Tommy was hailed by the journalists who attended as a groundbreaking masterpiece. The critical reception changed after Tommy was premiered at the album’s press launch at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London on May 1, 1969, where the audience was bombarded by a full throttle performance by The Who at an extremely loud volume. Without the context of the full story, many critics felt the song about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy was distasteful and 'sick'. The song Pinball Wizard was released as a single a couple months before the album, on March 7, 1969. Pete came up with the idea of making Tommy a pinball wizard instead of a guru in order to lighten the heavy spiritual overtones, and to score a good review from his journalist friend Nik Cohn, who was a fan of pinball and was writing a book called Arfur: Teenage Pinball Queen. Mike designed the album cover and did all the beautiful illustrations for a libretto style lyric book that was included with the album. To help tell the story of Tommy in visual form, Pete worked closely with artist and fellow Baba follower Mike McInnerney throughout the making of the album. A masterpiece was created.ĭuring the creation of the album, they went through a number of names for what to use as the album title as the story evolved, including Amazing Journey, The Brain Opera, The Deaf, Dumb & Blind Boy, Journey into Space, and Omnibus, before finally landing on Tommy. The Who worked together in unity to record their ultimate version of the songs, taking the music to a whole new level. John was enlisted to write the songs ‘Uncle Ernie’ and ‘Cousin Kevin’, which Pete wanted in the story but was too uncomfortable to write himself. Kit helped to structure and arrange Pete’s compositions. They ultimately gave Pete their full support and complete artistic license to realize his vision. The band provided input and exchanged ideas for the album. Pete brought his demos to the recording studio sessions, and discussed the story extensively with Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, and Kit Lambert, who produced the album. He recorded demos of his songs in his home studio to help sell the band on his concept album idea. To help fill out the story, Pete pulled in songs that were written a few years earlier that he thought fit into the storyline. The first song he wrote for the album was Amazing Journey, and he built up the concept of Tommy on a spiritual journey from there. Pete began composing songs about a deaf, dumb and blind boy that were inspired by the spiritual teachings of Indian mystic Meher Baba, who Pete followed closely at the time. Kit was the son of classical composer and conductor Constant Lambert, and he wanted Pete to use elements of opera and to mix classical music with rock. He was encouraged by The Who’s manager Kit Lambert to create a rock opera, complete with a formal overture. Pete had experimented with composing shorter concept pieces on previous Who albums, such as A Quick One and Rael, and he wanted to expand that idea to a full blown concept album. Pete knew they needed something bold and new to help save the band. It was the end of the 60’s, and heavier long form rock albums were taking over in popularity. Up until that time, they were primarily a pop singles band, who were starting to struggle to get chart topping records. When Pete Townshend began work on recording his demos for Tommy in the late 60’s, he had a grand vision of doing something fresh and new to move The Who in a different direction. The album was released by Decca Records in the US on and on Track Records on in the UK. The Who began recording sessions for Pete Townshend’s critically acclaimed rock opera on Septemat IBC Studios in London, and wrapped up work on March 7, 1969. Happy anniversary to The Who’s Tommy album, which was released 50 years ago this month! Tommy turns 50: a look back at the history
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