The Who – The Who Sell Out (1967)

The Who, originally called The Detours, and for a while The High Numbers were fully formed in 1964.  The broke into the charts and our consciousness in that year with a song, written like almost everything they would go on to record by guitarist Pete Townshend and sung by Roger Daltrey – “I Can’t Explain”.  Pete later said that he deliberately wrote a song that sounded like The Kinks to impress their American producer Shel Tamly who was also recording them.  Anyway, it was an instant hit and has continued to be part of the bands live show ever since.  This album is their third and the first I bought, though that might have been the cheap-priced sampler ‘Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy’.  Anyway, I think I was influenced by the cover which had members using outsized commercial products such as Heinz Beans and Odorono.  It was a concept album but also a parody of concept albums; as a series of songs and advertising jingles.  It somehow hangs together but the concept hardly matters as the songs are so good.  The thing about the Who is their incredible energy, which they managed to get onto their records.  The critics generally loved it, but the buying public may have been confused, and it only reached 13 in Britain.  Anyway, I have always liked it and in some ways prefer it to ‘Tommy’ which was far too grandiose for my taste.  Best on this rather different sounding Who are ‘Armenia, City In The Sky’, ‘Mary With The Shakey Hand’ and of course ‘I can See For Miles’.