The Who -- "The Who Sell Out" double album version

Some people consider The Who’s The Who Sell Out to be the best concept album of the 1960s, better even than Tommy. Released just five months after The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, this album took The Who to a whole new level of creativity. The concept of The Who Sell Out is that of a pirate radio station, and the band recorded not only faux commercial jingles but also tried to record songs that didn’t sound like The Who. This was an attempt to make the album sound like you were listening to a radio station.

But The Who Sell Out might have been either a watershed moment in rock history or a complete financial disaster had it been released as a double album. In fact, the band recorded enough songs and jingles for an extra disc. Whether that had been the original plan, or if the band just didn’t know when to stop, I’m not sure.

In creating this re-imagined album, I took the same tack as I did with the expansion of Led Zeppelin III into a double album a few months ago. That is, I left the first two sides as is (except for inserting “Bag O’Nails” and “Rael 2 / Top Gear” on Side B), and simply created the third and fourth sides. Some may consider this lazy. And those some people may be right. However for my version, I add the commercial jingle titles as well, so there’s a bonus for you. Included are some actual commercials and PSAs recorded by band members.

SIDE A - 20:51

1. Armenia, City in the Sky / Radio London                                                
2. Heinz Baked Beans / More Music                                             
3. Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand / Premier Drums            
4. Odorono / Wonderful Radio London                                       
5. Tattoo / Church of Your Choice                                                 
6. Our Love Was / Rotosound Strings                                           
7. I Can See for Miles / Charles Atlas                                            

 SIDE B - 20:15

1. I Can’t Reach You                                                                            
2. Medac                                                                                                 
3. Relax / Rotosound Strings                                                            
4. Silas Stingy                                                                                          
5. Bag O’Nails                                                                                         
6. Sunrise                                                                                                 
7. Rael [full version]                                                                                                   
8. Top Gear                                                                            

SIDE C - 20:21

1. Glittering Girl / Coke After Coke                                                                
2. Someone’s Coming / John Mason                                            
3. Girl’s Eyes / Odorono                                                                     
4. Early Morning Cold Taxi / Things Go Better with Coke      
5. Jaguar / John Mason Cars                                                             
6. Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand (U.S. Mirasound version)              

SIDE D - 21:01

1. Smooth Sailing                                                                                
2. Summertime Blues                                                                        
3. Great Shakes!                                                                                   
4. Doctor Doctor                                                                                    
5. Hall of the Mountain King / Radio One                                    
6. Sodding About                                                                                 
7. Pictures of Lily                                                                                   
8. Air Force PSA                                                                                     
9. My Way                                                                                               
10. Track Records                                                                                    

Can you imagine what the impact might have been if this double album of wackiness had been released? The version that was released was crazy enough, but this would have been lunacy.

I tried to keep each side approximately the same length, which is why the addition of two tracks on Side B (it was actually too short to begin with!) And that's the studio version of "Summertime Blues" on Side D, by the way. The cover, of course, remains the same. Most of these tracks can be found on the deluxe edition of The Who Sell Out, while others are available on the band’s Thirty Years of Maximum R&B box set as well as other releases.