Sell Out

Deep into my quest for the great unplayed music I finally hit a very rich vein. I can remember hearing Can't Explain on the radio in 1965 or 6. But music does not become a mystical presence in my life until I discover my very first Top 40 Countdown in February of '67, a mere four weeks before the March 20 DJ Pick of the Week: Happy Jack. I couldn't get enough stacked vocals in my songs back then and still can't. I bought the 45 because my allowance was too small to take a chance on an album. The song made Top 5 in Syracuse, N.Y. on the threshold of the big psychedelic push. By October I was stunned by one of the most in-your-face records I'd ever heard: I Can See For Miles. I bought that 45 before it reached it's peak. Now, mind you, there might have been Hendrix or The Airplane or harder groups, but their album cuts were off the radar of regular radio. I wore this record out and must have driven my mother over the edge more than once. Again, I could not afford an album.Tonight is the first time I've ever heard it and it's fantastic. It hints at the transition into Tommy the following year, only this is much more light hearted. If you only know the later period that began with Won't Get Fooled or Baba O'Reilly this may not be for you. A lot of my friends would call it too fluffy. Not me. I have always enjoyed less ego driven guitar and blown speakers. The songs would have held up on their own, but they are loosely blended into a concept album by the vintage radio segues. Don't waste your money on the regular version of this CD. The deluxe version gives you the mono and stereo mix plus some well appreciated bonus material. It's hard to recall but the B side of one of those 45s had Mary Anne with the Shaky Hands. At first I was disappointed with the album version until I realized the U.S. mix was here as well. It sounds incredible.And here is my only warning: DO NOT buy this CD set for the mono version of I Can See For Miles. Disk one gives it to you in stereo - the vocals and guitars seem to be battling for attention. The mono mix is one of the worst remasterings I've ever encountered. The guitar is out in the back garden except for some of the loud, harsh middle notes (but not the break); the drums may as well have been an early tentative demo except for a smashing tinny cymbal that sounds like it's off a child's set; and the vocals sound like they were song into a coffee can. What were they thinking? This is the high point of the entire album. Could my memory be off? Not this time. The bonus material gives you an early mono mix. It is note for note an exact replica of my 45 except it is before the double tracked voices were added. Really? I got so annoyed I logged on to Amazon's MP3 to see if I could find a better version and discovered, supposedly, that the version on Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy (greatest hits) is mono. I will borrow it from a friend, I will play it through my best speakers, and if it is the better mono version I will rip a copy and use it to replace this one. If the rest of this CD wasn't so good I would have given it 4 stars.

Now this is excitement! The third installment from The Who and it packs a mighty wallop! From Armenia City in the Sky to Rael this album rocks and explodes at the same time. But, that's not all! This is the Japanese version of the Deluxe Edition and there is another disc full of bonus tracks which include unreleased tunes and alternate versions of some of the songs from the album. You will be amazed to find something they had not done in a while, an instrumental, and it's called, "Hall of The Mountain King" that is really rockin' with excitement. Within this package is also several paper sleeves of this album from around the world. A true rock masterpiece. If you wish to see a couple of these sleeves, view the main Sell Out page. There are two of them that come with the Japanese version. There's so much to be heard between these two discs, 53 tracks to be exact, and all is so unbelievable. The only drawback that I have why do we need 4 tracks of Mary-Anne with the Shaky Hand. I mean I love the song, but 4 times. Come on other things could have been on there. Like the song Melancholia which is on the Domestic version of Sell Out as a single disc on MCA. Melancholia can not be found on any other version foreign or domestic of Sell Out or any other cd or album. Great song by the way. Well that is all I have for this set, and I still think it is a great set. In fact, I love all The Who's Deluxe Editions. By the way, this particular version of the Sell Out Japanese veraion is no longer available on Amazon. As far as to my knowledge, but there is a new version with just a single disc and I believe less tunes and they are charging for this single disc the same price I paid for the two disc version with all the extra goodies. Talk about inflation?!

This one has grown on me tremendously since I first got it. I would say it took a few listens before I really appreciated it. I cannot speak as to what it meant at the time compared to other late 60's releases as I was born in 1970 and grew up listening to 80's heavy metal. I have a huge appreciation for the incredible late 60's and early 70's bands. Probably a pinnacle is music from around 1965-1975 with so much great stuff it is ridiculous, Beatles, Stones, Black Sabbath, The Who, Hendrix, on and on. This Who album contains brilliant songs with intermittent comedy jingles. I have grown to like the comedy sections but do wish they were set as separate tracks on the CD in case you wanted to delete them and listen to a straightforward album. I would rank this slightly below the all time classics such as Who's Next, By The Numbers, Tommy, and Quadrophenia. Maybe a 4.5 rounded up. Some truly great songs on here though and a must for any Who collection. I cannot wait to hear the vinyl on headphones!

If you are a nut for The Who and this album, you're gonna want BOTH the 2009 deluxe version AND the original 1995 remixed and remastered version. Both are two great ways to listen to this album! Not only are there BIG TIME differences between the mono and stereo mixes of this album, there are big differences between the '95 version and this newer deluxe '09 version. First off, the '95 version was REMIXED by Andy McPherson to clean it up a bit, the '09 version is the ORIGINAL MIX (both stereo and mono) by Kit Lambert from 1967. You'll hear original echo, reverb, and even double tracked vocals that were removed when it was remixed in 1995. One thing that turns out to be a mixed blessing is the original mix of the album's closing track "Rael." Andy McPherson fixed a HIDEOUS edit that occurs after the song's first verse when it was remixed (due to the master tape being damaged when it was accidentally thrown in the trash by the studio's cleaning lady). On the '09 version, the original edit remains intact and is a bewilderment to the listener's ears! It's so bad it's hard to believe it was originally released this way!

