Tommy

Just never got The Who tbh, and this is no exception

The Who's most overrated album, and one of the most overrated albums of all time. While I've always appreciated the ambition and scope, there are too many damn songs and too many of them are too damm average. It pales in comparison to Quadrophenia.

6.5/10

Excellent!

It's a very good album, and probably the first real Rock Opera. Obviously, you know the Big Sogs on the album, but the rest of the album is well worth a listen. Obviously,, there is filler or exposition songs, but it all adds to the story.

I don’t rate this at all

An interesting early example of a full-on rock opera by a band that had already experimented with strange concept albums like The Who Sell Out. Musically quite good, but the narrative struck me a bit as trying far too hard to give its titular character a DEEP and DARK backstory (thanks, Uncle Ernie).

Interesting concept. I think as far as rock operas go, I might have liked it better than The Wall overall. Like, still not really my thing, and my god it was long, but still enjoyable overall.

Sometimes this 1001 albums journey is revelatory. I said as much in a previous review of a Who album--I grew up hearing their music on the radio in the 70s and 80s and just took them for granted. Listening to all of Tommy was a revelation. The movie soundtrack looked so cheesy (I sold many copies working for a record store), I just assumed the music was not worth listening to. Damn, I was wrong. While not every song hits home for me, the whole project is super ambitious and I love most of it. Now that I'm older and have learned to love musicals, I am probably more open to this than I was as a teenager. Anyway, I thought it was great. Even the goofy bits were sort of charming. It gets 5 stars from me.

Fine.

Did not listen fully but i am pretty sure i dont like rock ad genre

well its definitely a rock opera, but why so many trumpet sounds. was not bad but didn't really peak my interest (2.5/5)

Overture 4 It's a Boy 3.5 1921 4.1 Amazing Journey 4 Sparks 3.8 Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker) 3.9 Christmas 4.3 Cousin Kevin 4 The Acid Queen 4 Underture 4.1 Do You Think It's Alright? 3.6 Fiddle About 3.8 Pinball Wizard 4.4 There's a Doctor 3 Go to the Mirror Boy! 4 Tommy Can You Hear Me? 3.6 Smash the Mirror 3.8 Sensation 3.6 Miracle Cure 3 Sally Simpson 3.7 I'm Free 3.9 Welcome 3.6 Tommy's Holiday Camp 3 We're Not Gonna Take It 4.2 Score: 3.7875

Man, this album just does not hold up. I like The Who, generally. But here, the production is generally really weird (vocals are mostly just way too loud), shoehorning the story in ruins some of the better songs, and the pure filler songs just suck. Keith Moon (the best part of the band) sounds restrained here, and it's just all bleh. I still think this album should be here, I recognize its importance, but man this is not something I like at all

Always heard about Tommy never listened to it. I can see how foundation of rock opera

Sure, there are a few standout great songs, but I think this one is best enjoyed from start to finish as a story, and I prefer the original recording, not the 2+ hour Super Deluxe version.

This is a pretty good rock opera. I don't think it does anything incredibly unique, though, so 1969 recieves yet another 3. Album #145 The Who album 3/5 Favorite Track: Christmas

It was alright. It felt long and a bit repetitive. Not something I would listen to again

Solid album, but nothing stood out to me.

I am not a big Who fan but have to admire this album!

I started playing this on Tuesday and there's still 12 tracks to go! Overly ambitious for an album that contains just one memorable track. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ❌️ ★★★☆☆(5/10) Total reviewed : 457 Already owned : 99 Purchased : 25 To buy : 3 Nope : 330

This is the most rock opera rock opera to ever rock opera. I mean, you don't get more rock opera than Tommy. This is one of the albums from this list that I have in my record collection, and it came with a book that presents the lyrics of each song like a script, with each verse having the name of the character that says the verse to the side. It sucks that writing this is how I found out that the record store I bought this from, Rock of Ages in Vero Beach, FL, shut down in May of this year. They still do a few popups every once in a while according to their Instagram posts. I never went there too frequently, but I do have like three or four records from them. My dad got one of his favorite shirts from there. Anyways, this is a wonderful album, easily in my top 3 rock operas, and I've listened to a good few of them. I think it's neat that they manged to sneak in a cover song and still have it make sense in the story of the album. I don't really have a whole lot to say about the music despite how much I love this album, so I'll just end with a fun fact: Bally, one of the pinball companies mentioned in Pinball Wizard, actually released a Pinball Wizard-themed table in reference to this song.

