Review of The Who's Tommy

Released 1969

"If you want to follow me, you've got to play pinball And put in your earplugs, put on your eyeshades You know where to put the cork".

Given that, in my formative years, like millions of other adolescent boys, I was heavily into the mainstream, hardcore rock bands, like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, AC/DC and the like, it was perhaps surprising that, for many years I saw nothing of any substance in The Who. Of course I was familiar with them, but not much more than Pin Ball Wizard if truth be told, and even then, and indeed to this day, I still prefer the version with the Elton John vocal.

Even when, during a summer job, working behind the bar in a posh Cornish pub which was frequented by Pete Townshend, I wasn't really in awe when serving him. Respectful of course, but if it had been Lord Percy Plant or Roger Waters I would have been a dribbling mess, but with Mr Townshend, I was nothing more than curious.

When The Who played Live Aid, I was surprised and impressed by their presence on stage. Shortly afterwards, when I stumbled across a copy of Tommy for rental in the local library (how cool was I?), I decided to give it a go.

I knew by osmosis that it was a concept album: one of the first. I also knew that it had a very strong reputation, so I expected to be impressed. I suppose at the time, I viewed as a rock album first and a prog album second. Having a concept and beginning with an Overture made me nod appreciably in anticipation.

I was unprepared for the sedateness of the piece. As The Who had a reputation for thuggery and power chords, I set the graphic equaliser on my trusty Amstrad to maximise the bass, only to be surprised by the orchestrated moderate pace of the opening. When Pete Townshend took the first few vocals rather than Roger Daltery, I was also taken aback. He may have earned the right to sing whatever he liked as he had written the whole thing, but his voice was even less appealing than Roger Waters and added little.

There was no doubting the core strength of the band. On Amazing Journey, I saw the first glimpses of the legendary rhythm section of Moon and Entwhistle. It was also the first point where I could see where Pete Townsend had gained his reputation as a formidable guitarist as well as his acknowledgment of Jimi Hendrix as an influence.

Amongst the occasional flashes of cleverness and progressiveness were tunes that had no more value than novelty items; Cousin Kevin and Do You Think It's Alright?, for example.

Of course, in the context of the album's story, Pinball Wizard itself takes on a much stronger role. In the main though, I struggled to maintain any real interest and thought the basic story was very sixth form; great idea on paper, but poorly realised. Sides three and four were again linked together by painfully weak songs that were no more than snippets, such as Miracle Cure.

I recognised some of the latter sections from a recent late night airing of the Woodstock Movie on VHS, but struggled to reconcile the iconic performance of the songs on Yasgur's farm with the fairly lame delivery on record.

As it finished, I was glad that I had only rented the album and not invested any of my hard earned cash. I didn't thing it was terrible, just that it was largely undynamic, unimaginative and uninspired. I could just about understand, based on the Woodstock performance, why they had a loyal following, but I felt hugely let down by the lack of 'specialness'.

It took a few more years, as well as increased exposure to other fans of The Who, before I felt compelled to give them another try.

All these years on, I now own most of their classic period albums and, in later reviews, you'll learn that at least two others rank very highly in my estimation. Until I heard the live version of Tommy on the Deluxe version of Live At Leeds and saw the movie, I maintained that Tommy was overrated, and I guess I still do. Both of these versions did increase my appreciation, but only so much. It's hard to see Townshend and especially Moon in full flow and not be impressed.

In the end, good but not essential.