THE WHO SELL OUT

The first Who album with any prog, and boy what an album it is. Full of great vocal harmonies from Townshend and Entwiste, Roger Daltrey leads the way with his smooth, charismatic voice. Pete Townshend writes songs and interlude as if the whole album were an excerpt from a pirate radio station. His guitar playing is superb, as is the bass and drums. The first concept album of sorts, it succeeds very well. I wont give an entire song by song, but some of the highlights are Armenia City in the Sky, with its beatles sounding vocal and strange opening, Mary Anne, again with the light vocals and cool percussion work from moon, Odorono, nice chord progression and story/advertisement lyrics, tattoo, with a classic story of teen rebellion, I Can See For Miles, pounding drums and blazing guitar, Sunrise, with nice acoustics and gorgeous singing, and of course, Rael 1 and 2, with hints of the Tommy yet to come, as well as some very strange lyrics. The bonus tracks are also quite good, the Who manage to make pop kick ass.

Overall, a good next step up towards Tommy, the great Rock Opera, and even with a couple hints towards Who's Next.