The Who Sell Out

i thought the who were cool but this sucked.

As much as I like The Who, this album is really annoying.

Honestly, it was all just research for a book.

Fucking stupid. Seriously. What the fuck.

I found this bloody irritating with the OH SO FUNNY radio ads and jingles. The Spotify ads that dropped whilst listening were actually less painful. The songs themselves didn't add enough for me to overcome the radio bollocks. I've given it two stars on the the strength of I Can See for Miles alone.

When we started the 1001 journey I immediately decided all Who albums were getting a 5 but I never thought Sell Out would be on the list. This is a bizarre album by an excellent band and the LP has always had a cult following. It is a spoof on pirate stations that were quite popular in London  in the 60s and 70s. The BBC had a monopoly on broadcasting so these stations would pop up to provide  diverse music and points of view. This loose concept is probably what made this album have such  strong support from  the recording industry types.   There are some good songs on this mixed with very legitimate sounding jingles and commercials.  I Can See For Miles is Pete's sole contribution to Psychedelic music and, imo, is THE best psychedelic song. Yes I think it's even better than California Dreamin. I Can See . . . also has  Moon taking his already insane drumming style to another level as he really attacks his drums and sets the stage for things to come. It's also bizarre to see one of the best guitar players ever do a  guitar solo that repeats just one note. I always liked Mary Ann With The Shaky Hand. It brings back memories of adolescence and summer nights, lol. It's funny to see such a juvenile song written by a geezer who's now in his mid 70s. Tattoo is another excellent song. Pete plays electric and acoustic and shows remarkable picking and strumming  skills that continued to improve for the decades to come. Roger's voice is also at its best. The lyrics are deep compared to Pete's other songs to that time. I wonder how often someone getting a tattoo thinks "I expect I'll regret you but the skin graft man won't get you. You'll be three when I die Tattoo."  I hope you listened til the end since at around the 3 1/2 min mark of Rael there is the first tease of what becomes the Underture from Tommy. 

The Who Sell Out is a rad concept, including a hilarious cover and some fun ads here and there, but does the music behind the concept bring equal joy? YES! This record hosts my favorite Who song, I Can See For Miles, and a bunch of other fun and lovely tunes. I am so grateful to have been able to grab a last minute ticket to see Townsend, Daltery, and the gang live in Tinley Park 1 1/2 years ago. The weather was gnarly that day so folks were releasing tix and I was able to grab 20th row for $20 and hang with my friend Mike (co-author of Kiss The Sky Records) and his childhood friends for part of the show. Hell, they had a full orchestra there with them! Epic!! Well, time to roll on some Odorono, grab some Heinz beans, and rock on into my evening!

This is fine musically, but who in gods name thought it would be a good idea to mix a bunch of jingles into the songs, and who decided that they should half ass it so hard instead of committing to the bit. I get what they were trying to do, but I feel like they could have just made a good album instead. 2/5

terrible

Production: 3/20 Songwriting: 5/20 Innovation: 7/20 Bangers: 5/20 Emotional response: 2/20 = 22 Horrible. Only reason it got up to 2 was that at least it’s innovative. Which makes me question the whole system.

I really enjoy this style of 60s rock. Reminds me of Odyssey and Oracle by the Zombies. Superb vocal harmonies throughout, each of the songs has complexity to its composition, hard to find a song that doesn't have a key modulation of some sort. Great playing by the band, especially the drums.

Dated 60s stuff. I'm sure it's classic and was very influential...

Guess you had to be there ...

Sorry, was that 5 skits and novelty songs before the first actual song? How many times must they have listened to that Heinz shit in the recording, mixing and mastering process and still thought it was worth committing to vinyl? 'I Can See For Miles' is a good song, but having to slog through a crap handjob song and a crap body odor song to get there is not worth it.

