Double Post: The Who - Tommy (1969) and The Original Soundtrack Recording (1975)

 (U.K 1962 - Present)

The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century and have sold over 100 million records worldwide.

The Who developed from an earlier group, the Detours, and established themselves as part of the pop art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying guitars and drums on stage. Their first single as the Who, "I Can't Explain", reached the UK top ten, and was followed by a string of hit singles including "My Generation", "Substitute" and "Happy Jack". In 1967, they performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and released "I Can See for Miles", their only US top ten single. The group's fourth album, the 1969 rock opera Tommy, included the single "Pinball Wizard" and was a critical and commercial success.

Live appearances at Woodstock in August 1969, and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, along with the concert album Live at Leeds in 1970, established their reputation as a respected rock act. The success put pressure on lead songwriter Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs from the project made up the 1971 Who's Next, which included the hit "Won't Get Fooled Again". The group released the concept album Quadrophenia in 1973 as a celebration of their mod roots, and oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy in 1975. They continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976. The release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed by Moon's death shortly after.

 

Tommy - The Who Album

The most spectacular year in The Who's career began in uncharacteristic placidity. It was 1969. Apart from an appearance in court by Roger Daltrey for minor motoring offences and a controversial decision to turn down the opportunity to appear on Tom Jone's British TV show, The Who remained ensconced in the recording studio throughout January and February putting the finishing touches on their next album Tommy.

It was an exhausting experience for the group. "When we did Tommy", said Roger Daltrey, "Pete used to come in some days with just half a demo. We used to talk for hours, literally. We probably did as much talking as we did recording. We spent weeks sorting out arrangements for the music."

Keith Moon echoed Roger's feelings. "Pete had been working on Tommy for at least two years, writing songs and fitting them together just like a jigsaw. But when we went into the studio it was still in bits and pieces. Pete would say 'Well, what do you think about this bit?' and John or someone would come up with an idea, and then gradually it became a group effort."

In the first week of march Track released the first sampler from Tommy, a riveting new Townshend song entitled 'Pinball Wizard'. The song had actually been written for Nik Cohn, a journalist who was both a pinball fanatic and a close friend of Pete, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. It was by far The Who's best single release since 'I Can See For Miles' eighteen months earlier.

"Pinball Wizard" opened with what is perhaps the best guitar part that Pete Townsend has ever written; following a slow, tension-filled build up through a series of unusual, rather melancholy chords, the rhythmic balance is secured with some furious strumming on acoustic guitar down an eight note sequence, each change enhanced by the deep cannon of John's bass guitar.

Roger's singing had improved beyond recognition, while Keith's usual manic drum work added significantly to the pace of the song. If there was any doubt that Pete Townsend is the finest rhythm guitarist in the whole of rock, 'Pinball Wizard' sets the record straight. The B-Side incidentally, was Keith Moon's jokey 'Dogs Part II', a throw away track with composition credited to 'Moon, Towser and Jason'. Towser was Pete's pet spaniel and Jason was John's favourite deerhound.

Brilliant though 'Pinball Wizard' was, it only managed fourth place on the British charts and in America - despite the group's high profile over the past year - it peaked at No. 19.

The next stage in the growth of Tommy was the development of a stage act that would run parallel with the album's release, and extensive rehearsals took place during March and April perfecting a Who show to end all Who shows. The Who had always been the most visual performers of the sixties: now the had an opportunity to develop this side of their collective personality to perfection. After a month The Who were capable of performing the entire Tommy opera non-stop, a full ninety minutes of uninterrupted electrically charged rock music, all delivered with astonishing confidence and vitality.

By the end of these rehearsals The Who were unquestionably the most exciting live rock band of all time. None of their likely rivals could approach the experience and mastery of The Who in this department and now, at last, they had a wealth of good, new material to perform at the same time.

Needless to say they seized on the opportunity, especially Roger whose new curly haired, ultra-sexy image would shortly become the accepted stereotype for every lead singer in rock. As the Who's on-stage spokesman, Roger became Tommy and thanks to Roger, Tommy, in his fringed suede jacket and tight jeans , became a far more attractive character than the deaf, dumb and blind boy of Pete's imagination.

