The Who “Sell Out”
I often wish I had a chance to go back and rediscover the discographies from some of the classic groups, namely The Kinks, The Boys and The Who! Discovering Who Sell Out for the first time is a dearly missed experience.
If you are one of the lucky ones without any early Who albums, you are going to have a magnificent time checking out 
The tunes on this concept album are linked with wonderful PAMS Radio London jingles and ad spoofs that are just as memorable as the tunes themselves. Although, it’s hard to compete with the scorching I Can See For Miles. Something about the way this song is framed here really makes it cook compared to hearing it on the radio or a Who’s best of.
Other fun bits include scattered musical hints of the masterpiece rock opera to be, Tommy, a Townshend-led version of Hall Of The Mountain King, and a good bunch of songs that make a perfect full-listen when you’ve got the time.
It’s available at a stunningly low price at the link below and comes in a nicely remastered package. Buy what The Who sells! You won’t regret it.
“Odorono”
Also Recommended
i don’t care when they mime: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WBYm8Od-Km4
I pretty much own everything by the Who on vinyl and cd and enjoy them all but “Sell Out” and to a slightly lesser extent “A Quick One” I return to over and over. Can’t put my finger on what exactly it is about both these albums that generates such loyalty over more venerated Who albums (Tommy, Next, Quad) but these two are by far my favorite Who releases. Every time that I listen it never fails to make me sing along with a smile on my face and a wishfulness for a music scene as exciting as the one in which these albums were created. A freakin’ classic. The new deluxe edition gives a stereo and mono mix as well as some added jingles and alternate takes from the 95 reissues. Highly recommended.
Ah yes, The Who Sell Out . . . what a great album. I had intended to offer TRS a review of it myself until I discovered this one. It dates from around the same time as Sergeant Pepper, and shares the wry British eclecticism of the latter whilst actually being (IMHO) better both instrumentally and in terms of vocal harmonies. Armenia, I can See For Miles and Relax are unashamed psych, and why not? On I Can See For Miles, Townshend delivers the ultimate one-note guitar solo, as if to cock a snook at all the critics who averred that he couldn’t play real lead guitar (you bet he could – check out the coda on Won’t Get Fooled Again, to name but one). Mary Ann With The Shaky Hand, Odorono, Tattoo and Silas Stingy display Pete’s talent for edgy humourous characterisation, almost like a leftfield and more dangerous Ray Davies. Mary Ann perpetuates Townshend’s preoccupation with masturbation as first featured in Pictures Of Lily, whilst Silas Stingy seems to prefigure Lennon’s Mean Mr Mustard from Abbey Road. And yet Our Love Was, I Can’t Reach You and Sunrise display a tender Romanticism not previously evinced by the songwriter’s earlier work (and not really to reappear until Who Are You). Add in the genuine pirate radio jingles – remembered with great affection by those of us who grew up in the southeast of England in the mid sixties – the spoof adverts and the final short song cycle Rael, and the mixture is truly fascinating. And yes, some of the motifs from Rael do reappear in Underture from Tommy: no point in wasting good themes on a little-played runout track . . .
nice Len. I know it’s taboo to relegate ‘Pepper’ to anything but the masterpiece the world believes it to be but there are many others from the same period that I prefer, including ‘Sell Out’. It really has never duly received the recognition that it deserves. There is boundary pushing a plenty, wonderfully original ideas, some great playing, tons of charm, charisma and humor and some great songs. ‘Tommy’, tho’ I love it too, suffers from a tad of pretentiousness and ‘Who’s Next’ offers 9 superb tracks but lacks the charm and innocence of ‘Sell Out’. For me, ‘Sell Out’ represents the Who at their height. BTW, wasn’t ‘Silas Stingy’ an Entwistle track?