Complete Load of nonsense, good in parts , live disc amazing

Chönt vlt au es 4i si

A couple of great tracks drowning in a sea of guff

Tommy is one of the greatest albums ever. Aside from the eponymous Pinball Wizard, this album is a well crafted, thoughtful experiment in a way. Each song flows beautifully into the next. Definitely worth more than one listen. Brilliant. Easy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a very ambitious double album that left me both awed and ambivalent. I love me a good rock opera, but I do wish this album's instrumentations were more interesting. While I can absolutely hear why "Tommy" became a staple rock album, and I was decently engaged in its storyline, it can often buckle under it's own weight. Perhaps it's another case of time leaving some initially revolutionary albums behind, though I imagine that the full broadway musical adaptation elevates this to a whole new experience!

Album #226: The Who – Tommy ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’d really recommend anyone listening to this to give it at least two listens. This is an album that requires repeat listening. A daunting enough task at nearly 80 minutes long, but this is a stellar album. On the second listen you really appreciate how orchestrated and meticulously crafted it all is. On the first, there are just so many songs, some of them really short, that they go by in the blink of an eye. It can be hard to keep track of the lyrics and the story. This didn’t initially strike me as something I’d be into, being a rock opera. That being said, I do love Jesus Christ Superstar. But what I really like about this is that, despite being labelled a rock opera, it still sounds like a simple enough rock band performing it. No frills. It just sounds like a Who album. But boy, is it operatic. I think it’s an album that’s completely without pretentiousness, which is remarkable for a double concept album and rock opera. It’s a silly story in some ways, but it’s also really sad. I ended up genuinely feeling for and caring about Tommy through the music, and I think that’s amazing. There are parts that are downright creepy and uncomfortable, particularly the Uncle Ernie and Cousin Kevin characters. Those tracks are not pleasant to listen to, but that’s a feat in itself. They’re amazingly well performed. Very few songs on this album are anything less than excellent. The recurring See Me, Feel Me / Listening to You refrain is so powerful, especially when it comes back during Go to the Mirror!. I love that section of the album so much. I love Overture and Underture, too. Pete Townshend’s guitar playing is fantastic, that bluesy sound, but with real virtuosity. They’re an interesting band because they’re not really heavy rock or hard rock. It’s folky, very English, slightly understated rock and roll, largely acoustic-based. What they have going for them is fantastic harmonies and great performances from everyone. So yeah, this probably should be a five. I’m going with four because I’m trying to be a little more judicious with my five-star reviews, and it does lose me a bit around Welcome and the whole messianic section towards the end. But it comes back with We’re Not Gonna Take It, which is a great song. I’d never listened to this before. It’s a legendary album in a lot of ways, and it deserves its status. It’s fantastic.

Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: Cousin Kevin, Pinball Wizard A rock opera in 1969 seems like it was a novel and interesting idea, and functionally a concept album to boot, but I wasn't really too engaged with the music itself... or the story I guess. After reading about the story on Wikipedia, I do see how the songs string together, but the story itself seems somewhat convoluted. I think being a double album, with a few quite long songs made it more of slog to get through than it otherwise might have. Cousin Kevin and Fiddle About are pretty disturbing songs. I think this deserves to be on the List, but I didn't care too much for it, compared to some of The Who's other work.

Very interesting concept and the music stands up amazingly. Truly a piece ahead of its time.

I'm sure the concept of this was interesting but I just found the music incredibly boring unfortunately

The Who's smash rock opera. Phenomenal songwriting and story telling.

A phenomenally interesting album but one that's more fun to listen to in concept than in practice. Really needs the visuals to go along with it if you're seriously thinking about listening to it straight through.

