(If it were, it’d be much higher on this list.) Sell Out does reflect what was what in 1967 the heady year of its making but more importantly it drops two remarkable psychedelic rock songs: the thunderous single I Can See for Miles and the album-opening sci-fi adventure Armenia City in the Sky. From this conflict emerges a pop art masterpiece. The Who Sell Out isn’t much of a psychedelic album, though. In this sense Sell Out is a reflective work, one that struggles with rock and roll as a cultural expression that aspires to aesthetic permanence while marketed as ephemera. Not the clichéd mantra of sex, drugs, and rock and roll but in the ways that commercial advertising fabricates a youth-oriented cultural reality by hawking pimple cream, deodorant, food, musical equipment, etc., and linking it with rock and roll. As much as it is an expression of the band's expanding sonic palette, Sell Out also functions as a critique of the rock and roll lifestyle. Sell Out, powerfully and ecstatically, articulates the nexus of pop music and pop culture. In the 36 years since its release, Sell Out, though still not the best selling release in The Who's catalog, has been embraced by a growing number of fans who regard it as the band's best work, one of the few recordings of the late 1960s that best represents the ambitious aesthetic possibilities of the concept album without becoming mired in a bog of smug, self-aggrandizing, high art aspirations. in January 1968, The Who Sell Out was, according to critic Dave Marsh, a complete backfire-the album sold well, but not spectacularly ultimately a nostalgic in-joke: Who but a pop intellectual could appreciate such a thing? Further rarifying its in-joke status was its unapologetic Englishness 13 tracks stitched together in a mock pirate radio broadcast, without a DJ, with cool, anglocentric commercials to boot. The deluxe box-set edition of The Who Sell Out is out 4/23.Released in the U.S. Few have ever accused Pete Townshend of being a nice person, but that’s a talented man. ![]() The Who were always the most musically energetic jet engine of their era, and the balance they achieved between unchecked testosterone and beautifully crafted melodies and thoughtful lyrics is amazing here. Listening to Townshend’s demos, it’s remarkable how fully-formed those songs were even before the Who applied their full-band magic to the tracks. Pete Townshends songwriting, always more elevated than his contemporaries, really bursts into the stratosphere on this album. And Townshend has also dropped his solo takes on “Kid! Do You Want Kids” and “Odorono.” His original solo take on “Pictures Of Lily” came out a long time ago, but the version of it on the box set is a new, previously unreleased remix. As a way of hyping up the release, Townshend has shared three of those demos. Given how Townshend often seems to feel about his bandmates, maybe he thinks those versions of the songs are the definitive ones. The big draw for this one seems to be the disc of 14 of Pete Townshend’s previously unreleased demos. It’ll also include 112 tracks, 46 of which are previously unreleased. A new edition of the 1967 classic will include five CDs and two 7″ singles, as well as an 80-page hardback book and a poster. ![]() The Who have never been shy about releasing deluxe versions of their beloved old albums, but a forthcoming box-set version of The Who Sell Out might be the most deluxe version next.
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