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145-494: Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Who , released on 19 May 1969. Written primarily by guitarist Pete Townshend , Tommy is a double album and an early rock opera that tells the story of the fictional Tommy Walker and his path to becoming a spiritual leader and messianic figure. Townshend came up with the concept of Tommy after being introduced to

290-416: A triptych -style fold-out cover, and the booklet contained abstract artwork that outlined the story. Although the album included lyrics to all the songs, indicating individual characters, it did not outline the plot, which led to a concert programme being prepared for shows, that carried a detailed synopsis. Townshend thought Mike McInnerney, a fellow follower of Meher Baba , would be a suitable choice to do

435-420: A "live" sound. Recordings, including live, may contain editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology , artists can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones ; with each part recorded as a separate track . Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of

580-622: A Boy"). Years later, Captain Walker returns home and discovers that his wife has found a new lover. The Captain kills the lover in front of Tommy. Tommy's parents coerce Tommy into believing he did not see or hear anything. Tommy begins to disassociate and becomes deaf, dumb and blind to the outside world ("1921"). Tommy now relies on his sense of touch and imagination, developing an inner psyche ("Amazing Journey/Sparks"). A quack claims his wife can cure Tommy (" The Hawker "). Tommy's parents are increasingly frustrated that he will never find religion in

725-458: A brown heavy paper sleeve with a large hole in the center so the record's label could be seen. The fragile records were stored on their sides. By the mid-1920s, photo album publishers sold collections of empty sleeves of heavier paper in bound volumes with stiff covers slightly larger than the 10" popular records. (Classical records measured 12".) On the paper cover in small type were the words "Record Album". Now records could be stored vertically with

870-412: A collection of pieces or songs on a single record was called an "album"; the word was extended to other recording media such as compact disc, MiniDisc , compact audio cassette, 8-track tape and digital albums as they were introduced. An album (Latin albus , white), in ancient Rome, was a board chalked or painted white, on which decrees, edicts, and other public notices were inscribed in black. It

1015-403: A compilation of songs created by any average listener of music. The songs on a mixtape generally relate to one another in some way, whether it be a conceptual theme or an overall sound. After the introduction of Compact discs, the term "Mixtape" began to apply to any personal compilation of songs on any given format. The sales of Compact Cassettes eventually began to decline in the 1990s, after

1160-571: A concert version of Tommy at the Rainbow Theatre , London. There were two performances that took place on the same evening. The concerts featured the Who, plus a guest cast, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Measham . The concerts were held to promote the release of Reizner's new studio recording of this symphonic version of Tommy . The album and concerts featured an all-star cast, including Graham Bell (as

1305-400: A continuous narrative. During 1967, Townshend learned how to play the piano and began writing songs on it, taking his work more seriously. That year's The Who Sell Out included a mini-opera in the last track, "Rael", which like "A Quick One   ..." was a suite of musical segments joined together. The package I hope is going to be called "Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy." It's a story about

1450-424: A current or former member of a musical group which is released under that artist's name only, even though some or all other band members may be involved. The solo album appeared as early as the late 1940s. A 1947 Billboard magazine article heralded " Margaret Whiting huddling with Capitol execs over her first solo album on which she will be backed by Frank De Vol ". There is no formal definition setting forth

1595-557: A customer buys a whole album rather than just one or two songs from the artist. The song is not necessarily free nor is it available as a stand-alone download, adding also to the incentive to buy the complete album. In contrast to hidden tracks , bonus tracks are included on track listings and usually do not have a gap of silence between other album tracks. Bonus tracks on CD or vinyl albums are common in Japan for releases by European and North American artists; since importing international copies of

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1740-461: A few hours to several years. This process usually requires several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or " mixed " together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation , to assist in mixing different takes; other locations, such as concert venues and some "live rooms", have reverberation, which creates

1885-403: A fist punching into the black void to the left of it. The inner triptych, meanwhile, showed a hand reaching out to light and a light shining in a dark void. Townshend was too busy finishing the recording to properly approve the artwork, but Kit Lambert strongly approved of it and said it would work. The final step was for record company approval from Polydor, making one concession that pictures of

2030-560: A front-page headline saying "Who's Tommy: A Masterpiece". Critics and fans were confused by the storyline, but Kit Lambert pointed out this made Tommy no less confusing than the operas of Richard Wagner or Giacomo Puccini a century earlier. In a 1969 column for The Village Voice , music critic Robert Christgau said that, apart from the Mothers of Invention's We're Only in It for the Money , Tommy

2175-422: A girl anyway. The opera was abandoned after writing a single song, the hit single, " I'm a Boy ". When the Who's second album, A Quick One , ran short of material during recording, Lambert suggested that Townshend should write a "mini-opera" to fill the gap. Townshend initially objected, but eventually agreed to do so, coming up with " A Quick One, While He's Away ", which joined short pieces of music together into

2320-508: A kid that's born deaf, dumb and blind and what happens to him throughout his life ... But what it's really all about is the fact that ... he's seeing things basically as vibrations which we translate as music. That's really what we want to do: create this feeling that when you listen to the music you can actually become aware of the boy, and aware of what he is all about, because we are creating him as we play." Pete Townshend talking to Jann Wenner , August 1968 By 1968, Townshend

2465-510: A lengthy narrative introduced "new possibilities to rock music." Uncut wrote that the album "doesn't quite realise its ambitions, though it achieves a lot on the way", and felt it was not as well developed as their later album, Quadrophenia . Mark Kemp , writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), felt that "in retrospect, Tommy isn't quite the masterpiece it was originally hyped to be", suggesting The Who Sell Out

2610-658: A light show and accompanying films by the Quebec Film Bureau. In 1971, the Seattle Opera under director Richard Pearlman produced the first ever fully staged professional production of Tommy at Seattle 's Moore Theatre . The production included Bette Midler playing the role of the Acid Queen and Mrs. Walker, and music by the Syracuse, New York band Comstock, Ltd. On 9 December 1972, entrepreneur Lou Reizner presented

2755-432: A memory trace; the trace is then weakened because it isn't accessed often enough. When one attempted to recover said memory an error happens when a different cue is presented. The studies regarding unlearning are now being associated with interference theory. Interference theory can be defined as the how and the why of long-term memory loss. This theory also suggests that the more information someone learns at one given time,

2900-596: A new double bass drum kit owned by roadie Tony Haslam, after Premier had refused to loan him any more equipment due to the items repeatedly being abused. Though Townshend wrote the majority of the material, the arrangements came from the entire band. Singer Roger Daltrey later said that Townshend often came in with a half-finished demo recording , adding "we probably did as much talking as we did recording, sorting out arrangements and things." Townshend asked Entwistle to write two songs ("Cousin Kevin" and "Fiddle About") that covered

3045-435: A new rock opera and described the entire plot in great detail, which ran to 11 pages. The Who biographer Dave Marsh subsequently said the interview described the narrative better than the finished album. Townshend later regretted publishing so much detail, as he felt it forced him to write the album according to that blueprint. The rest of the Who, however, were enthusiastic about the idea, and let him have artistic control over

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3190-591: A new stage show, and Townshend hoped to incorporate his love of Meher Baba into this concept. He decided that the Who should record a series of songs that stood well in isolation but formed a cohesive whole on the album. He also wanted the material performed in concert, to counter the trend of bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys producing studio output that was not designed for live performance. In August 1968, in an interview to Rolling Stone , Townshend talked about

3335-478: A person's thought process from a negative view to a more positive outlook. The process of unintentionally unlearning is known as "forgetting" since it was not deliberate to unlearn information. Forgetting can happen when information is unused long enough it eventually becomes completely forgotten. A term called fading can also be to blame for forgetting. Fading just means that past learned information can slip away after an extended period of time. Directed forgetting

3480-504: A powerful leader ("Sensation"). He starts a religious movement (" I'm Free "), which generates fervour among its adherents ("Sally Simpson") and expands into a holiday camp ("Welcome" / "Tommy's Holiday Camp"). However, Tommy's followers ultimately reject his teachings and leave the camp (" We're Not Gonna Take It "). Tommy retreats inward again (" See Me, Feel Me ") with his "continuing statement of wonder at that which encompasses him". Townshend had been looking at ways of progressing beyond

3625-482: A remix by Jon Astley in 1996, a deluxe Super Audio CD in 2003, and a super deluxe box set in 2013, including previously unreleased demos and live material. Tommy tells the story of a fictional character named Tommy Walker. The following synopsis of Tommy was published following the original album's release. British Army Captain Walker goes missing during an expedition and is believed dead (" Overture "). His wife, Mrs. Walker, gives birth to their son, Tommy ("It's

3770-560: A respected doctor ("There's a Doctor"), who determines that the boy's disabilities are psychosomatic rather than physical. Tommy is told by the Doctor to " Go to the Mirror! ", and his parents notice he can stare at his reflection. After seeing Tommy spend extended periods staring at a mirror in the house, his mother smashes it out of frustration ("Smash the Mirror"). This removes Tommy's mental block , and he recovers his senses, realising he can become

3915-469: A single artist, genre or period, a single artist covering the songs of various artists or a single artist, genre or period, or any variation of an album of cover songs which is marketed as a "tribute". Mental block Forgetting curves could be associated with mental blocking. The forgetting curve was first described by Ebbinghaus as the natural loss of memory retention over time. Memories can also simply disappear over time from Trace decay which

4060-522: A single case, or a triple album containing three LPs or compact discs. Recording artists who have an extensive back catalogue may re-release several CDs in one single box with a unified design, often containing one or more albums (in this scenario, these releases can sometimes be referred to as a "two (or three)-fer"), or a compilation of previously unreleased recordings. These are known as box sets . Some musical artists have also released more than three compact discs or LP records of new recordings at once, in

4205-433: A solo album for several reasons. A solo performer working with other members will typically have full creative control of the band, be able to hire and fire accompanists, and get the majority of the proceeds. The performer may be able to produce songs that differ widely from the sound of the band with which the performer has been associated, or that the group as a whole chose not to include in its own albums. Graham Nash of

4350-414: A studio. However, the common understanding of a "live album" is one that was recorded at a concert with a public audience, even when the recording is overdubbed or multi-tracked. Concert or stage performances are recorded using remote recording techniques. Albums may be recorded at a single concert , or combine recordings made at multiple concerts. They may include applause, laughter and other noise from

4495-406: A theme such as the "greatest hits" from one artist, B-sides and rarities by one artist, or selections from a record label , a musical genre , a certain time period, or a regional music scene. Promotional sampler albums are compilations. A tribute or cover album is a compilation of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may involve various artists covering the songs of

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4640-405: A traumatic injury. Associative blocking is explained as the effects of an interference during retrieval. Associative blocking can be caused by the failure of a cue to reach a specific target because the cue is being replaced by a new cue that grows stronger. This causes the initial cue to deteriorate because each separated memory is competing for first access to the conscious when the shared cue

4785-509: A trend of shifting sales in the music industry , some observers feel that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album . An album may contain any number of tracks. In the United States, The Recording Academy 's rules for Grammy Awards state that an album must comprise a minimum total playing time of 15 minutes with at least five distinct tracks or a minimum total playing time of 30 minutes with no minimum track requirement. In

4930-430: A way of promoting the album. Albums have been issued that are compilations of older tracks not originally released together, such as singles not originally found on albums, b-sides of singles, or unfinished " demo " recordings. Double albums during the seventies were sometimes sequenced for record changers . In the case of a two-record set, for example, sides 1 and 4 would be stamped on one record, and sides 2 and 3 on

5075-469: Is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music ) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette ), or digital . Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records (78s) collected in a bound book resembling a photo album ; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at 33 + 1 ⁄ 3   rpm . The album

5220-408: Is another name for Motivated Forgetting , meaning that one is forgetting consciously any recent experience that was unwanted. Motivated forgetting is a psychological behavior that can occur consciously or unconsciously. One may be affected by motivated forgetting due to a traumatic event, to intentionally or unintentionally protect themselves, and other types of defense mechanisms. Cognitive control

5365-580: Is any vocal content. A track that has the same name as the album is called the title track. A bonus track (also known as a bonus cut or bonus) is a piece of music which has been included as an extra. This may be done as a marketing promotion, or for other reasons. It is not uncommon to include singles, B-sides , live recordings , and demo recordings as bonus tracks on re-issues of old albums, where those tracks were not originally included. Online music stores allow buyers to create their own albums by selecting songs themselves; bonus tracks may be included if

5510-557: Is available on Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 , released in 1996. The Coliseum Theatre gig is available on the 2007 video release At Kilburn 1977 + Live at the Coliseum . Portions of the Woodstock performance of Tommy were released on the documentaries Woodstock and The Kids Are Alright . The Who continued to play a smaller selection of Tommy live in subsequent tours throughout

5655-407: Is beneficial when unneeded stored information is forgotten. Two interferences are associated with incidental forgetting, proactive and retroactive. Proactive interference is the effect on a person's ability to recall information on a learned subject. An example of this would be a person having trouble remembering a friend's new address when they had the old addresses memorized. Retroactive interference

5800-456: Is known as the ability to access thoughts and memories, but as well as the ability to have control over unwanted thoughts surfacing from the unconscious. This kind of suppression can be linked to the think/no think (TNT) paradigm, which is a practice that is designed to remind one of the undesired life experiences that result in unwanted feelings, such as a first heartbreak, that one would normally try to avoid thinking about. This forgetting type

5945-444: Is memory loss due to time. A painful memory is always going to be stored away, whether one remembers it or not, but the decay theory can help speed along the forgetting process depending on the trauma or association with the memory. Although the interference theory is related to incidental forgetting, it is also a part of the motivated forgetting process. This is because it can create false memories, also known as false memory syndrome. If

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6090-552: Is not necessarily just in MP3 file format, in which higher quality formats such as FLAC and WAV can be used on storage media that MP3 albums reside on, such as CD-R-ROMs , hard drives , flash memory (e.g. thumbdrives , MP3 players , SD cards ), etc. The contents of the album are usually recorded in a studio or live in concert, though may be recorded in other locations, such as at home (as with JJ Cale's Okie , Beck's Odelay , David Gray's White Ladder , and others), in

6235-420: Is one of several by the Who to appear in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . According to music critic Martha Bayles , Tommy did not mix rock with classical music, as its "rock opera" title may have suggested, but instead was "dominated by the Who's mature style: ponderous, rhythmically monotonous hard rock ". Bayles argued that it was more acceptable to audiences than the art rock "concoctions" of

6380-403: Is presented. When interference occurs, two memories that are similar to each other are competing to be remembered. Therefore, the recall of one of those two memories will be more difficult to decipher. To avoid the interference theory from affecting one's recall between multiple memories, researchers say to make it memorable. Unlearning is associated with two separate stimuli that are attached to

6525-402: Is recorded on both the "A" and "B" side of the tape, with cassette being "turned" to play the other side of the album. Compact Cassettes were also a popular way for musicians to record " Demos " or "Demo Tapes" of their music to distribute to various record labels, in the hopes of acquiring a recording contract . Compact cassettes also saw the creation of mixtapes , which are tapes containing

6670-587: Is surrounded by awareness, so it is categorized under thought suppression. Also, repression a Freudian theory theorizes that it is a defense mechanism that destroys undesired feelings, ideas, and memories in the unconscious. This defense mechanism is due to the attempt to resolve and eliminate psychological hurt. More specifically, Sigmund Freud, Joseph Breuer, and Pierre Janet's study found that defense mechanisms can be derived from hysteria due to sexual traumas. The decay theory and interference theory can be associated with psychological suppression. The decay theory

6815-453: Is the first successful "extended work" in rock music , but Townshend's parodic side is more "profound and equivocal" than Frank Zappa . He praised Townshend for deliberately constructing the album so that each song can be enjoyed individually and felt that he is determined to "give his audience what it wants without burying his own peculiarity". Albert Goldman , writing in Life magazine, said that

6960-461: Is the weakening of memories over time. This kind of decay stems from both the visual and verbal working memory. Although this triggers decay, some of the information remains stored. Interference is the phenomenon that a memory can be distorted due to the existence of related memories when it comes to retrieval . Although incidental forgetting is unintentional, it is an important process. A person's brain can become overwhelmed with information, so it

7105-495: Is when new learning affects one's memory on a previously learned task. An example would be an actor learning new lines for an upcoming episode they are filming. When they are learning the new script, this could affect their ability to remember the script that went along with the previous episode. Another interference that some scientists believe is the main culprit of incidental forgetting is one's ability to pay attention which therefore hinders one's brain's ability to properly encode

7250-571: The 1969 Isle of Wight Festival , the University of Leeds , the Metropolitan Opera House , and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival . The live performances of Tommy drew critical praise and revitalised the band's career. Upon its release, Tommy was acclaimed by critics, who hailed it as the Who's breakthrough. Its critical standing diminished slightly in later years; nonetheless, several writers view it as an important and influential album in

7395-529: The Harvard Business Review . The first step is to understand mental models are not effective. A mental model can be understood as an assumption on how things work and function. The second step is defined as creating a mental model one is aware of and is accurately aligned with their goals. The last step is changing mental habits. A person needs to change their behaviors and habits. This type of unlearning could be done for many reasons. For example, changing

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7540-486: The Metropolitan Opera House , which was the first time Townshend announced the show as being the "last Tommy ever". The group made a second trip to the Isle of Wight, appearing at the 1970 festival on 29 August, before an audience of 600,000. The last live performance for 1970 was at The Roundhouse , London on 20 December. Townshend said "This is the very last time we'll play Tommy on stage", to which Keith Moon promptly cried, "Thank Christ for that!" Public reaction to

7685-517: The iPod , US album sales dropped 54.6% from 2001 to 2009. The CD is a digital data storage device which permits digital recording technology to be used to record and play-back the recorded music. Most recently, the MP3 audio format has matured, revolutionizing the concept of digital storage. Early MP3 albums were essentially CD-rips created by early CD- ripping software, and sometimes real-time rips from cassettes and vinyl. The so-called "MP3 album"

7830-404: The second Isle of Wight Festival , using one of the largest live PAs available. Though media attention was on Bob Dylan playing his first major live concert since 1966, the Who stole the show. Townshend later said, "We know that the stage act we had, with Tommy in it, would work under any circumstances, because it had worked many times on tour." Tommy remained in the Who's live set through

7975-514: The 1970s. Appraising the concept in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said most "are profit-taking recaps marred by sound and format inappropriate to phonographic reproduction (you can't put sights, smells, or fellowship on audio tape). But for Joe Cocker and Bette Midler and Bob-Dylan -in-the-arena, the form makes a compelling kind of sense." Among

8120-537: The 1970s. They revived Tommy as a whole for its twentieth anniversary during their 1989 reunion tour, reinstating the previously overlooked "Cousin Kevin" and "Sensation" but still omitting "Underture" and "Welcome". Recordings from this tour can be found on the Join Together live album and the Tommy and Quadrophenia Live DVD . The Los Angeles version of this show featured Phil Collins as Uncle Ernie, Patti LaBelle as

8265-443: The 25-minute mark. The album Dopesmoker by Sleep contains only a single track, but the composition is over 63 minutes long. There are no formal rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as "albums". If an album becomes too long to fit onto a single vinyl record or CD, it may be released as a double album where two vinyl LPs or compact discs are packaged together in

8410-671: The Acid Queen, Steve Winwood as the Hawker, Elton John as the Pinball Wizard, and Billy Idol as Cousin Kevin. In 1970 Fernand Nault, choreographer of the Montreal ballet group Les Grands Ballets Canadiens , created the first dance-based adaptation of Tommy . The ballet was premiered in Montreal in October 1970 and obtained a real success. The performance toured New York in April 1971, which included

8555-708: The Doctor). The orchestral version was also performed twice in Australia on 31 March 1973 at Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl and on 1 April at Sydney's Randwick Racecourse . Keith Moon appeared as Uncle Ernie (in Melbourne only), Graham Bell as the Narrator, with local stars Daryl Braithwaite (as Tommy), Billy Thorpe (as the Local Lad), Doug Parkinson (as the Hawker), Wendy Saddington (as

8700-491: The Hollies described his experience in developing a solo album as follows: "The thing that I go through that results in a solo album is an interesting process of collecting songs that can't be done, for whatever reason, by a lot of people". A solo album may also represent the departure of the performer from the group. A compilation album is a collection of material from various recording projects or various artists, assembled with

8845-681: The Lover), Maggie Bell (as the Mother), Sandy Denny (as the Nurse), Steve Winwood (as the Father), Rod Stewart (as the Local Lad), Richie Havens (as the Hawker), Merry Clayton (as the Acid Queen), and Ringo Starr (as Uncle Ernie). Townshend played some guitar, but otherwise the music was predominantly orchestral. Richard Harris played the role of the Doctor on the record, but he was replaced by Peter Sellers for

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8990-412: The Mirror" leads into "I overwhelm as I approach you" (the opening line in "Sensation"), why Tommy tells his followers in "We're Not Gonna Take It" they cannot drink or smoke but can play pinball, and what the "you" is in "Listening to you, I get the music". In 2013, Townshend and Daltrey participated in a documentary about the making of the album Tommy . The documentary is titled Sensation: The Story of

9135-672: The Nurse), Jim Keays (as the Lover), Broderick Smith (as the Father), Colleen Hewett (as the Mother), Linda George (as the Acid Queen), Ross Wilson (as Cousin Kevin), Bobby Bright (as the Doctor), and Ian Meldrum (as Uncle Ernie in Sydney), and a full orchestra. The Melbourne concert was videotaped, then televised by Channel 7 on 13 April 1973. In 1975 Tommy was adapted as a film, produced by expatriate Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood and directed by British auteur Ken Russell . The movie version starred Roger Daltrey as Tommy and featured

9280-409: The Pinball Wizard. In several cinemas, the film supported a multi-track soundtrack billed as quintaphonic sound , which placed speaker banks in the four quadrants of the house and directly behind the centre of the screen. Townshend also oversaw the production of a soundtrack album , on which the unrecorded orchestral arrangements Kit Lambert had envisaged for the original Tommy LP were realised by

9425-573: The United Kingdom, the criteria for the UK Albums Chart is that a recording counts as an "album" if it either has more than four tracks or lasts more than 25 minutes. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs . Albums such as Tubular Bells , Amarok , and Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield , and Yes's Close to the Edge , include fewer than four tracks, but still surpass

9570-502: The Who and were recycled; "It's A Boy" was derived from "Glow Girl", an out-take from The Who Sell Out , while "Sparks" and "Underture" re-used and expanded one of the instrumental themes in "Rael". "Amazing Journey" was, according to Townshend, "the absolute beginning" of the opera and summarised the entire plot. "The Hawker" was a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson 's "Eyesight to the Blind". A cover of Mercy Dee Walton 's "One Room Country Shack"

9715-450: The Who play through "all the kinky complications" of the narrative in a hard rock style that is the antithesis of most contemporary "serious" rock. Goldman asserted that, based on innovation, performance, and "sheer power", Tommy surpasses anything else in studio-recorded rock. Robert Christgau named Tommy the best album of 1969 in his year-end list for Jazz & Pop magazine. According to music journalist Richie Unterberger , Tommy

9860-474: The Who's Tommy and features in-depth interviews with them. Tommy was originally released as a two- LP set with artwork designed by Mike McInnerney, which included a booklet including lyrics and images to illustrate parts of the story. Townshend asked McInnerney to do the cover artwork for Tommy in September 1968. Townshend had originally considered Alan Aldridge for the cover. The cover is presented as part of

10005-447: The Who's album as a "reasonably hard-rock version" of the opera. Dave Marsh thought the problem with the album's narrative is that there isn't enough transitional material provided by the lyrics. There are no stage directions, no cast, and narration is restricted to key phrases (such as "Tommy can you hear me?") Key problems included an unclear explanation of what Tommy didn't hear or see in "1921", how or why he plays pinball, why "Smash

10150-404: The Who's concerts that included Tommy was overwhelmingly positive. The touring helped keep the album in the public eye and cleared the band's debts. Several live recordings of Tommy from the Who's 1969–70 tours have been released. A complete performance is available on the 2002 Deluxe Edition of the live album Live at Leeds , recorded on 14 February 1970. The second Isle of Wight performance

10295-465: The absence of the original libretto . In 2013, a super deluxe version of Tommy was released as a 3-CD / Blu-ray box set. As well as the original album, the package includes additional demos and a live performance mostly taken from the Who's show at the Capital Theatre, Ottawa, Ontario , Canada on 15 October 1969. The live disc was significant, as it debunked a long-standing myth that the tapes for

10440-413: The album can be cheaper than buying a domestically released version, Japanese releases often feature bonus tracks to incentivize domestic purchase. Commercial sheet music is published in conjunction with the release of a new album (studio, compilation, soundtrack, etc.). A matching folio songbook is a compilation of the music notation of all the songs included in that particular album. It typically has

10585-468: The album contained studio recordings and was not live). The Who took a break from recording at the end of 1968 to tour, including a well received appearance at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus on 10 December. They resumed sessions at IBC in January 1969, block booking Monday to Thursday, but had to do gigs every weekend to stop going further into debt. A major tour was booked for the end of April, and

10730-513: The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant value". In 2000 it was voted number 52 in Colin Larkin 's All Time Top 1000 Albums . In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Tommy number 96 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time , it maintained the rating in a 2012 revised list, and was re-ranked at number 190 on the 2020 list. The album

10875-516: The album's artwork on its cover and, in addition to sheet music, it includes photos of the artist. Most pop and rock releases come in standard Piano/Vocal/Guitar notation format (and occasionally Easy Piano / E-Z Play Today). Rock-oriented releases may also come in Guitar Recorded Versions edition, which are note-for-note transcriptions written directly from artist recordings. Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one-half of

11020-503: The album. If a pop or rock album contained tracks released separately as commercial singles , they were conventionally placed in particular positions on the album. During the sixties, particularly in the UK, singles were generally released separately from albums. Today, many commercial albums of music tracks feature one or more singles, which are released separately to radio, TV or the Internet as

11165-424: The amount of participation a band member can solicit from other members of their band, and still have the album referred to as a solo album. One reviewer wrote that Ringo Starr 's third venture, Ringo , "[t]echnically... wasn't a solo album because all four Beatles appeared on it". Three of the four members of the Beatles released solo albums while the group was officially still together. A performer may record

11310-506: The audience would all stand up at the same time and stay standing. This indicated that live performances of Tommy had a significant positive response. The group continued to play large halls in the US, organised by tour promoter Frank Barsalona , and generally avoided festivals, but made an important exception with the Woodstock festival on 16 August. After spending all night arguing with Barsalona,

11455-510: The audience, comments by the performers between pieces, improvisation, and so on. They may use multitrack recording direct from the stage sound system (rather than microphones placed among the audience), and can employ additional manipulation and effects during post-production to enhance the quality of the recording. Notable early live albums include the double album of Benny Goodman , The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert , released in 1950. Live double albums later became popular during

11600-406: The band agreed to perform at Woodstock for $ 12,500. The festival ran late and the Who did not take to the stage until the early morning of 17 August. During "Pinball Wizard", Abbie Hoffman took to the stage to protest about the imprisonment of John Sinclair before being kicked offstage by Townshend, while during "See Me, Feel Me", the sun rose, almost as if on cue. Two weeks later, the group played

11745-404: The band should appear on the cover. These were added to the globe on the front. These pictures were later removed on the 1996 CD remastered reissue. Tommy was first released on CD in 1984 as a two disc set. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab subsequently released a special single-disc edition of the album in 1990, featuring an alternate take of "Eyesight to the Blind" and a low volume extensive break on

11890-406: The best selling live albums are Eric Clapton 's Unplugged (1992), selling over 26 million copies, Garth Brooks ' Double Live (1998), over 21 million copies, and Peter Frampton 's Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), over 11 million copies. In Rolling Stone ' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , 18 albums were live albums. A solo album , in popular music , is an album recorded by

12035-446: The cassette tape throughout the 1970s and early 1980s; the popularity of the cassette reached its peak during the late 1980s before sharply declining during the 1990s. The cassette had largely disappeared by the first decade of the 2000s. Most albums are recorded in a studio , although they may also be recorded in a concert venue , at home, in the field, or a mix of places. The time frame for completely recording an album varies between

12180-430: The cover. As recording was near completion, McInnerney received a number of cassettes with completed songs and a brief outline for the story, which he immediately recognised as being based on Baba's teachings. He wanted to try and convey the world of a deaf, dumb and blind boy and decided to "depict a kind of breaking out of a certain restricted plane into freedom." The finished cover contained a blue and white web of clouds,

12325-407: The darker themes of bullying and abuse. "Tommy's Holiday Camp" was Keith Moon's suggestion of what kind of religious movement Tommy could lead. Moon got the songwriting credit for suggesting the idea, though the music was composed and played by Townshend. A significant amount of material had a lighter style than earlier recordings, with greater prominence put on the vocals. Moon later said, "It was, at

12470-521: The extensive use of synthesizer . He started work on the soundtrack album immediately after the Who's 1973 US tour in December and worked on it almost continuously for the next four months. As well as the Who, the film's music track and the original soundtrack LP also employed several session musicians including Caleb Quaye , Ronnie Wood , Nicky Hopkins , Chris Stainton , and longtime Who associate John "Rabbit" Bundrick . Due to Keith Moon's commitments with

12615-612: The field – as with early blues recordings, in prison, or with a mobile recording unit such as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio . Most albums are studio albums —that is, they are recorded in a recording studio with equipment meant to give those overseeing the recording as much control as possible over the sound of the album. They minimize external noises and reverberations and have highly sensitive microphones and sound mixing equipment. Band members may record their parts in separate rooms or at separate times, listening to

12760-424: The filming of Stardust , Kenney Jones (who would take over as the Who's drummer after Moon's death in 1978) played drums on much of the soundtrack album. "Pinball Wizard" was a major hit when released as a single. This sequence in the film depicts Elton John being backed by the Who (dressed in pound-note suits); the band portrayed the Pinball Wizard's band for filming, but on the music track and soundtrack album,

12905-494: The form of a prototype. Compact Cassettes became especially popular during the 1980s after the advent of the Sony Walkman , which allowed the person to control what they listened to. The Walkman was convenient because of its size, the device could fit in most pockets and often came equipped with a clip for belts or pants. The compact cassette used double-sided magnetic tape to distribute music for commercial sale. The music

13050-480: The form of boxed sets, although in that case the work is still usually considered to be an album. Material (music or sounds) is stored on an album in sections termed tracks. A music track (often simply referred to as a track) is an individual song or instrumental recording. The term is particularly associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks; the term is also used for other formats such as EPs and singles . When vinyl records were

13195-475: The glass in "Smash the Mirror". It was also remastered by Erick Labson for single disc release in 1993. Polydor and MCA released a newly remastered version on single disc in 1996, which had been remixed by Jon Astley . Astley was able to access the original 8 track tapes and bring out instruments that had been buried, such as the guitar in "Christmas", the French horn in "Sparks", the cymbals in " The Acid Queen " and

13340-444: The group "did the whole thing from start to finish and that was when we first realized we had something cohesive and playable." Roger Daltrey's singing had improved substantially since the group's early tours, and they realised their new live act could completely change their career. After a few warm up gigs towards the end of April, the group gave a preview concert to the press at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club , London on 1 May. Realising

13485-405: The group's management insisted that the album would have to be finished by then, as it had been well over a year since The Who Sell Out . Kit Lambert wrote a script, Tommy (1914–1984) , which he professionally printed and gave copies to the band, helping them focus on the storyline and also deciding to make the album a double. The group were still coming up with new material; Lambert insisted that

13630-467: The history of rock music. In 1998, Tommy was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . Subsequently, the rock opera was developed into other media, including a ballet in Montreal in 1970, a Seattle Opera production in 1971, an orchestral version by Lou Reizner in 1972, a film directed by Ken Russell and featuring Jack Nicholson and Oliver Reed in 1975, and a Broadway musical in 1992. Tommy has been reissued several times on CD, including

13775-582: The later '30s, record companies began releasing albums of previously released recordings of popular music in albums organized by performer, singers or bands, or by type of music, boogie-woogie , for example. When Columbia introduced the Long Playing record format in 1948, it was natural the term album would continue. Columbia expected that the record size distinction in 78s would continue, with classical music on 12" records and popular music on 10" records, and singles on 78s. Columbia's first popular 10" LP in fact

13920-477: The learned information. A noteworthy cognitive research study showed study participants a 9-minute video about recognition-induced forgetting. This followed a series of tests that evaluated the participant's comprehension after watching the video. Because the participants watched this video, they were aware of unintentional forgetting and how it occurs. Still, participants fell victim to incidental forgetting when being tested on what they were supposed to remember from

14065-488: The longer 12-inch 78s, playing around 4–5 minutes per side. For example, in 1924, George Gershwin recorded a drastically shortened version of his new seventeen-minute composition Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. The recording was issued on both sides of a single record, Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s. By 1910, though some European record companies had issued albums of complete operas and other works,

14210-402: The memory does not have much detail with it, your brain can create other memories in place of the missing ones. This then creates a false memory. When unwelcome reminders occur, people often try to exclude unwanted memories from awareness. Stopping retrieval of an unwanted memory is known as ‘retrieval suppression’, a process that engages response override mechanisms formally similar to stopping

14355-483: The mid-1930s, record companies had adopted the album format for classical music selections that were longer than the roughly eight minutes that fit on both sides of a classical 12" 78 rpm record. Initially the covers were plain, with the name of the selection and performer in small type. In 1938, Columbia Records hired the first graphic designer in the business to design covers, others soon followed and colorful album covers cover became an important selling feature. By

14500-479: The mid-1960s to the late 1970s when the Compact Cassette format took over. The format is regarded as an obsolete technology, and was relatively unknown outside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Stereo 8 was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear of Lear Jet Corporation , along with Ampex , Ford Motor Company , General Motors , Motorola , and RCA Victor Records . It

14645-518: The midst of his isolation ("Christmas"). Tommy's parents neglect him, leaving him to be tortured by his sadistic "Cousin Kevin" and sexually abused by his uncle Ernie ("Fiddle About"). The Hawker's drug-addicted wife, " The Acid Queen ", gives Tommy a dose of LSD , causing a hallucinogenic experience that is expressed musically ("Underture"). As Tommy grows older, he discovers that he can feel vibrations sufficiently well to become an expert pinball player (" Pinball Wizard "). His parents take him to

14790-460: The more quickly they will forget. The process of unlearning does have positive qualities. Unlearning can be helpful if the information being stored was false or untrue. However, confirmation bias can make it more difficult to unlearn. This is due to the information supporting one's beliefs or views. Decay theory is believed to play a role in the unlearning process as well. The process of intentionally unlearning has three major parts according to

14935-465: The music was performed entirely by him and his regular touring band. Most of the extras were students at Portsmouth Polytechnic and were paid with tickets to a Who concert after filming wrapped. The film and its soundtrack album featured six new songs, all written by Townshend, and an alteration to the running order compared to the original album. The CD reissue of the film soundtrack also included an additional Overture. Studio album An album

15080-446: The numbers ... it just started to drive us mad." The final recording session took place on 7 March, the same day that "Pinball Wizard" was released as a single. The group started tour rehearsals and promotional activities for the single and Lambert went on holiday in Cairo . The mixing was left to Damon Lyon-Shaw and assistant engineer Ted Sharp, who did not think IBC was well suited for

15225-521: The opera's narrative was difficult to understand, Townshend explained a synopsis of the story, before the Who played Tommy all the way through at full stage volume. The next day, the group flew out to New York to start the US tour, with the first gig on 9 May at the Grande Ballroom , Detroit . At the end of May, the group played four nights at the Kinetic Playground , Chicago , and they noticed

15370-403: The organ in "We're Not Gonna Take It". This release came with Mike McInnerney's complete artwork and a written introduction by Richard Barnes. For this edition, the cover was revised to remove the Who's faces, which were originally placed at the request of the record label. In 2003 Tommy was made available as a deluxe two-disc hybrid Super Audio CD with a 5.1 multi-channel mix. The remastering

15515-467: The other members of the Who, plus a supporting cast that included Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother and Oliver Reed as the Lover, with appearances by Elton John , Tina Turner , Eric Clapton , Arthur Brown , and Jack Nicholson . Russell insisted on having a known cast, though Townshend wanted people who could sing the material, and he was particularly disappointed at not being allowed to cast Stevie Wonder as

15660-443: The other parts of the track with headphones to keep the timing right. In the 2000s, with the advent of digital recording , it became possible for musicians to record their part of a song in another studio in another part of the world, and send their contribution over digital channels to be included in the final product. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing or multi-tracking are termed "live", even when done in

15805-414: The other. The user would stack the two records onto the spindle of an automatic record changer, with side 1 on the bottom and side 2 (on the other record) on top. Side 1 would automatically drop onto the turntable and be played. When finished, the tone arm's position would trigger a mechanism which moved the arm out of the way, dropped the record with side 2, and played it. When both records had been played,

15950-621: The piece should have a proper overture, while Townshend wrote "Pinball Wizard" so that Nik Cohn , a pinball fan, would give the album a favourable review in The New York Times . Lambert wanted an orchestra to appear on the album, but Townshend was strongly against the idea, and time and budget constraints meant it could not happen anyway. By March 1969, some songs had been recorded several times, yet Townshend still thought there were missing pieces. Entwistle had become fed up with recording, later saying "we had to keep going back and rejuvenating

16095-401: The plotline. Unfortunately, because it fundamentally dealt with the abstract concept of Meher Baba 's spiritual precepts, the interviews often gave confusing and contradictory details. For Melody Maker , Chris Welch went to the album's press launch show at Ronnie Scott's and although the volume left his ears ringing for 20 hours, he concluded "we wanted more." Disc and Music Echo ran

16240-464: The practice of issuing albums was not widely taken up by American record companies until the 1920s. By about 1910, bound collections of empty sleeves with a paperboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as record albums that customers could use to store their records (the term "record album" was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than

16385-406: The primary medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves and many album covers or sleeves included numbers for the tracks on each side. On a compact disc the track number is indexed so that a player can jump straight to the start of any track. On digital music stores such as iTunes the term song is often used interchangeably with track regardless of whether there

16530-633: The production, with Damon Lyon-Shaw as engineer. Sessions were block-booked from 2pm – 10pm, but recording often spilled over into the early morning. The album was recorded using an eight-track system , which allowed various instruments to be overdubbed . Townshend used several guitars in the studio but made particular use of the Gibson J-200 acoustic and the Gibson SG . As well as their usual instruments, Townshend played piano and organ and bassist John Entwistle doubled on french horn . Keith Moon used

16675-528: The project. The Who started recording the album at IBC Studios on 19 September 1968. There was no firm title at this point, which was variously referred to as Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy , Amazing Journey , Journey into Space , The Brain Opera and Omnibus . Townshend eventually settled on Tommy because it was a common British name and a nickname for soldiers in the First World War . Kit Lambert took charge of

16820-479: The radio. "Pinball Wizard" reached the top 20 in the US and the top five in the UK. "See Me, Feel Me" reached the top 20 in the US and "I'm Free" reached the top 40. An EP of selections from the album was planned to be released in the UK in November 1970 but was withdrawn. When it was released, critics were split between those who thought the album was a masterpiece, the beginnings of a new genre, and those that felt it

16965-404: The record industry as a standard format for the "album". Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, it has remained the standard format for vinyl albums. The term "album" was extended to other recording media such as 8-track tape , cassette tape , compact disc , MiniDisc , and digital albums, as they were introduced. As part of

17110-617: The record not touching the shelf, and the term was applied to the collection. In the early nineteenth century, "album" was occasionally used in the titles of some classical music sets, such as Robert Schumann 's Album for the Young Opus 68, a set of 43 short pieces. With the advent of 78 rpm records in the early 1900s, the typical 10-inch disc could only hold about three minutes of sound per side, so almost all popular recordings were limited to around three minutes in length. Classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on

17255-451: The recording, and lyrics or librettos . Historically, the term "album" was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage, the word was used for collections of short pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78s were bundled in book-like albums (one side of a 78 rpm record could hold only about 3.5 minutes of sound). When LP records were introduced,

17400-497: The records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them. In the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78s by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight compositions per album. By

17545-452: The release and distribution Compact Discs . The 2010s saw a revival of Compact Cassettes by independent record labels and DIY musicians who preferred the format because of its difficulty to share over the internet . The compact disc format replaced both the vinyl record and the cassette as the standard for the commercial mass-market distribution of physical music albums. After the introduction of music downloading and MP3 players such as

17690-527: The rest of the year and into 1970. In October 1969, the Who played six shows at the Fillmore East , where Leonard Bernstein praised them for their new music. The group's show on 14 December at the London Coliseum was filmed for a possible future Tommy feature. Lambert was keen for Tommy to be taken seriously and wanted the Who to perform at opera houses . In June 1970, the group performed two shows at

17835-433: The single " Dogs " failed to make the top 20, and there was a genuine risk of the band breaking up. The group still performed well live and spent most of the spring and summer touring the US and Canada, but their stage act relied on Townshend smashing his guitar or Keith Moon demolishing his drums, which kept the group in debt. Townshend and Kit Lambert realised they needed a larger vehicle for their music than hit singles and

17980-464: The stage production. The stage show had a second run on 13 and 14 December 1973 with Daltrey, Graham Bell, Havens, and Clayton returning, and a new cast including David Essex (as the Narrator), Elkie Brooks (as the Mother), Roger Chapman (as the Father), Marsha Hunt (as the Nurse), Bill Oddie (as Cousin Kevin), Vivian Stanshall (as Uncle Ernie), Roy Wood (as the Local Lad), and Jon Pertwee (as

18125-404: The standard three-minute pop single format since 1966. Co-manager Kit Lambert shared Townshend's views and encouraged him to develop musical ideas, conceiving the term " rock opera ". The first use of the term was applied to a suite called Quads , set in a future where parents could choose the sex of their children. A couple want four girls but instead receive three girls and a boy, raising him as

18270-402: The task. The album overshot its April deadline, as stereo mastering continued into the end of the month. After delays surrounding the cover artwork, Tommy was released on 19 May 1969 in the US by Decca and 23 May in the UK by Track Records . The original double album was configured with sides 1 and 4 on one disc, and sides 2 and 3 on the other, to accommodate record changers . The album

18415-407: The time because of the cultural climate during the late 1960s: " Tommy was considered more authentic, precisely because it consists of hard rock, rather than doctored-up Mussorgsky  ... and avoids the typical pseudoromantic themes of art rock (fairy-tale bliss and apocalyptic angst) in favor of the more up-to-date subject of popular culture itself." High Fidelity magazine also characterised