"Epic" is not synonymous with "good". I can appreciate the scope and the ambition, but the overall delivery is too melodramatic. A "rock opera" doesn't work unless it changes things up every now and then, be it musically or thematically. That's why Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and the Smashing Pumpkins' "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" work so well, but Nine Inch Nails' "The Fragile" does not. You need to change the tone, add a little humor, but in a way that fits - UNLIKE "Tommy's Holiday Camp", which just seems stupid in the middle of all the drama of this record. Sure they can play. Sure Roger Daltrey is good (but inferior to Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne or Ian Gillan). But if you're gonna listen to a Who album, make it "Who's Next". "Tommy" is, and has always been, overrated as hell.

the lyrics are hella weird

Highlights: Go to the Mirror!

So obviously this is an amazing album; helped popularize the rock opera, hugely influential, rocks so hard, see me feel me is amazing, and pinball wizard is one of the funniest songs ever made. But, you can’t help but compare it to Quadrophenia, which sounds like the completed and improved version of this. It’s amazing and wonderful and I’m glad we have it, but they only got better.

Rock opera time again, a struggle each time for my head to get around but finding pieces that land with me. It's interesting how dark this story is for the time it came out, I'm guessing this was not allowed to be played in many households once the subject matter was understood. Crazy that Pinball Wizard was not even originally part of the whole thing but there are a lot of really good stand out moments aside from that.

The archetypal rock opera! Not sure anyone had done one before The Who, but it sure feels that way. That they chose a character who plays pinball to be the protagonist and that they built the entire album around it has always been a little odd to me. Just saying. The music rocks though and Pete Townsend shines. I will say that this record hasn’t held up quite as well as I might’ve expected. Hadn’t listened to it in a long time and felt a little cheesier and lacking in musical depth than I recalled. As a teen, I thought it was super cool and innovative. Maybe it was when it came out. Still an iconic record. Just not a full 5 star in my view.

Classic. Hands down classic

1969 rock opera, vibrations to music Pinball wizard I'm free We're not going to take it

Absolutely loved this one! It's an album I know a lot of track from and always mean to listen through. So glad I've had an opportunity to do so! Will be picking up the record when I get the chance!

God this was a chore. I've not enjoyed any Who album and this might be the worst one. Unbelievably dull.

Une comédie musicale avec zéro chanson mémorable ; c'est triste.

It’s a littttttle long. Some good songs

never listened to this whole album before! And to be honest I didnt get through it all now. But what I got through, I liked. Maybe I'll return to finish the job someday? (I have a feeling this original album is cool and interesting and all the bloat and baggage and rock opera stuff came later to just muddy the waters...)

Whilst it has some great moments/tracks it definitely works best as a whole. I generally don't like concept albums and I like to digest my rock in bite size chunks rather than big slabs. However you have to admire the bonkers creative vision behind it and its landmark status. Keith Moon's drumming is great throughout and holds everything together.

I remember watching some of Tommy a long time ago and thinking it was a bit weird. Listening to the album now, other than Pinball Wizard, it's a bit boring. A revolutionary concept for an LP it may have been, but its not that good.

Better than Who’s Next. Feels more well rounded

Takes ages to get going and then when it finally does, it's pretty boring. The whole rock opera concept gets a bit lost - the key parts of the narrative are seemingly missing. Maybe it would make more sense if I watched the film, but I'm not exactly sold on that. Pinball Wizard is still a cracking single.

Perfectly fine. Some classic Who songs on this, but I feel like the whole thing is a little much.

Отличный альбом с очень крутой историей 9/10

What a strange album. I thought I knew it but I guess I never really paid close attention before. This is much more disturbing & disjointed than I remember. Of course there's some good classic Who shit on this album, but not enough to have Tommy in my rotation.

It's alright. Some decent bits. I don't think I like the who much

Heard before?:❌️ Will listen again?:❌️

Some albums are simply all-time 5-Star classics. Discovering (or rediscovering) them has been one of the greatest joys of this project.

A one-hour and fifteen-minute-long semi-autobiographical double album containing 24 songs about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who plays pinball by smell. Do I have that right? Have I grasped the concept correctly? Jesus fucking Christ. The self-indulgence. The excess. It’s like the crest of the wave of Boomerdom. No wonder they’re all so fucked in the head. Sitting in their four-bedroom houses, purchased for three thousand dollars, gin and tonic’ed up to the eyeballs, snapping their fingers along to this horseshit. That would turn your brain to wet candy floss too. Your very soul would become a lightning rod for the latest grievance. This album is the seed for the impending and deserved societal collapse.

