“THE ULTIMATE WHO BOXSET – FIVE STARS” – MOJO
“EXTENSIVE & RICHLY TEXTURED ULTIMATE EDITION” FOUR STARS – RECORD COLLECTOR
“REMAINS SUCH A CHARMING, EVEN SURPISING, RECORD: IT IS THE ONE THAT FEELS MOST RELEVANT TO THE WHO’S INFLUENCE ON ‘90S INDIE ROCK–BANDS LIKE YO LA TENGO AND GUIDED BY VOICES WHO LEARNED FROM ITS COLLEGE-LIKE FLOW, CLASSIC SONGCRAFT, AND SMART, SURREALIST HUMOR.” – PITCHFORK
THE WHO SELL OUT CLASSIC ALBUM DOCUMENTARY IS NOW STREAMING FOR FREE ON THE WHO’S OFFICIAL YouTube Channel AND nugs.net
THE SUPER DELUXE EDITION OF THE CLASSIC GROUNDBREAKING ALBUM 112 TRACKS ACROSS FIVE CDS & TWO 7” SINGLES
FEATURING 47 UNRELEASED TRACKS INCLUDING 14 UNHEARD PETE TOWNSHEND DEMOS, 80-PAGE HARD BACK BOOK WITH NEW LINER NOTES BY PETE TOWNSHEND AS WELL AS RARE POSTERS, INSERTS & MEMORABILIA
RELEASED TODAY ON UMe/POLYDOR ORDER HERE https://thewho.lnk.to/SellOutBoxPR
SANTA MONICA, CA – April 23, 2021–Released in December 1967 The Who Sell Out reflected a remarkable year in popular culture. The album was originally planned by Pete Townshend and the band’s managers Kit Lambert & Chris Stamp, as a loose concept album including jingles and commercials linking the songs stylized as a pirate radio broadcast. This concept was born out of necessity as their label and management wanted a new album and Townshend felt that he didn’t have enough songs.
In the early 1960s, pirate radio stations began broadcasting to the U.K. from offshore ships or abandoned sea forts from international waters to meet the growing need for pop and rock not offered by the BBC at that time. The ground-breaking original plan for Sell Out was to sell advertising space on the album but instead the band opted for writing their own jingles paying tribute to pirate radio stations and to parody an increasingly consumerist society.
The new Super Deluxe Edition of The Who Sell Out features 112 tracks, 47 of which are unreleased, an 80-page, hard-back full-color book, including rare period photos, memorabilia, track by track annotation and new sleeve notes by Pete Townshend.
The Super Deluxe package also includes nine posters & inserts, including replicas of;
20” x 30” original Adrian George album poster, a gig poster from The City Hall, Newcastle, a Saville Theatre show 8-page program, a business card for the Bag o’ Nails club, Kingly Street, a Who fan club photo of group, a flyer for Bath Pavilion concerts including The Who, a crack-back bumper sticker for Wonderful Radio London, Keith Moon’s Speakeasy Club membership card and a Who Fan Club newsletter.
The homage to pop-art is evident in both the advertising jingles and the iconic sleeve design created by David King who was the art director at the Sunday Times, and Roger Law who invented the Spitting Image TV show. The sleeve features four advertising images, taken by the renowned photographer David Montgomery, of each band member Odorono deodorant (Pete Townshend), Medac spot cream (Keith Moon), Charles Atlas (John Entwistle) and Roger Daltrey & Heinz baked beans. The story goes that Roger Daltrey caught pneumonia from sitting in the cold beans for too long.
Within the bold concept, were a batch of fabulous and diverse songs. “I Can See for Miles,” a top ten hit at the time, is a Who classic. “Rael,” a Townshend “mini-opera” with musical motifs that reappeared in Tommy and the psychedelic blast of “Armenia City In The Sky” and ‘Relax’ are among the very best material anyone wrote during the 1960s.
One of the most extraordinary albums of any era, The Who Sell Out is The Who’s last “pop” album. Two years later came Tommy – a double concept album about a deaf, dumb and blind kid.
To celebrate the release of The Who Sell Out Super Deluxe Edition, nugs.net, the leading music platform for live concert streams and recordings, have partnered with The Who, UMe, and Mercury Studios, for the livestream premiere of their Classic Albums documentary, The Who Sell Out. The Who is one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century with over 100 million records sold worldwide, and the documentary explores their groundbreaking record in detail, including a deep dive into the original multi-track recordings, as well as brand-new, exclusive interviews with Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and album producers. Fans can now tune in to the free livestream at nugs.net/thewho. The episode is available to stream on demand via nugs.net, the nugs.net YouTube page and The Who YouTube page through Sunday, April 25th at 9pm PT / 12am ET. Streaming is available worldwide with the exception of the U.K. and Ireland.
THE WHO SELL OUT SUPER DELUXE EDITION
Disc 1 – Original mono mix, mono As & Bs and unreleased mono mixes
Disc 2 – Original stereo mix and stereo bonus tracks
Disc 3 – Studio out-takes, “fly-on-the-wall” versions of early takes of songs from the album sessions, “studio chat” etc.
Disc 4 – ‘The Road to Tommy’ will contain stereo mixes of the studio tracks recorded in 1968 – some previously unreleased – plus 1968 As and Bs mono mixes (all tracks remixed from original 4 and 8-track session tapes in The Who vault)
Disc 5 – 14 of Pete Townshend’s original demos, previously unreleased & exclusive to this set
BONUS 7” DISCS:
- Track U.K. 45 repro “I Can See for Miles” (early mono mix with single-tracked vocal) & “Someone’s Coming” (original UK Track single mix with single-tracked vocal)
- Decca U.S.A. 45 repro “Magic Bus“ (U.S./U.K. mono) & “Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” (original U.S. Decca single mix)
80-page, hard-back full-color book, including rare period photos, memorabilia &Track annotation and new liner notes by Pete Townshend with comments from from Pete Drummond (Radio London DJ), Chris Huston (Talentmasters Studio), Richard Evans (designer), Roy Flynn (Speakeasy Club manager), Arnold Schwartzman (designer) & Andy Neill (Who biographer)
MEMORABILIA:
Nine posters & inserts, including replicas of;
20” x 30” original Adrian George poster
Gig poster – City Hall, Newcastle: The Who, Traffic & The Tremeloes
Saville Theatre 8-page programme.
Business card for the Bag o’ Nails club, Kingly Street.
Fan Club photo of group.
Flyer for Bath Pavilion concerts including The Who.
Crack-back bumper sticker for Wonderful Radio London.
Keith Moon’s Speakeasy Club membership card
Who Fan Club newsletter.
THE WHO SELL OUT OTHER FORMATS INCLUDE
2 LP deluxe (stereo) vinyl version, featuring the original album and extras highlights from box set.
D2C 2LP deluxe (mono) vinyl version featuring the original album and extras highlights from box set pressed on coloured vinyl; disc 1 “Odorono” red / disc 2 “Baked Bean” orange.
2-CD edition 6-panel digi-pak with a 16-page booklet.
Also available in a variety of Digital formats
THE WHO – THE WHO SELL OUT SUPER DELUXE EDITION RELEASED APRIL 23 ON UMe/POLYDOR