A strange surprise—
What I despise
In other guys
Is here in me;
They lose their girl,
They lose their world,
And then they cry
For all to see . . .
I've never felt so bad;
The virus drives me mad.

Album Review: On first listen, it may be a bit hard to tell whether this disc—The Who Sell Out—is a great concept album or just a great collection of songs with some gimicky faux commercials interspersed here and there. The good news is, it doesn't matter, because the operative word is "great." This is one of The Who's best albums, period. It's a perfect blend of effervescent pop, rock, and psychedelia that finds the band fully transitioned out of the muddy world of simple R&B ditties into a universe of highly imaginative, well crafted rock and pop. The theme of the album is a mocking tribute to broadcast radio of the day—the mocking part being the fake commercials, and the tribute part being a large number of songs that were—or should have been—perfect for airplay. But don't let the idea of the phony commercials put you off—they are rather funny and well done, and one's ears don't get tripped up by their presence. As for the songs... There are bouncy pop tracks such as "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand," "Girl's Eyes," "Glittering Girl," and "Someone's Coming." We get top-notch melodic pop with songs like "I Can't Reach You," "Relax," "Our Love Was," "Rael 1" and "Sunrise"—all showing much greater introspection and maturity in Pete Townshend's songwriting than on previous outings. The Who also find solid a rock footing with psychedelia-tinged songs like "Armenia City In The Sky," "Melancholia" and the monster hit from the album, "I Can See For Miles." Finally, you don't have to listen too closely to The Who Sell Out to catch glimpses of what was going to be The Who's next big thing—the rock opera Tommy. "Rael 1" and "Glow Girl" both have musical passages that reappear on Tommy, and there are occasional hints in other songs that Townshend was already thinking about Tommy's concepts and dabbing a few of them around on this album. But The Who Sell Out is a masterpiece in its own right—an album that is merely interesting for its inventive concept but absolutely essential for its great songs. This CD version has a number of bonus tracks from the time of the studio sessions, including the B-side "Someone's Coming" and the awesome "Glow Girl."

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