Not a perfect album, but an intriguing and immortal one. Tommy is the first of two ultra ambitious, canon classic rock operas by The Who, and is one of the earliest real rock operas full stop. To start, I really don't understand how The Who ended up doing this just a little after their earlier stuff, because it feels worlds apart. Not necessarily better, but like almost incompatibly different. This is fully narrative, there's a ten minute instrumental, etc, it's just jam packed with bells and whistles. I guess the high concept feel of The Who Sell Out kind of foreshadowed this, but they are still vastly different. I guess we can talk about the music first, but the plot is just as essential to what this is. Several great songs are here, and a couple of my favorites by The Who. In particular, Pinball Wizard is an absolutely electric rock tune that pretty much can survive completely independently of the context of this album, and it serves as vital catharsis after the pretty depressing first 40 odd minutes of the album.Though I was also caught off guard by how much I loved Christmas as it's own song, even though it is, comparably, deeply set into the fabric of the album. But plenty of these songs are pretty great. It does suffer from a little musical theater syndrome though, where there are several bizarre asides, and fragmenty tone pieces and things that are kind of hit or miss. And Underture, while cool, does kind of overstay it's welcome for me. For the plot, basically, as a child, Tommy, after witnessing his father kill his mother's suitor becomes, in The Who's words, "deaf, dumb and blind" and is then pretty much abused by everyone he meets. As an adult, he becomes good enough at pinball that he accrues a substantial amount of cultural capital, then visits a doctor, who claims to be able to cure Tommy. In a twist I truly couldn't have imagined, the doctor then successfully does so, and Tommy's miraculous healing, in conjunction with his pinball skills, raise the fervor about him to a fever pitch, after which he becomes a messianic figure for his new cult. He then opens a holiday camp, and is too strict to his followers, by asking them to give up recreational drugs and play pinball dogmatically. They then revolt, and abandon him as he recedes within himself once more. Writing it out, I kind of realized that the plot must sound batshit insane if you haven't heard this, but The Who do manage to sell the suspension of disbelief remarkably well, given just how much is going on. I have mixed feelings on this aspect of Tommy. The plot is entertaining for one, but it's kind of all over the place. The tone oscillates wildly, and honestly the themes seemed kind of scrambled on a first listen. But despite this, and perhaps partly due to it. Tommy is a fascinating landmark moment that feels pretty odd in retrospect, even if I do totally understand *why* this is immortal. It is still very good also, which helps.

Sehr schwer zu raten. Auf der einen Seite eine sehr coole Idee, die erste Rock Opera, geiles Schlagzeug und ein paar gute/witzige Songs. Auf der anderen Seite ist die Story meh, die Lyrics sind meh und manche Lieder ziehen sich massiv, während andere zu kurz sind.

Great storytelling. A bit incoherent instrumental parts. A very very little bit of a victim of it's time.

Jeg føler lidt, at den her kunne have været en slags The Wall, hvis jeg havde hørt den tidligere, men den bider sig ikke rigtigt fast.

I can see the effort and the ambition but the sparks don't really fly for me. Nonetheless just because of the hits "Pinball Wizard" and "I'm Free" and the album- concept it definitely deserves to be on the list. And maybe with some more runs it could be a four stars album? 3,5

I know it is groundbreaking. The production is good. But also meh it is standard prog rock form 1969. Also the who are just ok. Who needs a rock opera. It is very long

ótima trilha sonora

This is #day780 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... here's to what I believe is my fourth Who record already, which means I only have one more to go. I've never heard this record before, although I'm pretty familiar with its existence. While I appreciate the intent, the narrative itself, and the music... I'm just not seeing myself revisiting it anytime soon. I don't think I'm a big fan of long-form rock albums either. But, you know, times were like this. "Underture" is, of course, a signature piece. Otherwise, this is a 3 out of 5. Looking forward to #day781.

