Vinyl of the Week - 16 August 2020

The Who Sell Out, The Who

With all the uncertainty and bad news lately, I wanted to take things in a lighter direction this week and this record always makes me smile. Released in 1967, The Who Sells Out is the third studio album from the band. Produced by Kit Lambert, a large portion of the album was written by guitarist Pete Townsend including “I Can See For Miles” which was the only single released. Designed as a concept album, it was also intended as a tribute to the pirate radio stations that had been outlawed earlier that year. These stations were, for many, the only source for the latest music and the band felt a strong connection to them and the mod scene to whom they owed their early success. The idea was to structure the album like a radio broadcast, with fake jingles and public service announcements between songs, the title a cheeky nod to having recently done their own commercials to promote the band. The cover art portrays them in ridiculous ads with oversized props, meant as a fun and irreverent poke at the world of advertising. The first release included a psychedelic poster of a butterfly (which are now highly collectable and fetch over $1,000). There have also been several re-releases over the years with bonus tracks of the jingles that didn’t make the original cut. Widely considered their best work, it is definitely one to revisit and some much needed, light-hearted listening which we could all do with right now - DS