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... somewhat underwhelmed on their first listen of the Who's "Tommy"?

I listened to it all the way through for the first time the other day, and was somewhat disappointed, it seemed disjointed and.. idunno, incomplete. Maybe I just need to listen to it again.

Finally!  I am not alone!

I also was VERY underwhelmed by it.  Maybe one of the most
disappointing, overhyped, classic albums I've encounterd.
Even after 10 listens, I only dig maybe 5-6 tunes.

I can't even remember the first time I heard it (not true). I was probably 12 or 13, though, so I didn't know anything about the 'hype' and I don't recall my reaction to the whole work. I used to listen to it fairly often but not so much anymore. It's really long, so I probably lost interest. I remember liking Fiddle About and Cousin Kevin.

What other Who have you heard? Give it time to soak in. It's a big album, a lot of story and music there, a lot to take in. I'd say dig on the tunes and melodies first and then try to feel the whole story. It does fall off a bit for me on the last fourth of the album (the last LP side.)

It's not quite prog or as overblown as "rock opera" sounds on paper. It certainly isn't "Pepper" in it's production, just great songs without all that musical bombast.

I liked the tunes themselves, but it never really fell into place for me. I'll listen to it a few more times though, probably.

Tommy might be better understood if you see the questionable artform that is its movie from 1975.

I disagree, the movie makes certain aspects of the plot too concrete-- some things are clouded on the album and I think need to remain that way. It doesn't matter how, why, or when exactly Tommy became a "deaf dumb and blind boy living in quiet vibration land"-- just that he is and that he conquers it.

The movie makes one HUGE mistake -- the lover didn't kill Captain Walker, it was the reverse originally.  In the album, this made Tommy's situation more ambiguous and had more meaning in his escape from reality.  In the movie, it became simple abuse by unloving parents.

That's how I feel about Quadrophenia, but I love Tommy and Whos Next.

Am I the only one who thinks Who's Next is two really good songs and a bunch of filler? I really don't see what's so great about the album. Sell Out and Numbers are far superior.

wow, I am digging the subjectivity on the Who albums.

I think Who's next, taken in a certain context, is overwhelmingly good.  It's one of my favorite albums ever in terms of production.  The guitar sounds and wonderfully balanced.  The back up vocals are sublime.  It's kind of the Who's Sunflower.

It's got 9 songs, 3 of which are smash hits-- Baba O'Riely, Behind Blue Eyes, and Won't Get Fooled Again.
Then in it's second tier, it's got Bargain, Love Ain't For Keeping, and Going Mobile, all excellent.
Then for the least well known 3, youhave My Wife, The Song is Over, and Getting in Tune.  All fine.

no chunky concepts, no baggage, it's just heart on a plate, easy to understand, it's an angry album that really releases a lot of my feelings in a cathartic way.  Pissing on the monolith.

I don't think I'd rate it above Sell Out though on most days.  Don't know numbers.

Hmmmmmm, maybe I should listen again.

Don't like Tommy even now, and I'm a HUGE Who fan. It just doesn't have a lotta replay value for me -- all the little bits of songs and the vast swaths that have no resemblance to any sort of rock, that bothers me. "Lifehouse" and "Quadrophenia" to me have way more value as rock operas, even with the unfinished quality of the former.

I'd put "Who's Next" on the very tip-top of the Who canon, right above "Sell Out" which itself is right above the first album, in my book. "Who's Next" to me is all killer, no filler. I totally reject the concept of "tiers' representing anything more than the overplayed-ness of certain songs on classic radio. What's so great about the album, and the surrounding Lifehouse sessions, is insightful songwriting, laser-sharp playing, HUMONGOUS powerful rock, and some of the best lyrics Townshend has ever penned. "Baba" and "Won't Get Fooled" are classic but only the most well-played. "Song Is Over" to me is one of the most powerful songs Townshend has accomplished, and I think the melody of "Getting In Tune" stacks up with anything he ever did. Moving, moving stuff.