4.0

not sure this rock opera holds up beyond a couple of songs

5/5 I've been listening to this album for years and it just keeps getting better. So many great songs.

Couldn’t get through it, an absolute chore

Overture - 87 It's A Boy - 67 1921 - 86 Amazing Journey - 88 Sparks - 85 Eyesight To The Blind - 88 Christmas - 87 Cousin Kevin - 87 The Acid Queen - 86 Underture - 83 Do You Think It's Alright? - 71 Fiddle About - 68 Pinball Wizard - 93 There's A Doctor - 63 Go To The Mirror! - 94 Tommy Can You Hear Me? - 76 Smash The Mirror - 78 Sensation - 82 Miracle Cure - 77 Sally Simpson - 85 I'm Free - 81 Welcome - 83 Tommy's Holiday Camp - 43 We're Not Gonna Take It - 92 Tommy - 84

Meh, bloated mid album where all the songs sound the same

Anything over 90 minutes I am entitled to compensation, right? Right? Didn't hold my interest, may not be a fair rating.

I actually put his project on pause for over a week because I absolutely could not face listening to another album by the Who so soon after the last one. Okay, this one was SLIGHTLY better than the other one. But no, the Who is still not for me. (Except Baba O'Reilly. Which has not been on either album I've been given so far. What's up with that?) Perhaps we could venture out of the '60s with the next album, dear random album generator? Other decades do exist.

First time listening through a rock opera. Very interesting and definitely want to do a deeper dive at some point.

nice storytelling man

like fine I guess, couple of bangers, but a bit pretentious. I have very little time for rock operas as a concept.

So pretentious. And you so clearly wrote pinball wizard, took some drugs, and wrote a bunch of other songs around it But - i do like albums that tell a story. Read the synopsis along with listening and it makes more sense.

I was never a Who fan and now I know for sure I am still not.

I love a rock opera, but I don’t think this one has aged well. There are some enjoyable songs, and I think there’s a salvageable story in there, but the pacing is all wrong, with just so many songs at the start spent on Tommy being victimised. Musically there was a lot I enjoyed. I think the underture goes on too long, but I liked a lot of the songs. Some of it is just so uncomfortable to listen to. Fav song: Pinball Wizard Least fav: Fiddle About

This gets a +1 since it reminds me of going to the musical play version and Pete Townsend was there

Not bad

An interesting album that is told as a story, featuring the famous track Pinball Wizard in the middle. I wish I liked it more! It's experimental, takes risks, and clearly influenced some of my favourite bands and albums but I just couldn't quite get there with it. Maybe it's the 75 minute runtime that overwhelmed me a little. Favourites: Sparks Underture Pinball Wizard

The birth of the rock opera on a large scale is still one of the greatest artistic theatrical statements ever made. Even if the only rock operas that ever existed were this one and The Wall, it would be enough. Not even my favorite Who record, but I will never understand the naysayers and the people who criticize this record's grandiose scope. It's an achievement.

La piedra angular de la ópera rock que ha envejecido bien como una monumental lección de ambición conceptual, sátira social e ingenio arquitectónico. En el plano de diseño formal, la producción levanta verdaderas catedrales sonoras mediante un entretejido que da claridad absoluta a una narrativa dinámica, articulando el rasgueo actústico furioso de doce cuerdas, vientos ceremoniales, la batería volcánica de Keith Moon y el contrapunto virtuoso del bajo de John Entwistle. La interpretación grupal desborda una fuerza y calidez que transmiten autenticidad pura, otorgándole al cuarteto británico una autoridad superior que abrió un torrente creativo incalculable para las generaciones posteriores. Detrás de su aparente pretensión mesiánica, el disco funciona como una sátira divertida, aguda y lúcida de la realidad sociopolítica, donde piezas clave como el llamado visceral de "Tommy Can You Hear Me?", la agilidad rítmica de "Pinball Wizard", la obertura motívica y la apoteosis coral de "See Me, Feel Me / Listening to You" dan forma a un documento conmovedor, crudo y real que opera como un sutil llamado a la conciencia sobre la explotación de la fe, el culto a la personalidad y la fragilidad del trauma infantil. Su despliegue armónico y su constante sensación de paz y fluidez en los descansos acústicos la vuelven apta para múltiples usos, destacando como un catalizador formidable para nutrir el trabajo creativo, acompañar trayectos de conducción o sumergirse en una atenta reflexión solitaria.

