The Who have announced the April 23rd release of a Super Deluxe edition of the classic The Who Sell Out, the band's groundbreaking release prior to the 1969 Tommy rock opera. Although this album has been re-released before, the latest revamp is a massive update with 112 tracks across five CD's and two 7" vinyl singles. Collected amongst those discs are 46 unreleased tracks including 14 previously-unheard Pete Townshend demos. In addition, an 80-page hardback book with brand-new liner notes written by Townshend, posters, and memorabilia are included.
The Who Sell Out was originally planned by Pete Townshend as an album of songs linked by radio Jingles and commercials, making it sound like a British radio broadcast. Short clips from Radio London and the BBC were used as well as faked band commercials for Heinz Baked Beans and Odorono. Pete Townshend felt he didn't have enough songs for the project, but as the wealth of demos and unused outtakes indicate, there were more than enough great tracks to go around.
The album included ‘I Can See for Miles’, a single which is still, to this day, the Who's highest-charting hit in America, having reached #9. "Tattoo" and "I Can't Reach You" are filled with gorgeous melodies and "‘Rael" is a rock opera in a song with themes that would reappear in "Tommy."
THE WHO SELL OUT SUPER DELUXE EDITION
A hard slip-case featuring the original album cover artwork front and back containing . . .
• 80-page, hard-back full-color book, including rare period photos, memorabilia and track-by-track annotation and new liner notes by Pete Townshend with comments from from Pete Drummond (Radio London DJ), Chris Huston (Talentmasters Studio, NYC), Richard Evans (designer), Roy Flynn (Speakeasy Club manager), Arnold Schwartzman (designer) and Andy Neill (Who biographer)
•CD 1 Original mono mix album plus mono As & Bs and unreleased mono mixes
•CD 2 Original stereo mix album plus stereo bonus tracks
•CD 3 Studio out-takes, ‘fly-on-the-wall’ versions of early takes of songs from the album sessions, ‘studio chat’ etc.
•CD 4 The Road to Tommy contains stereo mixes of the studio tracks recorded in 1968 – some previously unreleased – plus 1968 As and Bs mono mixes (all tracks remixed from original 4- and 8-track session tapes in The Who vault)
•CD 5 14 of Pete Townshend’s original demos, previously unreleased and exclusive to this set
BONUS 7” VINYL DISCS:
• Track UK vinyl 45 single of ‘I Can See for Miles’(early mono mix with single-tracked vocal) b/w ‘Someone’s Coming’ (original UK Track single mix with single-tracked vocal)
• Decca USA vinyl 45 single of ‘Magic Bus’ (US/UK mono) b/w ‘Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde’ (original US Decca single mix)
MEMORABILIA:
Nine posters and inserts, including replicas of:
• 20” x 30” original Adrian George psychedelic poster
• Gig poster – City Hall, Newcastle: The Who, Traffic and The Tremeloes
• Eight-page Saville Theatre program from The Who’s October ’67 show.
• Business card for the Bag o’ Nails club, Kingly Street.
• Fan Club photo of The Who.
• Flyer for Bath Pavilion concerts including The Who.
• Crack-back bumper sticker for Wonderful Radio London.
• Keith Moon’s Speakeasy Club membership card
• The Who Fan Club newsletter
OTHER THE WHO SELL OUT FORMATS;
•2 LP Deluxe (stereo) vinyl edition featuring the original album and extras highlights from the box set.
•D2C 2LP Deluxe (mono) vinyl version featuring the original album and extras highlights from the box set pressed on colored vinyl; LP1 Odorono Red / LP2 Baked Beans Orange.
•2-CD Deluxe Edition 6-panel digipak with a 16-page booklet.
Also available in a variety of digital formats