Who's Next used to be my number one Who album, and I still think that whole period represents Townshend's best songwriting of all. But Quad and Sell Out now outrank it, Quad for its power and sound and Sell Out for its beauty.  Tommy is a fine album and has some of Pete's best work -- and I am one of the few who likes the production -- but it IS overrated.

I love "Who's Next", but I grew up on it, too. I guess "Tommy" to me has always been a few songs I've heard from which, but I guess it just didn't make much sense. It's like watching a movie with a few key scenes cut out. I guess that's just how that album is, though.

I haven't listened to Quadrophenia all the way through, though I really haven't heard much latter-day Who that I've liked. Beyond "Who's Next" it's pretty much all singles, I guess.

I've been thinking for quite some time that "Who's Next" would be a great subject for the Hayseed Dixie treatment.

:lol: Kind of like "Big Balls"? :lol: :D

I don't blame anyone hearing Tommy for the first time now to wonder what the fuss is about. Even when I first heard it in 1972 it sounded weak compared to Who's Next, which for the record, is about as perfect as it gets, and still sounds as though it could have been recorded yesterday.

Tommy though is a different kettle of fish. It doesn't sound lie you expect The Who to sound, the production is minimal, they never really rock out, the dominant instrumant is the acoustic guitar. It takes a while to appreciate it but it is not a masterpiece. To hear why Tommy became important you need to hear Live At Leeds - the two CD version. The Live Tommy has the wings that the studio version doesn't. The songs were as good as anything he'd written, and they come alive on stage. Sparks may well be for me the definitive live Who track.  Live, Tommy has a power that is transcendant, in the studio its a bit of a damp squib. It's probably my least played Who album, though I've listened to it a bit more since I got the SACD.

Tommy as a studio album was a great experiment that doesn't date well. It does not showcase any of the band's skills at their highest. The drums and acoustic are great, but Entwistle, and Big T's guitar crunch are MIA, and Daltrey hasn't found himself.
The album was padded out to be a double, a lot of filler (Underture, Welcome).
The live versions (Amsterdam, Leeds, Woodstock, Isle Of Wight, Met) are the ultimate versions, they are pure power-punk pop scorch. Grab one of those, GP, and you'll dig the music.

The Isle Of Wight concert, Ian. Not the overdubbed Live at Leeds Deluxe Edition.

I'm gonna get Live at Leeds. It does somewhat bother me that they have new overdubs.

I would highly recommend 'Isle of Wight', GP...great performance, and it can be found pretty cheap and easy.

Was it? Tell me more....

I didn't mean the official one. I meant the undoctored soundboard boot.
There's plenty of live boots that kill both official live Tommys.

It was heavily edited even in official form.
But the original expanded release had a few overdubs, like the lead vox on Heaven And Hell and Can't Explain.
On the Tommy section on the DE, several Daltrey leads were newly recorded.

The only official Live At Leeds release without any overdubs is the original six tracks version (LP or CD). However, the songs were edited on that one.

The expanded single CD release (from 1995) has a few overdubs, I think for example on A Quick One While He's Away.

The unedited bootleg is perfect. (I don't mind the crackling sound.).

Holy sh*t!

Well, since it is on the tape, I'd rather let it stay than digitally manipulate it.

I don't think Tommy is overrated at all. It's one of the best concept albums ever made and one of the best albums of the 1960's. The flow of the songs is perfect and the story is coherent. I fucking love it. It's okay if its not your cup of tea, but don't say that it's not good. It's a lot better than Sgt. Pepper.

OVERDUBS on Leeds ? That didn't occur to me; I'm sure that the only thing live about EAGLES LIVE  is the title, and 4 Way Street (CSNY) coulda USED some "fixing", but Leeds? Is this a documented fact? Pete and I have two things in common (May 19th-he's 10years older, and Tinitus)...and I consider myself to be a Who fan, overdubs on Leeds is a bit of a shock...Got the tinitus the same way--tryin to be heard over the Drummer.They're so desperate for attention... I played drums for 10years before switching to gtr.; There are some silly people who say I'm still desperate for attention... (prone to long winded posts, etc.)

the overdubs on Leeds was on the original pressing , But not on the expanded deluxe version..right ? wrong ?

