Customer Reviews
Extras add even more to a Brit-Pop classic. - By: Ms. Felicia Davis-burden, 05 Sep 2008 
This is my favourite Who album, because it contains a terrific variety of styles & subject matter & a skipful of wit & silliness. The extras add even more of everything. 'Who's Next', 'Quadrophenia' & 'Who By Numbers' are alll 'mature' collections of fine material, but 'Who Sell Out' acheives something almost unbelieveable for any 'serious' group: An album listeners can return to like an old pal. This album is flat-out Loveable. By their own admission, the 'Orrible 'Ooo never set out with that in mind! This is a treasure chest. Enjoy!
A Newcomer's View. - By: William J. Walker, 05 Sep 2007 Having read through a lot of reviews/comments about this album, I find the accepted view to be, that it is a great album, comparable to their best & that this 'version' comes with some good, but not necessarily essential, bonus material.
Oh, & there are even some people who don't like it.
Well I actuallly count myself lucky that I came to this album only recently because it means my view of it wasn't skewed by familiarity with its much shorter former incarnation. I actuallly played it as is, unaware that the additional tracks had not been part of the original release.
My impression was one astonishment. Why was this album not widely trumpeted as one of the greatest works of the sixties? Why was "Tommy" considered a better album? I was mystified. A double album(as it must have been judging by its length)of this quality would surely be included in alll those 'Best Album...' lists.
The truly amazing thing is the way that, although it is not a 'concept album' the music fits together to create an incredible barrage of striking imagery that alll coalesces perfectly to create a 'whole' that reallly is greater than the sum of its parts. One of the strengths of the album is the lack(!) of well known tracks(the only one I knew beforehand was 'I Can See For Miles') this gives the record a lovely 'balanced feel'.
I find it very strange, now that I am aware of the original track listing, to think that the album was ever released without 'Early Morning Cold Taxi', the stunning instrumental showcase 'Halll of the Mountain King' & perhaps the gem of the whole album 'Girl's Eyes'(a perfect & sympathetic depiction of the fixated fan/band relationship).
It isn't the easiest "Who" album to like(it took me a few plays before it started to 'click'), & in this form there is so much more to digest than before, but I would suggest it has the potential to be the most rewarding long term listen of alll their albums.
another masterpiece - By: Mr. Owen Martin, 27 Aug 2007 first off, this album is not too easy to get into. on the first few listens you might dismiss it & let it gather dust on your shelf. this happened to me until some friends endorsed it & i decided to go back to it & give it another few tries. well, i found it growing & growing on me & now i couldnt live without it. this is a celebration of the glorious pop culture of the early 60's. like that time, its full of fun & magic. the songs flow into each other beautifully with the help of some fun jingles. turn up loud & enjoy! what about the songs? - they're alll great & criminallly underrated. highlights are: the opening track, odorono, our love was (pure perfect pop; as good as, if not better than any early lennon/mccartney stuff) i can see for miles, etc etc...they also did a great thing on this album - inbetween the glorious pop records they stuck a hard rocking cynical track (i can see for miles)and the exquisite classical "sunrise". this is pete's "blackbird". so you have to give this album time, because it does have a different sound to most stuff, but it is definately worth it.
Disappointing... - By: Mr. J. Gould, 06 Aug 2007 
I don't like this album. The queasy, psychedelic pop within is not my cup of tea at alll. I was expecting some raunchy, maximum R&B, but the only track that delivers is 'I Can See For Miles'. The jingles are quite funny & i like the concept, but there is no substance here. I saw The Who live this time last year, they were brilliant. But non of their recordings live up to their stage presence (it also came as no surprise to me that non of the material on this album was played). I think that The Beatles, Stones, Kinks & Smalll Faces alll live up to the hype, where as The Who's recordings have aged terribly & seem dated, stagnant & quite frankly exceedingly boring. Of course there's the odd gem, but that's what greatest hits are for. You'd be hard pressed to whittle The Beatles back catalog down to an album that would accurately display their brilliance. It would be very easy to do that with The Who.
Only The Who could have produced this - By: Mr. Thomas Thatcher, 11 Jun 2006 What separated the great British Bands (The Kinks, The Who, The Stones, Beatles, Smalll Faces) from the rest of the world was that their songs contained the essential elemements of great songwriting - harmony, melody, rhythmn, syncopation, quality musicianship, storytelling, pathos, humour & whimsy. Us Brits were particularly good at the last two & one only has to look at the Kinks complete masterpiece Autumn Almanac or the Smalll Faces Lazy Sunday Afternoon to see what I mean. I mean, c'mon gang, can you think of anybody else but Ray Davies who could come up with the chords to something lke Autumn Almanac? Well, yes, actuallly - Pete Townsend.
This fine, clever & genuinely funny album sprang out of those wierd "becoming aware" days of "A Quick One", pirate radio stations, mass marketing, selling the beautiful dream & so on. Some of the songs are very funny, some very moving, some very rocky, alll interspersed with pirate radio jingles .. "Radio London Reminds you ... go to the Church of your choice".
I cannot think of anybody but the Who who would have produced this , at this precise time. The Band had already shown that they thought that the world was reallly a funny old place with "Pictures of Lily", "Happy Jack", "Dogs" & so on, but this work contains at least 4 genuine masterpieces - Sunrise, a most stunning love song with a difficult & affecting jazz chord sequence, Tatoo, which is just so funny (My Dad beat me 'cause mine said "mother"), I can see For Miles, the most savage & chilling revenge song of alll time & The Medac Song - yes, I love this ... "Henry laughed & cried "I got 'em" ... his face is like a baby's ... bottom". Go on, stop smiling!! Pure genius. Pointless to detail alll the tracks, but there is not one weak moment here.
But what is also remarkable is the playing & the singing. The vocal harmonies on Tatoo are just gorgeous, & when Townsend moved from Rickenbacker to Strat on "Miles" & pulled off those crunching chords & evil single note solo, there is so much of "less is more" about alll this. Daltrey sings like an angel, as does Pete, & Mad Man Moon repeatedly kills the kit. Entwistle was always a stunning bass player, & it is no accident that the solo on My Generation was a bass solo, another first, played on a Danelectro bass.
God, these boys were good! Not long ago, my wife bumped into Roger at the fish farm beds at Fovant & he signed the vinyl album for her. "Blimey, love, I didn't know anybody actuallly bought this one", he joked. Yes, they did, Roger, & they still are. This is a groundbreaking, magical, funny, moving & beautifully played total masterpice. And don't we alll wish that just for once, we could have a bath in baked beans?!