Pete's sartorial leanings veered in the opposite direction: he opted to wear a plain white boiler -suit and Dr. Martins shoes on stage. The boiler-suit was eminently practical: Its loose fit enabled Pete's gymnastics to go on unimpeded and his baggy knees hid the rubber pads that protected the Townshend patellae from serious injury. John's tailor had made up a number of fancy leather outfits for the solid bassist, including the famous skeleton suit, and Keith henceforth adopted the athletic all-white look that belied the truth of his deteriorating physical condition.

This splendid new-look Who, drilled to perfection, was unveiled before the British press at Ronnie Scott's Club in Soho shortly after 1pm on 2 may, a few weeks before the Tommy album was released. An eager crowd settled down to curried chicken, rice and white wine in anticipation of a brief Who performance on the tiny stage which normally played host to the giants of modern jazz. With its low ceiling and close-up vantage points, the club was ideally intimate for The Who to present their spectacular new show.

"They seemed to play quietly at first but after the first number - the overture - the volume increased until it became almost intolerable in there", says Chris Welch, who covered the event for Melody Maker. "Nobody walked away though. The music was too good. They played non-stop for an hour and a half and at the end everyone stood and cheered which is unusual for a press reception. The press didn't normally show much enthusiasm at these gatherings.

"The Who were desperate to gain respectability and, of course, they did just that. I was sitting right in front of Keith Moon's huge drum kit and when I got home to bed much later that night I had a vivid dream of Keith playing his drum's. He was absolutely brilliant that day but it was so loud that there was a ringing in my ears for two whole days afterwards."

Like many others present Welch went back to his paper - then the country's most influential and widely read music weekly - and wrote an ecstatic review. "I can still remember Roger throwing the mike around on its lead and almost hitting the ceiling each time. I had to duck when it came towards my table but miraculously he never hit anybody or anything.

"That same week Kit Lambert brought the first copy of the Tommy album into the editor's office and offered Melody Maker an exclusive if he put it on the front page.

Jack Hutton, the editor, was very cool about it in his usual Scottish was so Kit walked out with the album still tucked under his arm, threatening to go to the New Musical Express. Jack got up and chased him down the corridor...and Kit got his exclusive. I wrote a 'Who triumph' story for the front page."

The press euphoria was not universal however. New Musical Express, for one, accused The Who of being 'sick' and 'pretentious' and a few other misguided publications jumped on the anti-Who bandwagon by criticising Pete Townshend's taste in cashing in on Tommy's disabilities. Most hailed the double album as the first-ever rock opera (which it wasn't) and saw its release as a quasi-cultural event much like the arrival of The Beatles' 'Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band'. As an album, Tommy slipped between two stools: the serious press took the opera line too far, while much of the music press accused The Who of losing the spirit of their music through ostentatious marketing.

If there were faults on Tommy they boiled down to the album's excessive length and its vague story-line. Much of The Who's finest ever music - "Pinball Wizard", "See Me Feel Me", "Underture", "Amazing Journey" and "I'm Free" - is contained on those two sides, but this standard was not maintained throughout.

The inclusion of two songs by John Entwistle confused the flow of the music and at least half a dozen of Townshend's songs were simply not up to his usual high standard. Had it been a single album, Tommy would rank as The Who's best ever piece of work, yet those two albums still contain instrumental sections where Keith Moon's drumming is revealed as some of the finest rock percussion ever recorded. Roger's singing too, improved by leaps and bounds on Tommy and the album remains not just an important landmark in The Who's career, but in the whole of rock.

Tommy of course, was a gargantuan commercial success but the music was not what sold the album. The package - a blue triple fold out sleeve complete with twelve-page lyric book including seven pages of paintings all drawn and designed by Mike McInnerney - was chock-full of mystique, obscure spiritual references and over blown psychedelia designed to appeal to the young pseudo-intelligentsia of the day. Townshend even credited Makher Baba as his avatar. Such was the impact that it became a matter of honor for anyone who considered themselves even remotely modern to possess at least one copy of the album [extracts from The Who: Illustrated Biography by Chris Charlesworth, 1982]

Tommy - The Film

The decision to make a film of Tommy was made in principle in 1970, after the success of their album and live shows when Pete Townshend's rock opera was both fresh and topical. The practical details, however, were not so simple. Although the delays were accompanied by a natural lowering of enthusiasm by all concerned, the path was finally open to proceed on the next stage of the saga of the deaf, dumb and blind boy; in 1973.