Straight from AllMusic.

ooops-forgot about the backwards guitar on Magic Bus(original release)

Tommy was my introduction to The Who. I'd heard I Can See For Miles once or twice when it was briefly a would be hit single, but the rest was silence and popular obliviousness. The band had no AM radio profile whatsoever when Tommy rapidly built from word of mouth rumor to cult to monster-phenomenon and introduced them to  tons of kids like me born after their generation.

It blew my mind that there was another band as good as Beatles and Stones who'd been around just as long that we'd never even heard of. I had nothing to compare it to from their own past work, nowhere to pigeonhole it in a band-career still in mid-evolution. I just heard the  undeniable greatness of Townshend and mates, and was especially prejudiced in its favor because our music teacher a little later tried to put it down as naive pop in contrast to the 'truly musical' and great  Rock Opera that was Jesus Christ Superstar in his opinion!

Hearing what was predominantly a Townshend solo project fleshed out by the rest of the band skewed my sense of their identity just like first knowing 'classic Who' and then hearing Tommy does (see many comments above)

I liked the warm acoustic Pete-demo dimension and Daltrey's seraphic voice. Who's Next came as something of a shock  by comparison and forced a lot of adjustment and reorientation, prompting a lot of back catalogue Who-history reconstruction till I got the full quadrophenic measure of this unit. I prefer NEXT today, but it wastes practically all the competition, whoever's, so its not a particularly useful unit of measurement.

Tommy's it's own pulsing vibration, a headtrip, the lead character and Pete's. If you want to group it with other things, it's a an extension of prog-folk-voyage Rael on Sell Out, very much so, and also songs like Sunrise and I Can't Reach You and Tattoo from the same disc, in terms of acoustic textures, rich harmonies and strange melancholy, tender, sinister ditties     

Scooter and Zen, try reading mine and Andreas's posts next time.

No, I am pretty sure that the original release had no overdubs. It was heavily edited, but not overdubbed.

Relax,  Ian, I DID read your posts; by "documented facts" I meant official sources, not other WHO fans; What it REALLY means is I should go back and listen to "YA-YAS" by the Stones, and LIVE RUST by Neil Young, although I already know about the fixed harmonies on THAT  one;

P.S. what it might REALLY REALLY mean is my hearing is even worse than I thought...

                                                                                              Peace (and quiet)

Tommy:  I liked it a lot when I first heard it but the flaws are very apparent now...weak production (for the Who "sound" it had no power compared to Leeds)...dumb story...cant get into it... sorry...some great songs....would have been a great single LP with bonus tracks in 1995....excellent composing but just weaker than Quadrophenia and Who's Next...WN a bit overratted as well....and Who Are You is my favourite WHO song....

My facts are always official.

Do you understand the Tommy story, Wind?

Not that this has anything to do with the actual thread topic, but the cover of the most recent Hayseed Dixie album is actually my friend Julie's ass.  Really.

(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0009JDBO4.03._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)

"Touch Me, Feel Me..." is the connection I draw between the Who's masterwork and your friend's butt

I LUST AFTER THE WHO SELLOUT!!!!!!

I have read much about Tommy (in my WHO fanatic days) and I know about the messiah type story(Herman Hesse influences)  etc and it just never appealed to me...I always dug the music more than the story. Quad was a much more direct story line and I think it works better musically as well...of course Tommy was the blueprint for Quad too...Townshend almost called it "Jimmy"...

BTW Lamb Lies Down Fans, Peter Gabriel was surprised when he found out that The WHO had already created a song called "Rael" (the central character in TLLDOB) but the recordings were already finished on The Lamb album. No connection according the PG.

;D

You guys are right... the Isle of Wight performance is better than LAL... but it still is a "couple tracks" album for me. The story just doesn't connect.

I've been spoiled by Jethro Tull, I guess.  :D :D