This is a brilliant album, with some great songs. As has been stated elsewhere the concept of the album is to ape pirate radio with jingles and mock adverts. Side one concludes with the brilliant I Can See for Miles. Keith Moon used to tell the story of a fan coming up to him when I Can See for Miles was in the charts as a single, “I love the hidden meanings in the song man” he said, to which Moon replied, deadpan “It’s just about a guy with really good eyesight.”I love everything about the record itself, great quality vinyl, sounds great; I can’t fault it. The cover is well reproduced with some obvious adaptations on the back; record label, barcode and so on. This is a nice poster included, albeit suffering from the need to fold it to fit into an album cover, but this relates to the reason why I nearly didn’t give this album five stars. There is a really nasty little sticker on the front of the cover, not on the film wrap but actually on the cover. What makes this unforgivable is that is is anything but easy peel. You don’t discover this, of course, until you have tried to peel it and thus you are left with a messy sticker still ther with a wrinkled edge.This remains one of my favourite Who albums after A Quick One and I still really love listening to The Who Sell Out on vinyl again but I am also glad that I also have the expanded CD version.I would rank The Who studio albums:1. A Quick One2. The Who Sell Out3. My Generation4. Quadrophenia5. Who’s Next6. Tommy7. The Who By Numbers8. Who Are You9. Face Dance10. It’s HardI don’t count Endless Wire

wow- totally blown away by this.though i am of their generation [yes, i know what you were expecting m-m-me to do there], i was more into british blues, and the stones.i never really listened to the who.i mean listened.my god they get a lot of words [and notes] into their songs. and meanings.i only bought it cos it was cheap, and i was vaguely curious- i was researching jingles of pirate stations like radio london, and of course dear old caroline when i saw this.mortified by what i have missed, i am now listening to as much who stuff as i can.i`m only 50 years too late, sigh...

THE WHO SELL OUT, The Who's third album, is one of those records which just gets better with age. Many albums from the 1960s and '70s seemed to have emerged as instant classics while others, like this one, have grown in stature with the passing years. Somewhat overlooked during the Christmas rush of 1967, today THE WHO SELL OUT stands as one of The Who's most enjoyable collections, an album which represented a tribute to the recently outlawed pirate radio ships (specifically Radio London) and the band's own last salute to the world of pop before The Who's graduation to the podium of rock royalty with TOMMY (1969). Above all, from the amusing pop art-inspired sleeve to the band's "Track Records" chant cut into the run-out groove, more than any of their other albums, THE WHO SELL OUT captures Shepherd's Bush's finest having fun.This is a fine vinyl reissue of THE WHO SELL OUT from Universal Music - the company that was responsible for a sumptuous Deluxe Edition CD version of the album a few years back. As expected with vinyl reissues these days, the record itself is nice and weighty and comes with relatively faithful reproductions of the Track Records' labels on both sides (the major difference being a new catalogue number). Audio purists will possibly take issue with the fact that the stereo mix has been used over the mono version; however, at the time of the album's original release, stereo was beginning to overtake mono in popularity and so deciding which is the "true" version of THE WHO SELL OUT is arguably an irrelevance (whereas many believe that the mono version of The Beatles' SGT. PEPPER - released just six months earlier - is the genuine format for that LP). Sound-wise, everything is fine, with the original Radio London jingle track-links and gentler songs like 'Tattoo' and 'Sunrise' sounding particularly nice. The hit single 'I Can See For Miles' also manages to cut through with power and presence. Finally, that iconic sleeve is all present and correct as is, thankfully, the Osiris-designed psychedelic poster that came with original copies of the LP. However, the sleeve does have a matt finish rather than the glossy, laminated look that was commonplace on British album covers from the 1960s and which the recent Beatles vinyl reissues have preserved.All in all, though, this is a great reissue of THE WHO SELL OUT and, at less than twenty-five quid (at the time of purchase), it comes considerably cheaper than trying to find a mint-condition original copy, complete with that poster!

Couldn't wait for this and I was not disappointed. It is worth buying just to hear the opening chord of 'I can see for miles'. The defining moment where rock wax born in my opinion. Just that chord! Power from The Who! Always loved this album. This new version sounds great. The second disc is a 'to have' as far as I am concerned. I played it and that's it. Not complaining. Interesting to listen to but probably never play it again. As I said, not a complaint, it is what they are doing now. Releasing tracks that weren't good enough in the first place. Zeppelin have exhausted this avenue. If I was to buy again I would buy the single album and listen to the second on YouTube. Someone will put it there. Brilliant album and a must. My favourite from The Who.

A very underated album if ever there was. This produced at the time when mod was on the wane and Townsend was tiring of the 3 minute pop song although there are classics of that ilk on here. " I can see for miles" is the stand out track purely 'cos I"m a huge fan of Moon and this song thrust the drums to the forefront. I was also a huge fan of Wonderful Radio London so two for the price one here!