At this point, when I see another album from The Who I say "the what???" We've reviewed sixty-some albums and this our third from them--at this rate, we could expect 42 more Who albums on the list. I'm praying that's not possible. At least this one isn't live, and I did enjoy a few songs, especially the classic "I Can See for Miles." But I'm asking this list to give us a good 40-50 album break before the next Who album. Also, "mingy stingy"? Can they say that? Favorite tracks: I Can See for Miles, Odorono, Sunrise. Album art: This one's pretty funny. Roger Daltrey bathing in a full English, Pete Townshend putting on some massive deodorant, the absolute mad lads. "Get saucy." 3.5/5

Such a weird album. And definitely one of the most off the mark The Who concept album. A few of the radio interludes are quite fun but mostly it just feels distracting. At the same time the idea of writing songs as commercials often makes for not very interesting songs. In fact there’s only one really great song on side 1; but the fact that “I Can See For Miles” is as good as it is almost makes up for it. With “I Can’t Reach You” and “Rael” on side 2 it’s a bit more approachable but even with the band’s heavenly musicianship most of the songs on this album is just forgettable or plain boring.

Not my kinda music, but call me Silas Stingy

In some ways, I think this is my favorite Who record. It’s psychedelic and I enjoy the weird concept - it’s not overblown like Tommy would end up; it’s relatively straight-forward and, for the most part, the songs rock. “I Can See for Miles” is one of the Who’s best songs, even if it’s not the most well known. Ditto to “Maryanne with the Shaky Hand”. The Who Sell Out is a great album and definitely worth hearing before you die, even if the only thing you take away from it is “Oh, that’s where Queens of the Stone Age got the idea for Songs for the Deaf.” With that said, I’d like to take a moment to bitch about the preponderance of “deluxe” and “super deluxe” reissues on streaming platforms, since when I opened this record in Apple Music the “Super Deluxe” version was the only version available. …and that’s fine, I get wanting to have as much material out there for fans and as a historical document, but it can’t be that difficult for the streaming platforms to better differentiate what was the original record and what is bonus material. Otherwise, you’re pulling up a nearly 6 hour tracklist with 114 songs on it. Just put a header after the original album’s last track (Rael, on this record) that says “Bonus Tracks”. Now despite that complaint, there is still worthwhile material to be heard on the super deluxe version of this album. “Early Morning Cold Taxi” is fantastic as are several other of the bonus tracks. Rant over.

He escuchado la versión Mono de este disco entiendo que la calidad es la que era, pero al menos lo escucho tal como se grabó (más o menos salvando las distancias de hacerlo en streaming y esas cosas). Para ser de 1967 sorprende lo innovador que suena, sobre todo los instrumentos, y resulta curioso el uso de una especie de "jingles" entre las canciones. Curioso pero poco más, hoy en día no lo veo imprescindible. Hay 3 o 4 canciones que me han gustado bastante y sobre todo los recuerdos que me han venido de los Pink Floyd de Syd Barret.

Would not listen again

Terrible harmonization, poor lyrics, annoying skits and jingles. Concept albums tend to get more respect from me but this album is annoying and bland. I Can See For Miles is mildly catchy but still somehow ends up just becoming repetitive. No emotion in the vocals or the terrible harmonizing make for the most boring type of British pop rock. The only reason this album is getting a two and not a one is the drums somehow managed to not annoy me at all and some of the guitar playing was decent.

one of best albums ever made by probably the only band “who” couldve stuck it to the equally immaculate beatles, at the peak of their psychedelic powers

this album is really goofy but i really love the concept. and really it was one of the first concept albums in rock music. if you can ignore (or enjoy!) the goofy mid-60s style ads interspersed between all the tracks here, there are some gems. this is a real turning point for the who and you can definitely feel them rounding that corner towards 'tommy' on this one (sometimes even literally). pretty much every song on here is catchy as all hell and has a goofy sense of humor (songs about stinky girls and getting abused by your parents for a tattoo) but you could tell that from the cover, now couldn't you?

So good! A purely entertaining album! Funny and clever but also quite beautiful. Some of the Who's very best work. My Top 3: Tattoo Our Love Was Rael 1

One of the first concept albums and it's so much fun, it's creative and it simply rocks.

