New reissue contains 112 tracks across five CDs and two 7″ singles
The Who has announced a super deluxe edition of its 1967 album The Who Sell Out for April 23rd via UMe. The new edition features 112 tracks — 46 of which are unreleased — across 5 CDs and two 7″ singles, an 80-page, hard-back, full-color book, including rare period photos, memorabilia, track-by-track annotation and new sleeve notes by Pete Townshend with comments from the likes of Pete Drummond (Radio London DJ), Richard Evans (designer) & Roy Flynn (the Speakeasy Club manager).
Disc one features the original mono mix, mono As & Bs and unreleased mono mixes. Disc two includes the original stereo mix and stereo bonus tracks. Disc three contains studio outtakes, “fly-on-the-wall” versions of early takes of songs from the album sessions, “studio chat,” and more. CD four contains The Road to Tommy featuring stereo mixes of the studio tracks recorded in 1968, plus 1968 A’s and B’s mono mixes with all tracks remixed from original four and eight-track session tapes in The Who vault. Disc five contains 14 previously unreleased Pete Townshend original demos that are exclusive to this set.
The 7″ bonus singles feature a U.K. 45 reproduction of “I Can See for Miles“ (early mono mix with single-tracked vocal) and “Someone’s Coming“ (original U.K. Track single mix with single-tracked vocal); and the Decca U.S.A. 45 reproduction of “Magic Bus“ (U.S./U.K. mono) and “Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde“ (original U.S. Decca single mix).
The Super Deluxe package also includes nine posters and inserts, including replicas of 20” x 30” original Adrian George album poster, a gig poster from The City Hall, Newcastle, a Saville Theatre show eight page program, a business card for the Bag o’ Nails club, Kingly Street, a Who fan club photo of group, a flyer for Bath Pavilion concerts including The Who, a crack-back bumper sticker for Wonderful Radio London, Keith Moon’s Speakeasy Club membership card and a Who Fan Club newsletter.
The Who Sell Out: Deluxe Edition will also be available as a 2 CD edition six panel digipak with 16 page booklet; 2 LP deluxe stereo vinyl edition, featuring the original album and extras highlights from box set; 2 LP deluxe mono vinyl version featuring the original album and extras highlights from box set pressed on colored vinyl; and digitally.
An EP of Pete Townshend’s previously unreleased demos has been released on all streaming services including three previously unreleased tracks, including a new remix of “Pictures Of Lily,” “Kids! Do You Want Kids?” (AKA “Do You Want Kids, Kids?”) and “Odorono.”
The Who Sell Out was originally planned by Pete Townshend and the band’s managers Kit Lambert & Chris Stamp, as a loose concept album including jingles and commercials linking the songs stylized as a pirate radio broadcast. This concept was born out of necessity as their label and management wanted a new album and Townshend felt that he didn’t have enough songs.
The ground-breaking original plan for Sell Out was to sell advertising space on the album but instead the band opted for writing their own jingles paying tribute to pirate radio stations and to parody an increasingly consumerist society.
The homage to pop-art is evident in both the advertising jingles and the iconic sleeve design created by David King who was the art director at the Sunday Times, and Roger Law who invented the Spitting Image TV show. The sleeve features four advertising images, taken by the renowned photographer David Montgomery, of each band member Odorono deodorant (Pete Townshend), Medac spot cream (Keith Moon), Charles Atlas (John Entwistle) and Roger Daltrey & Heinz baked beans. The story goes that Roger Daltrey caught pneumonia from sitting in the cold beans for too long.
The Who Sell Out is a bold depiction of the period in which it was made, the tail-end of the “swinging-60s” meets pop-art mixed with psychedelia and straight-ahead pop. It’s a glorious blend of classic powerful Who instrumentation, melodic harmonies, satirical lyrical imagery crystallized for what was only the group’s third album. The album’s ambition and scope is unrivalled by the Who, or any other act from that period.
Within the bold concept, were a batch of fabulous and diverse songs. “I Can See for Miles,” a top ten hit at the time, is a Who classic. “Rael,” a Townshend “mini-opera” with musical motifs that reappeared in Tommy and the psychedelic blast of “Armenia City In The Sky” and “Relax” are among the very best material anyone wrote during the 1960s
One of the most extraordinary albums of any era, The Who Sell Out is The Who’s last “pop” album. Two years later came Tommy – a double concept album about a deaf, dumb and blind kid.
