The Who will rerelease their classic 1967 album The Who Sell Out as a giant reissue complete with studio outtakes, unreleased tracks, early takes, and Pete Townshend’s original demos for the LP.
The Super Deluxe edition of The Who Sell Out, due out April 23rd via UMe/Polydor, boasts 112 songs across five CDs and two 7-inch singles, including 46 unreleased tracks.
The Who Sell Out placed at Number 316 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. “The Who’s third record was their first concept album, a tribute to the U.K.’s offshore pirate-radio stations. The band strung the songs together with mock commercials (‘Heinz Baked Beans’) and genuine radio jingles,” we wrote of the LP. “It’s the Who’s funniest record — the sad love ballad ‘Odorono’ turns out to be an ad for deodorant. The band expanded its maximum-R&B sound with mini rock opera ‘Rael,’ giving a hint of things to come (Tommy was two years away), and ‘I Can See for Miles’ rode Pete Townshend’s thrashiest power chords into the Top 10.”
The first two discs are dedicated to both the mono and stereo versions of the album, as well as their respective single mixes, B-sides, and all the bonus tracks culled from the LP’s previous reissues.
The third disc, entirely unreleased, contains 28 unused takes from the album sessions, including an unearthed take on the 1968 non-LP single “Magic Bus.” The fourth disc, dubbed “The Road to Tommy,” highlights the band’s recordings between The Who Sell Out and their 1969 smash Tommy, as well as the unreleased “Facts of Life (aka ‘Birds and Bees’, backing track).”
Most notable is the first disc, exclusive to this edition: Fourteen of Townshend’s original demos recorded before The Who Sell Out. Ahead of the reissue, Townshend’s version of “Pictures of Lily,” another non-LP single from 1967, was released, along with his demo versions of “Kids! Do You Want Kids” and “Odorono.”