Tommy had originally been offered to an enthusiastic Universal Pictures, the sister company of MCA Records who had lately acquired The Who's US recording contract by taking over American Decca.

Universal agreed to back the film but delayed in releasing the necessary funds after finding Kit Lambert's script and ideas unacceptable. This delay - almost two years - turned out to be the final straw in Lambert's waning relationship with The Who.

Independent producers and directors were contracted throughout 1973 and eventually, Robert Stigwood agreed to help The Who make the picture. The sandy-haired, Australian impresario had prospered mightily since the early days when he acted as The Who's agent and formed the Reaction label to assist in their dispute with Shel Talmy: by 1974 he was well on the way to becoming one of the wealthiest moguls in the music industry through his interests in management, records, stage-shows, and films. With Stigwoods's help, Ken Russell was persuaded to direct the film and Columbia Pictures agreed to back the project on a mutual basis with Stigwood himself.

After lengthy discussions with Townshend, Russell produced a new script, which satisfied the financial interests, and Stigwood adopted the traditional producer role for casting. A host of stars were rounded up, including all of The Who, Ann-Margret (see below hugging Daltrey), Oliver Reed, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson and Tina Turner and it was decided that there should be no dialogue; instead Pete would re-record the score, adding in it where necessary, and all the characters would sing their respective parts.

Above: Ken Russell

Before and after the Who's French Quadrophenia tour Pete Townshend toiled away in his home recording studio and at Ramport re-recording Tommy with The Who and selected outside musicians. Elton John brought his own band along to record his version of "Pinball Wizard", and Eric Clapton, Ron Wood, Kenny Jones, Chris Stainton and Mick Ralphs were among those involved in the sessions. With the soundtrack completed, the cast descended on Portsmouth and Southsea, the location selected for Tommy's rebirth. The cost of the operation, much of it coming from Robert Stigwood, was $3,500,000 and shooting began on 22nd April.

Significantly retooled from the 1969 double-album by The Who, Tommy became a quasi-spiritual parable about a boy (Barry Winch) rendered hysterically deaf, dumb, and blind after witnessing the murder of his father (Robert Powell) at the hands of his mother's lover (Oliver Reed).

While shared guilt tears at the fibers of the marriage of Nora (Ann-Margret) and Frank (Reed) - Nora, in particular, grapples with remorse over what she has done - the now grown Tommy (Daltrey) retreats further and further into himself, inhabiting a vivid inner world which serves to shield him from the trauma of well-intentioned cure attempts and instances of parental neglect and familial abuse. As a result of his experiences, Tommy develops a near-supernatural talent for pinball and is hailed as a pop culture prodigy.

For Nora, instant wealth and fame serve to superficially cushion the pain of the responsibility she feels for Tommy's afflictions, but when her actions bring about his “accidental” fall through a plate-glass mirror, the miraculous restoration of his senses changes the course of her life. Tommy instantly becomes a worldwide spiritual messiah, but finds the world of redemption by way of material acquisition to be just another form of spiritual prison.

In March of 1975, at the end of John Entwistle's Ox tour, The Who reunited briefly for the ceremonies that surrounded the British and American premiere of the Tommy film and the simultaneous release of the soundtrack album. Surrealistic, imaginative, inept, unforgettable, cowardly, brilliant, elusive and pointless - these were all adjectives chosen to describe Ken Russell's reading of Pete Townshend's magnum opus.

The Who featuring their Dollar Bill Outfits

The Who themselves, especially Roger Daltrey, were obviously pleased with the result but nothing could shake the truth that Tommy's greatest moments always lay in The Who's own stage performances when it was first released. Press conferences with the stars, with Roger taking pride of place alongside Ann-Margret and Robert Stigwood, were held in majestic fashion in New York and Los Angeles, while the parties that followed each premiere were amongst the most glittering show/rock business occasions of the year. Roger Daltrey appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, now a star in his own right with or without The Who.