18560-502: The time, very un-Wholike. A lot of the songs were soft. We never played like that." Some of the material had already been written for other projects. "Sensation" was written about a girl Townshend had met on the Who's tour of Australia in early 1968, "Welcome" and " I'm Free " were about peace found through Meher Baba and "Sally Simpson" was based on a gig with the Doors which was marred by violence. Other songs had been previously recorded by

18705-735: The tour were burned in preference for the Leeds University show in February 1970 that made up Live at Leeds . The Who had planned to perform Tommy live since starting the project. The group spent April 1969 rehearsing a live version of the show at the Hanwell Community Centre in Ealing including a final run down of the entire stage piece on 23 April. The running order was changed, and four songs ("Cousin Kevin", "Underture", "Sensation" and "Welcome") were dropped entirely. Townshend later said

18850-461: The user would pick up the stack, turn it over, and put them back on the spindle—sides 3 and 4 would then play in sequence. Record changers were used for many years of the LP era, but eventually fell out of use. 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8: commonly known as the eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, or simply eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology popular in the United States from

18995-414: The video shown. This led researchers to believe that even when people are aware of the phenomenon of incidental forgetting and challenged not to forget, they still have trouble remembering. Incidental forgetting differs from incidental forgetting at a rapid pace. Losing memories at a rapid pace is an indicator of amnesia, dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and other conditions that can be caused by age or

19140-426: The work of Meher Baba , and he attempted to translate Baba's teachings into music. Recording of the album began in September 1968, but took six months to complete as material needed to be arranged and re-recorded in the studio. The Who promoted the album's release with an extensive tour, including a live version of Tommy , which lasted throughout 1969 and 1970. Key gigs from the tour included appearances at Woodstock ,

19285-592: Was Frank Sinatra's first album, the four-record eight-song The Voice of Frank Sinatra , originally issued in 1946. RCA's introduction of the smaller 45 rpm format later in 1948 disrupted Columbia's expectations. By the mid-1950s, 45s dominated the singles market and 12" LPs dominated the album market and both 78s and 10" LPs were discontinued. In the 1950s albums of popular music were also issued on 45s, sold in small heavy paper-covered "gate-fold" albums with multiple discs in sleeves or in sleeves in small boxes. This format disappeared around 1960. Sinatra's "The Voice"

19430-492: Was a further development of the similar Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge created by Earl "Madman" Muntz . A later quadraphonic version of the format was announced by RCA in April 1970 and first known as Quad-8, then later changed to just Q8. The Compact Cassette was a popular medium for distributing pre-recorded music from the early 1970s to the early 2000s. The first "Compact Cassette" was introduced by Philips in August 1963 in

19575-399: Was also recorded but was scrapped from the final track listing as Townshend could not figure out a way to incorporate it in the plot. Recording at IBC was slow, due to a lack of a full plot and a full selection of songs. The group hoped that the album would be ready by Christmas 1968, but sessions dragged on. Melody Maker ' s Chris Welch visited IBC studios in November and while he

19720-421: Was better, though because of Townshend, it produced several "bona fide classic songs". "Rock opera may seem like a laughable concept these days, but when the Who brought it to the world via Tommy in 1969, it was an unmatched thrill", writes Mac Randall of Rolling Stone in 2004 in a more positive appraisal. "Almost thirty-five years later, this classic-rock touchstone still has the power to enthrall." In 1998,

19865-414: Was commercially successful, reaching No. 2 in the UK album charts. It peaked at No. 7 in the US in 1969, but in 1970 it re-entered the charts, at which time it went on to peak at No. 4. It sold 200,000 copies in the first two weeks in the US alone and was awarded a gold record for sales of 500,000 on 18 August. "Pinball Wizard", "I'm Free" and "See Me, Feel Me" were released as singles and received airplay on

20010-516: Was done under the supervision of Townshend and also includes related material not on the original album, including "Dogs-Part 2" (the B-Side to "Pinball Wizard"), "Cousin Kevin Model Child" and "Young Man Blues", plus demos for the album and other unreleased songs that were dropped from the final running order. Rolling Stone considered the disc sonically "murkier" than the 1996 CD and was critical of

20155-460: Was exploitative. The album had a hostile reception with the BBC and certain US radio stations, with Tony Blackburn describing "Pinball Wizard" as "distasteful". Nevertheless, BBC Radio 1 received an advance copy of the album at the start of May and gave the material its first airplay on Pete Drummond 's show on 3 May. Townshend promoted the album's release with interviews in which he attempted to explain

20300-414: Was from this that in medieval and modern times, album came to denote a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected. This in turn led to the modern meaning of an album as a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item. The first audio albums were actually published by the publishers of photograph albums. Single 78 rpm records were sold in

20445-458: Was hailed by contemporary critics as the Who's breakthrough. Robert Christgau wrote in 1983, " Tommy ' s operatic pretensions were so transparent that for years it seemed safe to guess that Townshend's musical ideas would never catch up with his lyrics." In his review for AllMusic , Unterberger said that, despite its slight flaws, the album has "many excellent songs" permeated with "a suitably powerful grace", while Townshend's ability to devise

20590-479: Was impressed with the working environment and the material, the project still did not have a title and there was no coherent plotline. The Who's US record company, Decca Records , got so impatient waiting for new product that they released the compilation album Magic Bus: The Who on Tour which received a scathing review from Greil Marcus in Rolling Stone over its poor selection of material and misleading name (as

20735-399: Was issued in 1952 on two extended play 45s, with two songs on each side, in both packagings. The 10-inch and 12-inch LP record (long play), or 33 + 1 ⁄ 3   rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. A single LP record often had the same or similar number of tunes as a typical album of 78s, and it was adopted by

20880-411: Was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era . Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983, being gradually supplanted by

21025-452: Was unsure about how the Who should progress musically. The group were no longer teenagers, but he wanted their music to remain relevant. His friend, International Times art director Mike McInnerney, told him about the Indian spiritual mentor Meher Baba , and Townshend became fascinated with Baba's values of compassion, love and introspection. The Who's commercial success was on the wane after

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