"The Who Sell Out" - The Who

Some albums are albums that you go back with a long while, and they never leave you. The Who's "The Who Sell Out" is one of those for me. As with many of the hundreds of albums I own, I can remember when and where I purchased it. I purchased it way back in the summer of 1995 at the flagship Sam The Record Man in downtown Toronto on Yonge Street (miss that chain). The version I picked up is the MCA CD reissue from 1995 which includes 9 bonus tracks, and it's these 9 bonus tracks that really made this a favorite of mine.

Both the snippets which are interspersed between the album bonus tracks and some of the tracks themselves are "ads" which advertise products that are sometimes real ("Heinz Baked Beans") and sometimes made up ("Odorno"). Yet the strongest tracks are completely unrelated to the album's concept of "selling out". The triumphant "I Can See For Miles" combines phenomenal drumming and guitar riffs with a malevolent glee at finally finding out the truth. The ethereal but heartbreaking "Sunrise" is the complete opposite, just Pete Townshend singing and accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, singing about the love of his who he's too afraid to approach.

The bonus tracks on this CD version include both b-sides not included on the album and tracks that were not even released until the 1990's. Standouts include the strikingly despondent "Melancholia," the lovely pop of "Someone's Coming" and the proto-heavy metal instrumental "Hall Of The Mountain King". Another fascinating bonus track is the CD's closer, "Glow Girl" which both musically and lyrically serves as a very important precedent for the upcoming Rock Opera "Tommy".

While this album may not be as influential as "Who's Next" or "Tommy," it definitely ranks as one of The Who's greatest albums and is a lot more 'fun' than either of those later, more serious albums.

They must shop at Costco