The Who Sell Out

This is a very middling album from a great band. It's a 'concept' album, with lots of pseudo-ads scattered through it, as if we were listening to pirate radio off the coast of London or something.......
All that aside (which gets tiring fairly quickly), most of the songs here are nothing to get too excited about. 'I Can See For Miles' is, well, miles above the rest, which just plod along without much purpose or interest. Special mention to 'Silas Stingy' which is pretty much a low point in The Who's recorded history - it's baaaaaad.

The Who are widely regarded as one of the most important bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Albums such as "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" have made rock history, bringing the concept album — typically associated with progressive rock — into the mainstream. "The Who Sell Out" is one of a series of early concept albums released in 1967. In effect, the album is a fictional radio broadcast complete with advertising jingles. The album also features "I Can See for Miles", a classic from The Who’s repertoire that hints at the band’s subsequent musical development. But apart from that, though? The album is more of a time capsule, reproducing the sound of an era that we can no longer view without a romanticised lens. I must admit that I found it a bit boring listening to it today, perhaps because I’m not really that keen on sixties mod pop. Musically, what stands out to me above all else is Keith Moon’s drumming, as he constantly attempts to break free from the simple 4/4 time signature. To put it bluntly, it's not my favourite album by the band. It's historically significant, but musically it could have been better.

Armenia City In The Sky - 87
Heinz Baked Beans - 65
Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand - 85
Odorono - 81
Tattoo - 88
Our Love Was - 86
I Can See For Miles - 98
I Can't Reach You - 88
Medac - 72
Relax - 82
Silas Stingy - 74
Sunrise - 78
Rael (1 And 2) - 84

The Who Sell Out - 85

Not The Who’s best effort, but not a bad album. I liked the concept of it being a radio program. I understand why I can see for miles is the only song off here that’s put in hits compilations.

Easily the worst The Who album we've gotten out of 5 or 6. Just standard 60s rock but annoying.

ive liked other albums from the who but this was incredibly irritating

Meh. Nothing of note in here. I don't mind the jingles though.

I'm not really sure what to make of this. I actually like The Who, but “Sell Out” really is... something you have to get used to. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it's particularly experimental or innovative. Instead, they're trying their hand at a weird concept album, where the whole concept consists of sounding like a teleshopping show. Does anyone really need that?

Lots of gear tracks but also some sixties silliness.

Better than Coldplay

"I Can See For Miles" ist ein Klasse Psychedelic Rock Song. Die anderen wirklichen Songs hier sind größtenteils schwach bis mittelmäßig. Dann dazwischen diese gewollt lustigen Radio-Fetzen... nee.
Nicht unhörbar, aber auch nicht viel mehr als das.
2/5 - unterdurchschnittlich

abcs

Honestly, I get that this is kinda a beloved deep cut album from fans of the band from my understanding, but I'm not getting it. The concept with advertisements inbetween every song isn't doing anything for me, and I'm just not into this style from The Who. Basically the only song that really works is I Can See for Miles, which sounds like a quintessential Who song, whereas the rest of the songs are too light and airy, with Moon's drumming buried too far in the mix.

Additionally, their forays into psychedelic rock aren't great. I know The Who to be a band that ROCKS. Not a band that dicks around with silly Ren Faire horns and whatnot.

They would expand a bit more on Tommy, and finally come into their own with Who's Next.

Perfectly OK album, but yeah. Nothing special. Definitely doesn't belong on the list, should have put Quadrophenia on instead. Definitely hearing a lot of sounds on this that they would reuse on later albums to much better effect (Such as the guitar lick in Sunrise being suspiciously similar to Pinball Wizard). Definitely feels like a "Test shit out" album.

Woof, this is definitely the roughest Who album. The moments they're jamming and doing normal vocals are great, but then it gets hampered by the bit of it being a commercial. So no, not a must listen I'd say. Unless you're one of those guys who think fart sounds are high art.

I recognize a few of these tracks by title, but have never listened to this album start-to-finish. The tracks I do recognize aren't my favorite songs by The Who, and what I do know about this album doesn't give me high hopes.

The only track really worth listening to here is "I Can See For Miles" and it's not even that good. If the title of this list was "1001 Albums Should Know About Before You Die," sure, this album belongs on that list. But this troll album is nowhere near a "must listen."

An exquisitely British concept, no doubt, but these Brits may have wasted their idea by using it at a time when they were in a musical slump. A lot of the instrumentation and vocals sounded cheap and low-effort, and the usual creative songwriting by Pete Townshend didn't seem to be there. I can see where they were going with "Heinz Baked Beans" and "I Can See For Miles", maybe even the opener, "Armenia City in the Sky", and the rest seemed rather uninspired. Even "Tattoo", as silly as it was, was at least on-brand silliness for the Who, but one definitely has to be in a mood to stomach silliness and uninspired.

Masterpiece!

The album you REALLY have to hear before you die is Petra Haden’s note for note a cappella version of The Who Sell Out.

I enjoyed this weird album much more than I expected. I'm an annoying Who purist who "only likes their early stuff" and I always avoided Who Sell Out because it seemed like the turning point to their more pretentious high-minded prog-adjacent arena rock. The concept of the album is whatever, but I loved almost every song. They all sound somewhere between the Kinks and the Residents. And it's quite tongue-in-cheek and goofy, but also weirdly heartfelt. Plus, "I Can See For Miles" might be the best Who song.

I'm not a big who fan but this was actually a great concept album. I liked the skits as transitions and the playfulness. I can't say it's a 4 from me but I feel guilty for the 3 I'm alotting it because it's somewhat north of that.

Didnt care much for the ads or the music