Best concept album of 1967, not Sgt Peppers!!!! Really like the songs and the fun jingles give a bit of a look into the slop that was on the airwaves at the time.

Really likes this. So fun

Innovative- a product of its time that stands the test of time!

A really good album with a lot of good songs, my favorite one was Rael 1.

Classic album.

No flaws in my eyes. Aged beautifully and so funny too. Amazing harmonies

Genius shit. So so so up our alley wow. It’s 10cc before 10cc, elliott smith before elliott smith, the Beatles around the same time as the Beatles. It’s killer.

My favorite album by the Who. I love everything about it - one foot in pop and another in this pseudo-psychedelic oddness that includes commercials, odd jingles, etc. along with pop masterpieces like "I Can See For Miles" and "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand". I'll take this over Who's Next any day.

10

tolerable

this was a staple album on my zune back in the day. the first half is basically immaculate, the second drags a bit till the end. the concept is fun, just nice to hear great straightforward rock songs before they get caught up in the whole rock opera thing later on.

Geilo

"The Who Sell Out" is the third studio album by English rock band the Who. It is a concept album with unrelated songs interspersed with fake commercials and public service announcements. It also purports to be broadcast by pirate station Radio London. This, of course, resulted in lawsuits. Commercially, it hit #13 in the UK and #48 in the US. The album did receive positive reviews. The album opens with a guy's saying days of the week which goes into "Armenia City in the Sky." Written by Thunderclap Newman's Speedy Keen, this is a very psychedelic song with Townsend's guitar and effects including overdubs of backwards guitars, horns and feedback. The music does a good job describing its intent of an acid trip. Acoustic guitar and Latin percussion carry the very 60's-sounding "Mary Anne with the Shaking Hand." Layered vocals describe a string of girls and their downsides including Mary Amne with her shaking hand. But, her shaky hand was good for something. Townsend said later he regretted the lyrics to this song. Guitar strikes, drum rolls and we're off with one of their big ones in "I Can See for Miles." This song builds with the guitar, drums and vocal chorus and slows back down. Drummer Keith Moon absolutely shines in one of his best performances. Don't try to deceive him, he can see for miles. Townsend gives us some jangly- edgy guitar in "Relax" and a great pyschedelic jam. There's also what sounds like an organ in a very melodic song. Co-lead vocals by Roger Daltrey and Townsend. A big start with a vocal chorus in the closer "Rael." A prancing-sounding song with the drums and bass which changes to more pyschedelic with an organ and guitar and finally ends with an acoustic guitar section. Townsend foreshadows where he would go in the future somewhat with a story about Crusader knights fighting the Saracens in the Holy War. They are betrayed by Venetians leaving them both to their fate. This is the first time I've listen to this album; It is a very good album. The "satirical" inclusions of commercials between the songs were short, sort of funny and didn't distract from the quality of thr songs. The songs do cover several styles with pyschedelia, 60's pop songs, ballads, Beach Boys' harmonization and a marching band section in a song. The vocals sound great (lead, chorus, harmonies); I don't know if Daltrey or Townsend ever sounded better. There's short, tuneful, deeper-cut songs ("Tattoo," "Ororono") not regularly heard on the radio. The albums' mix and production is at a high level with all instruments heard clearly. A high recommendation for everyone.

The novel idea of linking the tracks on side one with jingles is jolly good, as it gives the tracks a sense of being played on the radio in 1960's London. Sure, it's perhaps a little kitsch, but it works and gives the record an identity of it's own. Except for one or two tracks, anyone expecting to hear the classic Who sound isn't going to find it here. However, fans of psychedelic pop (or 60s pop in general) are in for a teatime treat. Songs like 'Tattoo', 'Our Love Was', ' I Can't Reach You' and the calypso flavored 'Mary-Anne With The Shaky Hand' are all highly melodic and beautifully crafted compositions with enough rock influence to avoid whimsy. John Entwhistle's 'Silas Stingy' is a menacingly creepy follow up to 'Boris the Spider' and the organ led 'Relax' is a nod to Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. Of course the best known track is the killer 'I Can See For Miles' but for me the highlight is the simple, jazzy 'Sunrise', which is one of the loveliest records you'll ever hear. This may not be their best album, but as it's less bogged down in concepts and a fun album to hear with plenty of drama in the storytelling, it is my favorite Who album. Maybe i'm just a big kid at heart!

man these dudes were on some good shit

One of my top 5 of the best album ever !!!!

Its The Who, of course its good.

As a Who fan, I know this isn’t their best album. But I was happy to see it make this list because it showcases their creative and satirical side - and features one of the best lead-drummer songs ever.

Too cute but also super talented.

This is just a great album from one of the best 60’s/70’s rock bands. The commercial theme really ties it together, and these songs are great for their time, such as ‘I Can See For Miles’, one of the catchiest and heaviest songs from this year, or ‘Rael’, a precursor to their general pretentiousness later on. All in all, very good.

April 15, 2024 HL: “Armenia”, “Tattoo”, “Our Love Was”, “I Can See For Miles”, “Rael”, “I Can’t Reach You” Another Who album this month? I feel like a lucky duck. Something The Who Sells Out shares with Tommy, the previous Who I had, is that it’s overambitious and, at times, totally ridiculous. Some tracks (“Silas Stingy”) are ALMOST too silly. But damn if it doesn’t whet my appetite for 60s psychedelia all over again. New favourite The Who album, possibly. It’s mildly frustrating that the Apple Music version is 6 hours long, but I did spy a cover of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” that turned out to be enjoyable.

Oh boy do they get good. I can see for miles. Townshend wrote it as a no 1 and deliberately put a mostly one note solo as a statement about Clapton, page Beck etc. Topped out at 10 in the UK and I think 15 in the US. The charts are idiots. I’ve often thought of all the rock stars I’m closest in temperament to Brian May. But Townshend is probably closer to me in intellectual interests. This album celebrated what Townshend called the greatest art movement of the 20th century - advertising. And they paid for it too - Daltrey allegedly caught pneumonia after spending all day in the baked beans. Mods at the top of the game. They wouldn’t be as good till who’s next. Though they’d still be pretty great anyway.

Hard to believe that this was only their 3rd album. This was released more than 6 months after The Beatles released Sgt. Peppers (their 8th studio album in the U.K. & 12th album in the U.S.), although I Can See For Miles / Mary Anne With The Shaky Hands was The Who’s 13th consecutive ripper single, & the only single released from this album. It takes some getting used to when you first play the album, what with the radio & advertising jingles (the basic Radio London jingle had already been altered & used by Sydney radio stations long before The Who did this with it). There are some great melodies here - Our Love Was is a personal fave, and like I Can’t Reach You, which could easily have been a single, it featured Townshend on lead vocals, without Daltrey. Entwhistle wrote 3 tracks, including Silas Stingy, which I really enjoy. Interesting that Armenia City In The Sky features just Speedy Keen on lead vocals. He had been the band’s chauffeur at one point, but in 1968, Townshend convinced him to form a band, Thunderclap Newman. They weren’t around for long but managed in 1969 to top the British charts with Something In The Air. Ironically, The Who never topped the British charts. Luckily, almost 20 years ago, while I was looking at recent releases in the dear-departed Fish Records in Newtown (my daughter worked there), I discovered that Petra Haden (Bassist Charlie Haden’s daughter) in 2005, had released the home-recorded album Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out, a complete a cappella rendition of The Who Sell Out by The Who. I’m not joking - it’s almost as good as the original & I highly recommend it. Oh yeah, obviously the boys had listened to Sgt Peppers, because they pulled the same album-ending as The Beatles had, with a run- out groove that repeats endlessly.

A rollicking, fun album.

Fun jingles

I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise I know that you have 'cause there's magic in my eyes I can see for miles and miles 5/5

Screw it, I'll zag from the top reviews here. I loved this album. What a fun concept for one, and the music is all legitimately very good and well written! Even the commercials! At first it seemed weird that an all time classic Who song like I Can See for Miles came from this one, but it actually is fitting to me now after listening. The Who have done it again, and I'm not ashamed to admit it on this one. Favorite track: I Can See for Miles

I knew the single and am a big fan of their later work, but never listened to this album. It’s fantastic, but maybe avoid the mono version; it sounds like it was recorded in a tin can

I'll be coming back to some of these songs for sure. What a fun album. Super easy to listen to, very funny lyrics and I'm sure at the time was super tongue-in-cheek with how many commercials they were doing. It all fit together well too.

Wonderful

Perfect

Snorefest for me. I just don't get it. All the songs sound the same, and the sound is not great. 1.5/5

Estaven en un moment màgic. Tot el que feien era or pur. Barrejat amb breus anuncis inventats com part d'un cert concepte que unificava l'àlbum, temes com 'Tattoo', 'Our Love Was', 'Odorono', 'I Can't See for Miles', tots ells tan bons i tan sixties, fan del disc un imprescindible, i de l'época un pou de nostàlgia, fins i tot per tots aquells que no la vam viure

This was so much fun! It makes me happy after so much SERIOUS music to have a group just laugh with it all. All the songs were delightful and I felt like I was listening to the radio when I was a kid.

I'd always avoided this album because the bean business from the movie Tommy kind of freaked me out as a kid, so the cover made me nervous. But this is silly and fun and I had nothing to worry about. I love it.

I really love the few of listening to an hour of radio! That was unexpected. Lots of variety and fun!

A concept album that is actually fun and playful. Doesn't take itself too seriously. The concept is cohesive and works on multiple levels. Flows like butter with the radio broadcast thread. Brilliant editing and transitions, especially for the time. Some of the song structures are like proto prog with their sudden changes and vocal interplay, but still largely meaty, beauty, big and bouncy.

The best Who album by a country mile.

Meni je ovo najbolji njihov. Totalno je lud

Supervet!!

Roger Daltrey is especially saucy in this album, and we can smell Peter Twonshend for miles and miles.

Classic album. Timeless (there must be quite a few albums of The Who on the list).

Excellent, so many classics.

What’s for tea daughtah?

meh

One of the most fun concept albums I've heard

Amazing album start to finish - The Who really kick ass - and it’s really nice to see an album I didn’t understand when I was younger feel so good after all these years - funny - some great songs (Maryanne and I can see for miles among some other classics) tops

I've never understood why people refer to The Who as a psychedelic rock band, (I've more thought of them as kind of bland 70s rock) but Sell Out is a psychedelic masterpiece. This fits in alongside Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Sgt Pepper.

Великие?! Да, они для меня самые великие!

-"Armenia City In The Sky" is very psychadelic rock-esque -BEANS -"Odorono's" advertisement-ness is slightly flawed with how ell it fits in thematically with the rest of the album -"Tattoo" is a great little story -"Our Love Was" is a nice pretty love song, but really goes to show how even on a relatively calm song, Keith was always a madman on the drums, but it still works perfectly. He's banging away at the cymbals and doing fills all over the place and it still works -Man, I wish radio just had a few 5 second jingles between each song like on this album -"I Can See For Miles" is a pretty incredible track. Even with relatively simple lyrics and harmonies, the backing track is complex. Keith is all over the drums as always, but there's also a very interesting guitar tone that's almost like a squeaky siren. Definitely the standout track on this album -"Silas Stingy" is a very catchy track from John Entwistle that has some cool horns in there for a second -"Rael Pt.1 & Pt. 2" is a pretty cool jam, led by Keith Moon as usual, and it also hints at "Overture" and "Sparks" from Tommy -I noticed this on other early Who albums (specifically "The Who Sings My Generation"), and it applies to "The Who Sell Out" as well, but Keith's style was definitely the most developed out of the whole group. -It's The Who, I'm biased

Love The Who- they are so tongue and cheek here and you can see Jen playing around with stuff that ended up creating rock opera!

Rating: 10/10 Best songs: ALL

Nice satire on consumerism, with a few catchy “commercials” inserted into the album. Odorono has a great riff, and is a lot of fun. I Can See for Miles is an obvious favorite. I had a lot of fun here.

what's for tea mum? ok ok hear me out. AFTER the masterpiece that is quadrophenia i think this is one of the who's most interesting albums, evolving their early mod sound into the concept albums to come later in their career. it's wacky and stupid and wonderful and holds a very special place in my heart!! mary anne with the shaky hand, odorono, i can't reach you (and girl's eyes!)

Fun jaunt in self-satirization. First Who album, and what a weird and exciting entry point!

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles... and miles!

Great listen

Steve does.

This is #day135 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... guess who's here? This is my first-ever album experience with the band. I've only known a few of their classic tracks, like "My Generation" and "Baba O'Riley" (I’m familiar with the existence of their iconic albums like Tommy, Who's Next, and Quadrophenia, but I haven't listened to either of those), so this list would be my reason for checking them out for the first time. It's funny to admit that my first real exposure to The Who came through Limp Bizkit’s cover of "Behind Blue Eyes" in the early 2000s. And honestly, I still like their version more. As for The Who Sell Out, I love the idea behind it. I think it's brilliant. It’s a concept album, but not in the traditional sense—more like a collection of unrelated songs interspersed with these quirky fake commercials and jingles, which is super fun. The album feels innovative not only for its time but also because it retains that charm today. Besides, it flows perfectly. This is a 4 out of 5. Looking forward to #day136.

This was actually quite fantastic. The Who are so hot and cold for me. I can't stand Tommy. Who's Next is epic. The live album is a total waste of time. This is quirky in a very self aware and charming way. Fave Tracks: Armenia City in the Sky, Odorono, Our Love Was, I Can See For Miles, Silas Stingy, Sunrise 4.3/5

The ads are fun, but the songs are just OK outside of Miles and Miles.

As far as concept albums go, I found this to be tighter, more cohesive, and more satisfying overall than The Who’s Tommy. There are a couple of great songs on here and in general, this is just a fun album.

Cool concept album with great harmonies, and sound effects that still sound interesting, the album doesn't sound dated at all. I can see why this album is a cult classic. I like Who's Next the best from their catalogue, but this album is also a high 4 one, pretty close to a 5.

considering Tommy was my last album my hopes were low. But this was a welcome change! just good old fashioned rock. Thats it thats all, nothing really stood out to me but overall I enjoyed it.

Better than Tommy! Very creative and fun. Just a good batch of songs. Plus in the context of the album I was expecting a reveal for “I can see for miles” that it was an ad for glasses or something like that.

This album is wild. They were doing effects I didn’t know existed at that time. The production sounds so modern, it’s hard to believe it was in the 60’s.

It’s hard for me to rate early Who records, because when I listen to an album like this, or My Generation, or even Tommy, it just pales in comparison to Who’s Next to my ears. That said, I think this is the best Who album before what I think is clearly their magnum opus. It’s the Who at their most psychedelic, and it often reminds me of Oddesey and Oracle from the Zombies. I Can See For Miles is the obvious highlight, but it’s interesting from start to finish. I still think they just weren’t quite The Who until Who’s Next, but I’m sure many would disagree.

Cute gimmick!!

I Can See for Miles

Pretty good.

Bijzonder erg van genoten! Kende the who helemaal niet zo, het is grappig, ironisch maar ook goede muziek ertussen. Origineel

probably a hot take, but this is more captivating and convincing than anything else from them so far. Love the radio concept

Better than expected

This sounds nothing like the only Who song I’ve listened to (Baba O’Riley). But I guess every band in the 60s was doing the stereo sound. Not bad though. Low 4.

Solid Who album I guess, but I just can’t get into them as much as I used too. Still a good listen though. Somewhere between a 3 and a 4, so I guess I’ll round up.