ALBUM REVIEW: The Who - Tommy

    Pete Townshend's ultimate ambition was to push The Who past the basic confines of pop rock - beyond three-minute numbers and into more explorative material. Ever since 1966's defunct Quads concept and the mini-opera "A Quick One, While He's Away", Townshend knew that his coined "rock opera" was the next step forward for The Who after their tribute to the pirate radio that was The Who Sell Out in late 1967, and what followed throughout late 1968 and early 1969 was the full blossoming of his first completed rock opera - a story of a deaf, mute, and blind boy observing the world through the vibrations he feels. It was weird, distinctly un-Who like, and yet it was 100 percent the product and mind of Pete Townshend on display, and few albums are as distinctly part of The Who's identity as Tommy is. Sure, it may not be the first opera with hindsight from albums like S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things, but Tommy was the legitimization of the art form - its effective birth into the mainstream, and the establishing force behind The Who's lasting legacy to rock music. Even many years gone from this watershed moment, Tommy may remain the group's most diverse and creative set of tunes ever put to vinyl, and the results remain catchy, rocking, and epic all at once.

    I think the most common complaint leveled at Tommy is that the plot is nonsensical and scattered - I decry this notion! Sure, it's a bizarre concept for an album, but it's got a definite sense and logical progression of things; we see Tommy witness the murder of his mother's boyfriend by his father, dissociate from the events by effectively becoming "deaf, dumb and blind" as the album regularly puts it, go through traumatic events, and eventually losing his mental block before seeing himself as a deity. It's out there, sure but in some ways it feels very invocative of 60s culture with its references to drugs and bizarre religious cults and pinball; it's a bit nerdy at times, but maybe that's why I love it so. Plenty of credit has to go towards not just the mastermind Pete Townshend who effectively penned the entire record, but The Who themselves, who helped Townshend arrange the songs as a group from the demos he recorded. You can hear those demos online, and while they're a fascinating listen, it also shows just how big a role the other members played in the sound of the record. Much of the album feels softer than The Who typically are, even by the standards of The Who Sell Out and its cornucopia of styles - moments are more reflective and quiet, and the record is detailed with some of the more ambitious vocal harmonies from the group, as well as various other small influences that show themselves. Folk, rock, blues, and even the occasional vaudevillian interlude all make for a lively record that still is centered by The Who's confident playing and expert musicianship - in particular, Entwistle shines on this with his horn and bass playing, although to say that Pete Townshend and Moon the Loon aren't bringing their all would be ridiculous. It's musically brilliant throughout, best examined in the creative segmenting of motifs throughout the album's songs or in the bold Overture that begins the story. It's as vibrant as a story of this off-kilter caliber needs to be, and still with a sense of comedy and humor that is quintessentially Who - the musical dreams ain't quite so bad here.

     Tommy is as much pop as it is rock, and it's here that Townshend's art for melody and unique musical ideas hits the pinnacle. Ignoring the shining gem of pop music that is the continuously fun "Pinball Wizard" or the similarly catchy and bright "Sensation", The Who have cranked out the big guns to create some of their most mind-bending epics of their career. The suite of "Amazing Journey" and "Sparks" makes for a psychedelic anthem with its dreams of tall strangers in glittering gowns and descending riff lifted from "Rael" on The Who Sell Out - this is no tale of countries, however, but a trippy musical break that results in one of their most memorable epics. The same can be said for the pseudo-reprise of "Sparks" in the 10-minute "Underture", a musical acid-trip of an instrumental that, frankly, only gets better with time passed. There's also the miniature suite with "Go to the Mirror!", containing three motifs crammed into one fantastic rock number with the band firing at all cylinders - Keith's drumming has never sounded so good. Their hard cover of "Eyesight to the Blind" is also kickass, as is the short release of rage in "Smash the Mirror", which contains one of Daltrey's best vocal performances to date. The epic finale of "We're Not Gonna Take It" and its "See Me, Feel Me" coda is also amongst the greatest moments The Who have ever laid, and a completely fantastic showstopper for the album. Plenty of other great moments dot the album consistently, such as the not-so-yuletide stylings of "Christmas", the story-setting murder of "1921", or the tale of a woman falling in love with a new messiah on "Sally Simpson", the latter of which could've made a decent pop single with a hook like that. It makes for a decent variety in the material, all throughout the group's continuous energy that only seems to grow as the record nears the final point.

     At last, the ambitions of Pete Townshend became fully realized with Tommy. It would prove to be the first of three largely complete rock operas from Townshend, and would stand to become The Who's breakthrough moment. Even today, Tommy is largely seen as the "big moment" for rock operas, and with it being the first that was so prominent, it has all the fixings of other rock operas; a 1975 film, a 1992 Broadway musical, and multiple interpretations of the album's music (including a bluegrass cover of the record, which is as entertaining as it sounds). There is a kind of fantastical wonder to Tommy all these years later, even after I know every word of the album up and down and subjecting myself to that mediocre film - it's a fantastic capture of the late 1960s, like a final dose of wonderment before the harsh reality of the 70s crept up upon everybody. Even if it's not as consistently rocking as other Who albums, and certainly not as grandiose as the operatic ideas that follow, no other Who album is quite this fun.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Tommy.