The Who Sell Out

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The Who Sell Out is The Who's third album, released in 1967. 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 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.)

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In 2006, Pete Townshend did his first live interview for fifteen years with Opal Bonfante, in which he reminisced about the old Radio London Jingles, many of which are featured on this album. The live interview was punctuated with Townshend singing the jingles as he recalled them.

Album information

The cover is divided into panels featuring a photograph by David Montgomery of each of the band members, two on the front and two on the back. On the front is 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 is said to have actually caught pneumonia after sitting for a prolonged period in the bathtub. On the back is 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). It has been rumored that originally Moon was seen applying a tube of Clearasil, but that the manufacturer objected and the cover was changed for the U.S. and subsequent editions. This would clearly be false, since the album includes—along with commercial pastiches for the other products shown on the cover—the track "Medac." However, variations of Moon's photo featuring the Clearasil label do exist.

"I Can See for Miles" was released as a single and peaked at #10 in the UK. Townshend, who had written the song, was sure it would have been a #1 hit and was disappointed with the success of the single, casting him into self-doubt about his abilities to write concise pop singles; consequently, he decided to focus his energies on writing thematic albums instead, resulting in Tommy:

"To me it was the ultimate Who record yet it didn't sell. I spat on the British record buyer." - Pete Townshend

"Rael" is 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 from a looming invasion by the Red Chins. 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. Another element of Tommy can be heard in the song Glow Girl when at the end you can hear the chorus "It's a girl, Mrs. Walker it's a girl." The remaining songs on The Who Sell Out have had little impact, and are almost unknown outside the circle of Who fans. Like early pressings of The Beatles' Sgt. 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.

Track listing

All tracks written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.

Side one

  • "Radio London"
  1. "Armenia City in the Sky" (John Keen) – 3:12
    • "Radio London"
  2. "Heinz Baked Beans" (John Entwistle) – 0:57
    • "More Music"
  3. "Mary-Anne with the Shaky Hand" – 2:04
    • "Premier Drums"/"Radio London" (Instrumental)
  4. "Odorono" – 2:16
    • "Radio London"
  5. "Tattoo" – 2:42
    • "Radio London" (Church of Your Choice)
  6. "Our Love Was" (aka "Our Love Was, Is") – 3:07
    • "Radio London" (Pussycat)/"Speakeasy"/"Rotosound Strings"
  7. "I Can See for Miles" – 4:17

Side two

  • "Charles Atlas"
  1. "I Can't Reach You" – 3:03
  2. "Medac" (Entwistle) – 0:57
  3. "Relax" – 2:38
    • The 1995 remaster also adds a demo of the "Rotosound Strings" here
  4. "Silas Stingy" (Entwistle) – 3:04
  5. "Sunrise" – 3:03
  6. "Rael 1" – 5:44
    • "Track Records"

Bonus tracks (1995 remastered CD)

  2. "Rael 2" – 0:47
    • "Top Gear"
  3. "Glittering Girl" (previously unreleased) – 2:56
    • "Coke 2"
  4. "Melancholia" – 3:17
    • "Bag O'Nails"
  5. "Someone's Coming" (Entwistle) – 2:29
    • "John Mason's Cars" (Rehearsal)
  6. "Jaguar" – 2:51
    • "John Mason's Cars" (Reprise)
  7. "Early Morning Cold Taxi" (Roger Daltrey, Dave Langston) – 2:55
    • "Coke 1"
  8. "Hall of the Mountain King" (Edvard Grieg) (previously unreleased) – 4:14
    • "Radio 1" (Boris Mix)
  9. "Girl's Eyes" (Keith Moon) – 3:28
    • "Odorono" (Final Chorus)
  10. "Mary-Anne with the Shaky Hand" (alternate version, previously unreleased) – 3:19
  11. "Glow Girl" – 2:24
    • "Track Records" (on the remaster, this only appears after "Glow Girl", with "Rael 1" segueing directly into "Rael 2")

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 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.

Singles

Personnel

References

  • Many of the factual details in this article are derived from the insert to the remastered CD of 1995, UPC 08811-12682.

External links


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