Who - The Who Sell Out (Deluxe Edition)

The Who released their third album The Who Sell Out in December 1967. The dark-horse favorite in their catalog features the singles "I Can See for Miles" and "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand".

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 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 crystalized 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.

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.

Stereo Deluxe Edition. Heavyweight double vinyl produced by Polydor UK in 2021. Includes rare period photos, memorabilia, track by track annotation and new sleeve notes by Pete Townshend with comments from the likes of Pete Drummond (Radio Caroline DJ), Richard Evans (designer) & Roy Flynn (the Speakeasy Club manager).

TRACKLISTING:

SIDE A

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

SIDE B

1. I Can’t Reach You
2. Medac
3. Relax
4. Silas Stingy
5. Sunrise
6. Rael

Track Records run-off groove

EXTRA CONTENT:

SIDE A

1. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand (US single version)
2. Someone’s Coming
3. Summertime Blues
4. Glittering Girl
5. Early Morning Cold Taxi
6. Girl’s Eyes

SIDE B

1. Coke After Coke
2. Sodding About
3. Things Go Better with Coke
4. Hall of The Mountain King
5. Jaguar
6. Rael (remake; IBC version) Track Records Outro