The Who Sell Out – Deluxe Edition CD Set (1967/Polydor/Universal Music) + The Who, The Mods & the Quadrophenia
Connection (Chrome Dreams/MVD DVD)
Picture: C+
Sound: B/C+ Extras: B+/C+ Music: B Documentary: B
Two new releases on The Who have arrived and they do a
great job of showing the band before and after their tremendous success with Tommy (reviewed elsewhere on this site)
as the band touched upon the psychedelic briefly, then their famed Rock Opera
saved the band and the rest is history. The Who Sell Out was released in 1967
and though it did not do as well in the U.S. as in the U.K., I Can See For Miles became one of their
greatest songs ands the
surrealism of the album fit in with the surrealism to come after the Summer Of
Love. Six years later, they attempted
another rock opera in Quadrophenia
and it was also a hit, examined in yet another solid music documentary from the
Chrome Dreams team in the U.K.;
this one called The Who, The Mods &
the Quadrophenia Connection.
But
first, The Who Sell Out, which is
now here in a much expanded 2-CD Deluxe
Edition set from Universal that includes the stereo version of the album on
CD 1 and mono version on CD 2. The theme
of the album is gaudy commercialism as the band pretends to sell their credibility
down the river for money. The surreal
photography all over the album would stay with the band when they made the film
version of Tommy with Ken Russell in
1975 and the songs include:
1)
Armenia City In The Sky
2)
Heinz Baked Beans
3)
Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand
4)
Odorono
5)
Tattoo
6)
Our Love Was
7)
I Can See For Miles
8)
I Can’t Reach You
9)
Medac
10) Relax
11) Silas Stingy
12) Sunrise
13) Rael 1 & 2
A fine,
underrated album, it turns out much more material was made for it and for the
first time, a collection of alternate and demo versions of the songs, plus never-used
and never released dongs that almost made the album. It is made to sound like a non-stop radio
broadcast and that approach works well enough, but the music shows growth in a
band that was already a standout in the early waves of The British Invasion.
CD 1
offers bonus tracks:
1)
Rael Naïve
2)
Someone’s Coming
3)
Early Morning Cold Taxi
4)
Jaguar
5)
Coke After Coke
6)
Glittering Girl
7)
Summertime Blues
8)
John Mason Cars
9)
Girl’s Eye
10) Sodding About
11) Premiere Drums (full version)
12) Odorono (Final Chorus)
13) Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand (U.S.
Mirasound Version)
14) Things Go Better With Coke
15) In The Hall Of The Mountain
King
16) Top Gear
17) Rael 1 & 2 (remake version)
Most
interesting of these is the attempt to do a song about promoting cars and we
get three here, including one about the great British marque, Jaguar. The company was picky about their product at
the time, already refusing to allow the Roger Moore Saint TV series a use of any of their cars, only to see the Volvo
P1800 (a competing model) become a hit, arguing their cars would never appear
on a TV show. That was one of many
reasons the song may not have made the original album, but it is a song many
who hear it will enjoy.
CD 2 has
these bonus songs:
1)
Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand (U.S. Single
Mono Mix)
2)
Someone’s Coming (U.S. Single
Mono Mix)
3)
Relax (Early Demo – Stereo)
4)
Jaguar (Original Mono Mix)
5)
Glittering Girl (Unreleased Stereo
Mix)
6)
Tattoo (Early Mono Mix)
7)
Our Love Was (Take 12 – Unused
Mono Mix)
8)
Rotosound Strings (With Final Note
– Stereo)
9)
I Can See From Miles (Early Mono
Mix)
10) Rael (Early Mono Mix)
All the
songs here are also very interesting, but the clear standout is this mix of I Can See From Miles that is mixed more
like a regular Who song of the time.
Showing how great this record really is, you can hear it in this
stronger version where Roger Daltrey’s voice is not manipulated and Keith
Moon’s drums are full on in an exceptionally powerful performance. The set comes in the usual slidecase with
fold out packaging and a rich, think, informative booklet.
Fast
forward to their success after and The
Who, The Mods & the Quadrophenia Connection which starts by explaining
the Mod movement, how the 1973 album was a deconstruction of that movement and
how the 1978 film happened to be enough of a hit to inadvertently end a Mod
revival that began before the film went into production. Featuring a long list of original songs, the
program tells all this history, than delves into the 1973 album track by
track. It also shows how this was the
end of the original band as Moon died by the end of 1978. With rare footage, original music, film
footage, stills and new, informative interviews, it is a great disc on the band
and a must-see for anyone serious about music or The Who.
The 1.33
X 1 image on that DVD offers various aspect ratios and looks pretty good
throughout, including some of the cleanest footage of Franc Roddam’s 1978 Quadrophenia film (letterboxed at 1.85
X 1) seen to date. Makes one wonder
where the Blu-ray is. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo is just fine here as well, though one wishes for multi-channel sound
when the music gets good. The PCM 2.0
16/44.1 Stereo and Mono on the CD set is even better as expected, though some
tracks can sound rough, others can sound great.
Some of this will depend on whether you prefer Mono or Stereo, but I
wished these were SA-CDs like the slimier Tommy
set, which we reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1923/The+Who+-+Tommy+SACD+++Live
Extras on the DVD include a quiz and interview with Richard
Barnes about the recording of the Quadrophenia
album. For more Tommy and Quadrophenia, try this recent live set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3113/The+Who+-+Tommy+&+Quadrophenia
In the meantime, don’t miss The Who, The Mods
& the Quadrophenia Connection DVD or The Who
Sell Out – Deluxe Edition CD set.
- Nicholas Sheffo
