Tag: Tommy

This shall complete our discussion of Tommy, the seminal record album by The Who from early in 1969.  We had an excellent discussion last week, and hope to have an equally good, if not even better one tonight.  I was particularly interested that there was a range of thoughts about it, from some who just hated it to those who just loved it.  That is fine.  That is just personal taste.

I should go on record to say that my mum liked Overture.  She was pretty reserved about music other than the Swing Era kind, since she came of age then, but allowed to me that she really liked the French horn.  I was pretty dumb at the time that we were listening to, on the radio, one of the most important bands that ever existed.

With no more ado, here is the second disk (the third side) of Tommy.  Please comment profusely.

In 1969, the seminal Tommy was released by The Who.  Track Records, The Who’s own brand, in collaboration with Polydoor was the UK record company, and in the United States Decca was.  I have a mint Decca one.  It was billed as the first rock opera, but it actually was not.  There had been at least a couple before Tommy came to us.

Not counting the composition effort (by far the bulk of it by Pete Townshend), it took the better part of year to record, edit, and redub the work.  This was Kit Lambert, their producer, at his finest, and also extremely fine efforts by all of the band and the production and engineering staff.  It is truly a masterpiece.

Leader of the Teabag Movement.  He has eclipsed damned old Limbaugh and even Hannity as the moon baying leader of the Right.

Interestingly, he is an addict, just like damned old Limbaugh, but he flaunts it.  At least his addiction was to a legal substance, unlike damned old Limbaugh.

But, after his rhetoric, there are several threads that connect him with Peter Townshend’s seminal work (and I think the best of Mr. Townshend’ life, the very second rock opera, Tommy.  (The very first one was also by Townshend, A Quick one While He’s Away)