I really need to stop browsing the user reviews here before fully listening to an album, because they had me primed to dislike this before I heard the first note. Contrary to the popular write-ups here, I found this to be an excellent album, one that is ambitious in a way that's rare today. Before most people's attention spans were decimated by algorithmic video, an album like this was thought of as generous rather than self-indulgent. People also seem to dislike this largely because they find the lyrics hard to relate to and therefore pointless. The odd thing to me is the tone of personal offense that reviewers seem to take to not being catered to (an expectation that those aforementioned algorithms have trained into them). One thing these reviewers fail to mention is that a great deal of this album is purely instrumental; even if one doesn't find the story of the album compelling, there are still many musical pleasures to be found here, such as instrumental flourishes played once and never again. But dismissing what The Who tried to do here in bringing wider respect to rock music by writing an album that functions as a musical, complete with an overture & leitmotifs, is unfortunate to see, especially in a time when nothing like this is really attempted anymore. This is definitely an album I plan to return to because I can see that it has a lot to uncover with repeated listening. Having started with The Who's first album earlier in this project and finding it fairly middling, I was also impressed at how much the band grew and changed between that album and this one, and I look forward to the others that will inevitably appear on this project.

The Who were never my jam. Still aren't Though I was a Pinball Wizard at the right time for this song.

I can appreciate a concept album, and I understand why Tommy is such a big deal, but I still just can’t get that into The Who. The story is ambitious and there are plenty of good musical ideas, but the album as a whole is way too long for me. By the time I got deep into the second half, I was more aware of how much was left than what was actually happening. The main guitar riff near the beginning of “Overture” weirdly reminded me of “Green Tambourine” by the Lemon Pipers, which I definitely wasn’t expecting. “Underture,” on the other hand, is another example of the album's run time being bloated. That was one of those prog-adjacent instrumental stretches where I understood what they were trying to build, but I didn’t need nearly that much of it.

As someone who grew up singing pinball wizard at karaoke, I had actually never listened to Tommy in full. Its safe to say I really enjoyed it and was completely surprised, I will definitely be listening to this again. It was so good, more like a classic symphony than a rock album, so so cool.

Relisten. This is pretty much the definitive rock opera in my book. Granted, there are others I personally like more (within The Who's discography at that), but as the album that shot the subgenre into the spotlight, it is really good with a powerful story teeming with metaphor. A lot of these tracks moved me significantly growing up, and still give me goosebumps to this day. Something I hadn't thought about much before until now is that the structure of this album; the storytelling and musicality, really takes to heart the "opera" aspect of it's medium. Melodies are referenced and recitied through various sections, in connection to specific characters or themes. The tracks never exist on their own, and are truly best appreciated as a cohesive whole. While the rock opera have been utilized by many musicians at this point as a form of narrative storytelling, I don't always feel like they are actually encapsulating this characteristic aspect that makes the album an "opera" as opposed to just a "narrative concept album". It goes to show just how much technical thought was put into this whole piece. The only reason this album isn't resting at 5 stars, is because Who's Next and Quadrophenia exists. Fav Tracks: "Christmas", "Pinball Wizard" and "We're Not Gonna Take It".

Tenacious D for Oliver Twist fans I just got to 'fiddle about', this is hilarious but I can't listen to any more sorry The Who x

A load of claptrap spread over a double album of mediocre songs (Pinball Wizard is good though).

To long, lost me at the start

This is a bunch of bullshit for 2 hours twin.

Great Rock Opera. Townsend is creepy but a great talent.

devastada que o segundo volume está indisponível no spotify

fuck the who

2 stars for Pinball Wizard

This one has a special place, my introduction to the who. I can’t really listen to this album without associating the movie to it. Pinball wizard is one of my favs of all time, acid Queen and Tommy Can you hear, cousin Kevin, fiddle about …

een paar leuke nummers maar ook niet echt denderend

I like the who, but prefer a best of rather than 3 discs with instrumentals included. This was too much for 1 day