The Who Sell Out

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The Who Sell Out
Studio album by The Who
Released	15 December 1967
Recorded	May–November 1967, Talentmasters Studios, New York City, New York, United States; IBC Studios, Pye Studios, De Lane Lea Studios, CBS Studios, and Kingsway Studios, London, England, United Kingdom; and Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre	Rock, psychedelic rock, pop, art rock
Length	37:23
Language	English
Label	Track
Producer	Kit Lambert
Professional reviews
Allmusic link PopMatters link Robert Christgau (A+) link Rolling Stone link
The Who chronology
A Quick One (1966) The Who Sell Out (1967) Tommy (1969)
Singles from The Who Sell Out
"I Can See for Miles" Released: 14 October 1967

The Who Sell Out is the third album by the English rock band The Who, released in 1967 by Track Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records in the United States. 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.) In 2003, the album was ranked number 113 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

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 caught pneumonia after sitting for a prolonged period in the bathtub, as the beans had been frozen ^[1]. 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).

Rock critic Dave Marsh asserts in Before I Get Old (a history of The Who) that this was the first pop album ever to not list the song titles on its cover. Marsh's claim, however, is incorrect: Moby Grape's eponymous debut LP—released just six months earlier, in June 1967—is actually the first pop album not to list songs on its cover.

"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 only mild 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 1995 reissue bonus track "Glow Girl", with its chorus of "It's a girl, Mrs. Walker, it's a girl." 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.

This album is also notable in The Who discography for not featuring Roger Daltrey as the sole lead singer on most of the songs; he alone provides lead vocals to only three songs: "Tattoo", "I Can See for Miles" and "Rael". "Heinz Baked Beans", "Medac" and "Silas Stingy" are sung by John Entwistle; "Odorono", "Our Love Was/Is", "I Can't Reach You" and "Sunrise" by Pete Townshend; on the remaining songs—"Armenia City in the Sky", "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand" and "Relax"—Daltrey and Townshend share lead vocals.

A two-disc Deluxe Edition of the album was released on 16 March 2009 in the UK and 2 June 2009 in the U.S.

Track listing

All tracks written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.

Side one

• "Radio London" (Days of The Week)

1. "Armenia City in the Sky" (John Keen) – 3:12
   • "Wonderful 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" (Smooth Sailing)
5. "Tattoo" – 2:42
   • "Radio London" (Church of Your Choice)
6. "Our Love Was" – 3:07
   • "Radio London" (Pussycat)
   • "Speakeasy"
   • "Rotosound Strings"
7. "I Can See for Miles" – 4:17

Side two

• "Charles Atlas"

8. "Can't Reach You" – 3:03 (retitled "I Can't Reach You" on some later releases)
9. "Medac" (John Entwistle) – 0:57
10. "Relax" – 2:38
    • "Rotosound Strings" (1995 remix only)
11. "Silas Stingy" (John Entwistle) – 3:04
12. "Sunrise" – 3:03
13. "Rael (1 and 2)" – 5:44 (retitled "Rael 1" on some later releases)
    • "Track Records"

1995 reissue bonus tracks

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

2009 Deluxe Edition disc one bonus tracks

14. "Rael Naive" – 0:59
    • "Rotosound Strings (a cappella)"
15. "Someone's Coming" (John Entwistle) - 2:36
    • "Radio London weather word"
16. "Early Morning Cold Taxi" (Roger Daltrey, Dave Langston) - 2:59
    • "Radio London news bulletin"
17. "Jaguar" - 2:58
    • "Wonderful Radio London"
18. "Coke After Coke" - 1:05
19. "Glittering Girl" - 3:00
20. "Summertime Blues" (Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart) - 2:35 [recorded at a faster pace than the "Odds and Sods" version]
21. "John Mason Cars" (John Entwistle, Keith Moon) - 0:39
22. "Girl's Eyes" (Keith Moon) - 2:52
    • "Bag O'Nails"
23. "Sodding About" (John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Pete Townshend) - 2:47
24. "Premier Drums (Full Version)" - 0:42
25. "Odorono (Final Chorus)" - 0:24
26. "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand (US Mirasound Version)" -3:22
27. "Things Go Better With Coke" - 0:30
28. "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" (Edvard Grieg/Arranged by The Who) - 4:23
29. "Top Gear" - 0:50
30. "Rael 1 & 2 (Remake Version)" - 6:35
    • "Track Records"

2009 Deluxe Edition, disc two

14. "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand" (Version 1)(US mono single mix) – 3:16 [basically the same version as the "Odds and Sods" release, but with an inaudible organ and different vocals]
15. "Somone's Coming" (UK single mono mix) (John Entwistle) - 2:31
16. "Relax" (Early demo, stereo) - 3:21
17. "Jaguar" (Original mono mix) - 2:51
18. "Glittering Girl" (Unreleased version, stereo) - 3:17
19. "Tattoo" (Early mono mix) - 2:46
20. "Our Love Was" (Take 12, unused mono mix) - 3:16
21. "Rotosound Strings" (With final note, stereo) - 0:12
22. "I Can See for Miles" (Early mono mix) - 4:00
23. "Rael" (Early mono mix) - 5:43
    • "Armenia City in the Sky" (Isolated Backwards Tracks, hidden track)
    • "Great Shakes" (Unreleased US radio commercial, hidden track)

Deluxe edition contains the original album in stereo mix on the disc one and the mono mix on disc two.

Sales chart performance

Album

Singles

Personnel

The Who

• Roger Daltrey – lead and backing vocals, percussion
• John Entwistle – bass guitar, lead and backing vocals, horns
• Pete Townshend – guitar, lead and backing vocals, keyboards, pennywhistle, banjo
• Keith Moon – drums, lead and backing vocals, percussion

Additional musicians

• Al Kooper – keyboards, organ

See also

• Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out

References

External links

• Lyrics
• Guitar tablature
• The Who Sell Out liner notes - Song-by-song liner notes for the album