Elton John - Pinball Wizard

"Tommy is so much a part of my life that I don't know what the fuck it means," wrote Roger in a short essay included in The Who's authorised account of their first ten years together. "It's like being married. For the first six months you can answer questions on marriage very well, but after ten years.....you know what I mean? You're so surrounded by it all and it's so much a part of you that you don't know what it means any more at all". [extracts from The Who: Illustrated Biography by Chris Charlesworth, 1982]

As much as I enjoy concept albums, rock music rarely makes the leap to the silver screen gracefully: The Wall, The Song Remains The Same, 200 Motels, Give My Regards To Broad Street, True Stories. Quadrophenia made more sense as a movie, I thought, but it wasn’t a musical. Tommy at least deserves credit for being a remarkably ambitious adaptation of the original, one that sought to match art with art.

Given the fact that people still talk about this film, maybe Russell was an inspired choice after all. Plus, it couldn’t have been easy to corral so many personalities and egos (Pete Townshend, Ann-Margaret, Oliver Reed, Jack Nicholson, Elton John, Tina Turner and dear old Moonie among them) while working with a lead actor (Daltrey) who had no real acting experience. Come to think of it, only a maverick like Russell would have taken the job in the first place.

This post consists of both Tommy double albums, ripped to FLAC and include full album artwork and label scans. The only short coming of my copy of the Who's Tommy album is the missing 12-page lyric booklet. As a bonus, I have decided to include the B-Side of their Pinball Wizard singe called "Dogs Pt II" which was written and sung by Keith Moon (a real rarity indeed)

Original Who Album

A1 Overture 3:50

A2 It's A Boy 2:07

A3 1921 3:14

A4 Amazing Journey 3:25

A5 Sparks 3:45

A6 Eyesight For The Blind (The Hawker) 2:15

B1 Christmas 5:30

B2 Cousin Kevin 4:03

B3 The Acid Queen 3:31

B4 Underture 9:55

C1 Do You Think It's Alright? 0:24

C2 Fiddle About 1:26

C3 Pinball Wizard 3:00

C4 There's A Doctor 0:25

C5 Go To The Mirror! 3:50

C6 Tommy Can You Hear Me? 1:35

C7 Smash The Mirror 1:20

C8 Sensation 2:32

D1 Miracle Cure 0:10

D2 Sally Simpson 4:10

D3 I'm Free 2:40

D4 Welcome 4:30

D5 Tommy's Holiday Camp 0:57

D6 We're Not Gonna Take It 6:45

BONUS   Dogs Pt II (B-Side Single)   3:06

The Who Tommy (520Mb)

The Who are:

Roger Daltrey: Vocals, Percussion

Pete Townshend: Guitar

John Entwistle: Bass, Vocals

Keith Moon: Drums

Original Soundtrack Recording

01. Prologue/1945

02. Captain Walker/It’s A Boy

03. Bernie’s Holiday Camp

04. 1951/What About The Boy?

05. Amazing Journey

06. Christmas

07. Eyesight To The Blind

08. Acid Queen

09. Do You Think It’s Alright

10. Cousin Kevin

11. Do You Think It’s Alright

12. Fiddle About

13. Do You Think It’s Alright

14. Sparks

15. Extra, Extra, Extra

16. Pinball Wizard

17. Champagne

18. There’s A Doctor

19. Go To The Mirror

20. Tommy Can You Hear Me

21. Smash The Mirror

22. I’m Free

23. Mother And Son

24. Sensation

25. Miracle Cure

26. Sally Simpson

27. Welcome

28. T.V. Studio

29. Tommy’s Holiday Camp

30. We’re Not Gonna Take It

31. Listening To You/See Me, Feel Me

Tommy The Original Soundtrack (516Mb) New Link 17/10/2023

The Players

Roger Daltrey (Tommy), John Entwistle (himself), Ann-Margaret (The Mother), Keith Moon (Uncle Ernie), Robert Powell (Captain Walker), Oliver Reed (The Lover), Pete Townshend (himself, musical director) with Eric Clapton (The Preacher), Elton John (The Pinball Wizard), Paul Nicholas (Cousin Kevin), Jack Nicholson (The Doctor), Tina Turner (The Acid Queen).