Tommy
The rock opera: a double album about a deaf, dumb and blind pinball champion.
The Who, 1969
- Released
- 23 May 1969
- Recorded
- 19 September 1968 to 7 March 1969
- Studio
- IBC and Morgan Studios, London
- Label
- Track
- Producer
- Kit Lambert
- Length
- 74:44
Eight-track sessions began at IBC on 19 September 1968. Progress was slow because the plot and song selection were incomplete, and some songs were recycled. Kit Lambert had a script printed and pushed for a double album. The last session was on 7 March 1969.
Pinball Wizard was written partly to win over the critic Nik Cohn, who found an early version too solemn. His 1969 review still called it possibly the first pop masterpiece. The US release on Decca came on 19 May and the UK release followed on 23 May.
It reached number two in Britain and number four in the United States, and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. Disc and Music Echo ran the headline Who's Tommy: A Masterpiece, though in 2004 Mark Kemp wrote in the Rolling Stone Album Guide that it is not quite the masterpiece it was hyped to be.
Track listing
- Overture5:20
- It's a Boy0:39
- 19212:49
- Amazing Journey5:04
- Sparks2:05
- Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)2:14
- Christmas4:34
- Cousin Kevin4:06
- The Acid Queen3:34
- Underture10:04
- Do You Think It's Alright?0:24
- Fiddle About1:31
- Pinball Wizard3:00
- There's a Doctor0:23
- Go to the Mirror!3:47
- Tommy Can You Hear Me?1:35
- Smash the Mirror1:34
- Sensation2:27
- Miracle Cure0:12
- Sally Simpson4:10
- I'm Free2:39
- Welcome4:32
- Tommy's Holiday Camp0:57
- We're Not Gonna Take It7:06
Personnel
- Roger Daltrey vocals, harmonica
- Pete Townshend vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, banjo
- John Entwistle bass, French horn, trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals
- Keith Moon drums, timpani, gong, tambourine, vocals
- Kit Lambert producer
- Damon Lyon-Shaw chief engineer
- Mike McInnerney cover design
More from The Who
My Generation (1965), A Quick One (1966), The Who Sell Out (1967), Live at Leeds (1970), Who's Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), Who Are You (1978)
Sources
- Tommy (The Who album), Wikipedia
- The Story of Tommy, BBC Four, theartsdesk
- Melody Maker review of Tommy, 31 May 1969, thewho.net