Initially released in December 1967 and described latterly by Rolling Stone as “The Who’s finest album,” The Who Sell Out reflected a remarkable year in popular culture. As well as being forever immortalized as the moment when the counterculture and the “Love Generation” became a global phenomenon and “pop” began metamorphosing into “rock.”
Super Deluxe Edition | 2 CD | Stereo 2 LP
CD 1: The Who Sell Out (Mono) & Bonus Tracks
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 / Track Records run-off groove
14. Pictures of Lily (original U.K. Track single mix)
15. Doctor, Doctor (original U.K Track single mix)
16. The Last Time (original U.K. Track single mix)
17. Under My Thumb (original U.K. Track single mix)
18. I Can See for Miles (original U.K. Track single mix)
19. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand (original U.S. Decca single mix)
20. Someone’s Coming (original U.S. Decca single mix)
21. Unused Radio London ad / Early Morning… (original 1967 mono mix) [Previously Unreleased]
22. Unused Radio London bulletin link /Jaguar (original 1967 mono mix)
23. Unused Radio London ad /Tattoo (early alternate mono mix)
24. Rael (Talentmasters Studio, New York early rough mix) [Previously Unreleased]
25. Sunn Amps promo spots [Previously Unreleased]
26. Great Shakes ad
CD 2: The Who Sell Out (Stereo) & Bonus Tracks
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
14. Rael Naïve (complete with organ coda ending) [Previously Unreleased]
15. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand (U.S. single version)
16. Someone’s Coming
17. Summertime Blues
18. Glittering Girl
19. Early Morning Cold Taxi
20. Girl’s Eyes
21. Coke After Coke
22. Sodding About
23. Things Go Better with Coke
24. Hall of The Mountain King
25. Jaguar
26. Rael (remake; IBC version) / Track Records outro
CD 3: Studio Sessions 1967/68 [Previously Unreleased in this form with Studio Chat]
1. Glittering Girl (Take 4) (2018 remix)
2. Girl’s Eyes (Take 2) (2018 remix)
3. The Last Time (Take 8)
4. Under My Thumb (Take 3) (2018 remix with full ending)
5. Our Love Was (Take 2)
6. Relax (4-track to 4-track mix with Pete vocal)
7. Relax (Takes 1 and 2) 1:58
8. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand (Takes 1 & 9)
9. Relax (Remake Take 4)
10. I Can See for Miles (full version)
11. Medac (Take 11)
12. Odorono (Take 3) (2018 remix)
13. Heinz Baked Beans (Takes 1 & 3) (2018 remix)
14. Top Gear (Takes 1 & 2) (2018 remix)
15. Premier Drums (Takes 1 & 3) (2018 remix)
16. Charles Atlas (Take 1)
17. Rotosound Strings (Take 1) (2018 remix)
18. Track Records (2018 remix)
19. John Mason Cars (Takes 1 – 3) / Speakeasy / Rotosound Strings / Bag O’ Nails (2018 remixes)
20. It’s A Girl (aka “Glow Girl”) (Takes 1 & 3)
21. Mr Hyde (1st stage mix Take 1)
22. Little Billy (Takes 1 & 3)
23. Mrs Walker (aka “Glow Girl”) (4-track to 4-track mix, take 7)
24. Call Me Lightning (Take 1 backing track, stereo mix & jam)
25. Dogs (Take 3)
26. Melancholia (Take 1)
27. Shakin’ All Over (Take 3)
28. Magic Bus (Take 6)
CD 4: The 1968 Recordings (The Road to Tommy)
1. Glow Girl
2. Faith in Something Bigger
3. Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
4. Call Me Lightning
5. Little Billy’s Doing Fine
6. Dogs
7. Melancholia
8. Fortune Teller
9. Facts Of Life (aka “Birds And Bees,” backing track) [Previously Unreleased]
10. Magic Bus (single version)
11. Call Me Lightning (U.S./U.K. mono single mix)
12. Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (U.K. mono single mix)
13. Dogs (U.K. mono single mix)
14. Magic Bus (mono, longer version)
CD 5: Pete Townshend Original Demos [Previously Unreleased]
1. Kids? Do You Want Kids
2. Relax
3. Glow Girl
4. Glow Girl (Version 2)
5. Inside Outside U.S.A.
6. Jaguar
7. Little Billy
8. Odorono
9. Pictures of Lily
10. Relax (Version 2)
11. Melancholia (2018 remix)
12. Thinking of You All the While (“Sunrise” Version 2)
13. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hands
14. I Can See for Miles
