With
the release of Tommy in 1969
Pete Townsend and The Who
brought the concept of the Rock
Opera into the mainstream. Of
course others had tried before,
most notably the Beatles with
Sgt Pepper (not a true concept
album just some of the songs
were built around a theme) but
Tommy was the real thing, the
story of deaf, dumb and blind
Tommy who is able to reach the
higher consciousnesses of the
other two senses Reality
and Infinity whilst
becoming the world's greatest
Pinball player.
More
of a song cycle than an opera
and touching on such delicate
subjects as child abuse,
bullying, murder, sex, drugs,
religion, faith and betrayal,
admittedly in a sometimes
ambiguous way, Tommy is lifted
out of this would be depressing
mire by it's outstanding songs
all of which retain the core Who
sound of Guitar, Bass and Drums
(the whole album is pretty
straight ahead with minimal
overdubs, mostly just organ,
keyboards and some occasional
French Horn by bassist John
Entwhistle).
Best
known of all the songs on Tommy
(and their entire career) Pinball
Wizard is the centrepiece of
the album bringing the plotline
of the album to the fore, but
it's songs like The Amazing
Journey, Eyesight to the Blind
(The Hawker), Christmas and Go
To The Mirror that allow the
album to rise above the norm,
without question one of the key
albums of the sixties and an
album that did an enormous to
change climate of people moving
from buying singles to buying
albums (Townsend overnight
became a composer instead of
merely a hit song writer). With
a lot of care put into this
re-issue, with it's expansive
liner notes, lyrics and artwork
Tommy is definitely worth adding
to your collection.
