SUPER DELUXE EDITION CONTAINS 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 APRIL 23rd ON UMe/POLYDOR PRE-ORDER HERE https://thewho.lnk.to/SellOutBoxPR
‘THE WHO STUDIO SESSIONS 1967/68’ A THREE TRACK EP AVAILABLE NOW ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS
LISTEN TO THEM HERE https://TheWho.lnk.to/StudioSessionsEPPR
nugs.net Announces Livestream Premiere of
The Who’s Classic Albums Episode: The Who Sell Out
Watch the story behind The Who’s iconic album, streaming FREE April 22 on The Who’s official YouTube Channel and nugs.net
Santa Monica, CA – April 16, 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 and 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 ofThe 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 and 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.
As tasters for the set a series of digital EP’s are being released, the final of these released today includes previously unreleased versions of three songs from the studio sessions; “Mr. Hyde (aka “Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde),” “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand” & “Melancholia.”
THE WHO STUDIO SESSIONS 1967/68Digital EP
“Mr Hyde (aka Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde)” (Take 7) (Previously Unreleased)
This track was another in a line of eccentric Entwistle compositions, ‘Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde’ was based on the title characters of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel, but directly inspired by the unpredictable character traits of a certain Mr. Moon. The backing track, featuring Pete playing guitar through a Leslie speaker, was captured in seven takes. This first stage master mix of Take 7 features John’s vocal before backing harmonies, vocal improvisations and French horn overdubs were added. The Who being four very different personalities, the rhythm section of John Entwistle and Keith Moon formed the closest thing to a friendship within the group, the pair often roomed together on tour when the need arose. So Entwistle was fully qualified to document the mood swings his mercurial friend regularly underwent, particularly when drink was involved.
“Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand (Takes 1 & 9)” (Take 1 is previously unreleased and Take 9 is a new remix)
A typically eccentric character sketch of the type Pete was writing at the time, “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand” went through various transformations. Two different electric versions were taped before the master of this third, Latin-esque acoustic remake featuring guiro, castanets and shaker, was selected for the album. Compared to “Relax,” this remake of “Mary Anne” (or “Marianne” as it was incorrectly written on the tape box) was relatively easy to capture. Presented here is false start Take 1 with Pete requesting that Keith do count-in duties and Take 9 completed master with vocal, which was abandoned and not used at the time.
“Melancholia (Take 1)” (Previously Unreleased)
A dark new Townshend composition, “Melancholia” was perfected in three takes – this is Take 1 featuring Pete’s rough guide vocal fed through a distortion effect. Pete admitted in his notes to the demo collection Scoop (1983) that he could not remember ever presenting this bleak song for them to record. The Who did record a version but it remained unreleased until The Who’s 30th anniversary box set in 1994.
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 tune in to the free livestream on Thursday, April 22nd at 6pm PT / 9pm ET at nugs.net/thewho. The episode will be 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.
Set a reminder to watch the premiere on April 22nd: 2nu.gs/WhoSellOut
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’ contains 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 and exclusive to this set
BONUS 7” DISCS:
- Track U.K. 45 repro “I Can See for Miles” (early mono mix with single-tracked vocal) and “Someone’s Coming” (original UK Track single mix with single-tracked vocal)
- Decca U.S.A. 45 repro “Magic Bus“ (US/UK mono) and “Dr Jekyll And “Mr. Hyde“ (original US Decca single mix)
80-page, hard-back full-colour 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) and 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 program
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 colored vinyl; disc 1 “Odorono” red / disc 2 “Baked Bean” orange.
2-CD Deluxe 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 23rd ON UMe/POLYDOR
THE WHO STUDIO SESSIONS 1967/68A THREE TRACK EP AVAILABLE NOW ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS