local stars Daryl Braithwaite (as Tommy), Billy Thorpe, Doug Parkinson, Wendy Saddington, Jim Keays, Broderick Smith, Colleen Hewett, Linda George, Ross Wilson, Bobby Bright, Ian Meldrum (as Uncle Ernie in Sydney), and a full orchestra. The Melbourne concert was videotaped, then televised by Channel 7 on 13 April 1973.

1975 film

Main article: Tommy (film)

In 1975 Tommy was adapted as a film, produced by expatriate Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood and directed by British auteur Ken Russell. The movie version starred Daltrey as Tommy, and featured the other members of the Who, plus a supporting cast that included Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother, Oliver Reed as "the Lover", with appearances by Elton John, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Arthur Brown, and Jack Nicholson. In The Who's original version, Tommy's father Capt. Walker kills The Lover when he finds him with his wife upon returning home from being missing in action, however in the movie version The Lover kills Capt. Walker.

Tommy was one of the first music films released with a multichannel hi-fi soundtrack and many major cinemas, billing it as quintaphonic sound, which placed high-powered concert-style speaker banks in the four quadrants of the house and directly behind the center of the screen, reflecting the locations of the vocalists onscreen. The film received mixed reviews but was a commercial success on release and has achieved cult film status.

Townshend also oversaw the production of a new double-LP recording that returned the music to its rock roots, and on which the unrecorded orchestral arrangements he had envisaged for the original Tommy LP were realised by the extensive use of synthesiser. Besides the Who, the film's music track and the original soundtrack LP also employed many leading sessions musicians including Caleb Quaye, Ronnie Wood, Nicky Hopkins, Chris Stainton, and longtime Who associate John "Rabbit" Bundrick. Due to Keith Moon's commitments with the filming of Stardust, Kenney Jones played drums on much of the soundtrack album.

The song "Pinball Wizard" was a major hit when released as a single. This sequence in the film depicts Elton being backed by the Who (dressed in pound-note suits); the band portrayed the Pinball Wizard's band for filming, but on the music track and soundtrack album, the music was performed entirely by Elton John and his band. Most of the extras were students at Portsmouth Polytechnic and were paid with tickets to a Who concert after filming wrapped.

1993 stage version

Main article: The Who's Tommy

In 1993, Townshend and La Jolla Playhouse theatrical director Des McAnuff wrote and produced a Broadway musical adaptation of Tommy. The production, titled The Who's Tommy, featured a new song by Townshend ("I Believe My Own Eyes"). Initially, the show received mixed reviews; for example, while The New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich praised it, the same paper's music critic Jon Pareles argued that "Their (Townshend's and McAnuff's) changes turn a blast of spiritual yearning, confusion and rebellion into a pat on the head for nesters and couch potatoes". Later, Townshend partly responded to the criticisms. Ultimately, the production won five Tony Awards that year, including Best Original Score for Townshend. Various touring revivals have met with popular acclaim since.

The setting of the musical is in post-World War II Britain, as in the film version. Nevertheless, unlike the film, the lyrics "Got a feelin '21 is gonna be a good year" remain the same, though now referring to Mrs. Walker's age at her birthday. Also, Captain Walker kills the lover, as in the original album and unlike the film, where the lover kills Captain Walker and takes his place. Perhaps the most striking change vis-a-vis previous versions is that after the "Sally Simpson" scene, Tommy renounces his messianic role and returns to his family, embracing and praising the kind of "normality" that everybody else has and that he has been deprived of (significantly, the new version introduced lines such as "freedom lies here in normality" and excluded the earlier versions' "Hey, hung-up old Mr. Normal, don't try to gain my trust").

Legacy

• The climax of Tommy was said by many to be the highlight of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. As Roger Daltrey began to sing "See Me, Feel Me", the sun began to rise, as if on cue. John Entwistle later joked that "God was our lighting man." The moment is captured on film in The Kids Are Alright and Woodstock.
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ran an exhibit on Tommy called "Tommy: The Amazing Journey" in 2005–2006.
• The original album inspired the creation of Larry Harlow's Hommy, a Latin Opera (1973), about a blind, deaf, and mute musician who becomes the world's greatest percussionist.
• In the 2000 film Almost Famous, the protagonist (whom screenwriter-director Cameron Crowe based on himself) becomes excited about rock music for the first time when he listens to Tommy, or more specifically to the track "Sparks".

Sales chart performance

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1969	Billboard Pop Albums	4
1969	UK Chart Albums	2

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1969	"Pinball Wizard"	Billboard Pop Singles	19
1969	"Pinball Wizard"	UK Singles Charts	4
1969	"Pinball Wizard"	Dutch Singles Charts	12
1969	"I'm Free"	Billboard Pop Singles	37
1969	"I'm Free"	Dutch Singles Charts	20
1970	"See Me, Feel Me"	Billboard Pop Singles	12
1970	"See Me, Feel Me"	Dutch Singles Charts	2

Sales certifications

Organization	Level	Date
RIAA – U.S.	Gold	18 August 1969
RIAA – U.S.	Platinum	8 February 1993
RIAA – U.S.	2x Platinum	8 February 1993

According to an article published in The Daily Telegraph in 2006, the album Tommy sold 20 million copies worldwide.

Personnel

The Who

• Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, harmonica, tambourine
• Pete Townshend – guitars, banjo, keyboards, lead vocals, backing vocals
• John Entwistle – bass guitar, French horn, lead vocals on "Cousin Kevin" (with Townshend and Daltrey) and "Fiddle About", backing vocals
• Keith Moon – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Paul Townshend – backing vocals
• Simon Townshend – backing vocals

See also

• Film adaptation
• Broadway musical

External links

• Lyrics
• A number of interviews where Pete Townshend has commented on the concept and meaning of Tommy:
  • a 1968 Rolling Stone Interview (by Jann Wenner),
  • Pete and Tommy, among others by Rick Sanders & David Dalton – Rolling Stone (no. 37 12 July 1969)
  • Interview with Pete Townshend at Manchester Arena, England, 12 December 1996, by Stephen Gallagher (British Youth & Popular Culture Editor, Ubu).
• Album Review
• Tommy liner notes – Song-by-song liner notes for the original album