Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band The Who, a double album first released in May 1969. The album was mostly composed by guitarist Pete Townshend as a rock opera that tells the story about a deaf, dumb and blind boy, including his experiences with life and his relationship with his family. Townshend came up with the concept of Tommy after being introduced to the work of Meher Baba, and attempted to translate Baba's teachings into music. Recording on the album began in September 1968, but took six months to complete as material needed to be arranged and re-recorded in the studio. Tommy was acclaimed upon its release by critics, who hailed it as the Who's breakthrough.
In April 2017 The Who took to the stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall to perform their rock opera “Tommy” live in its entirety for the first time in their long and illustrious career. Previous Who live shows had always dropped two, three or four tracks from the album but for this show in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust the band would perform every track…
The Who's defining, breakthrough concept album - a full-blown rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy that launched the band to international superstardom, written almost entirely by Pete Townshend is now available as a new LIMITED EDITION Super Deluxe version that that includes 4 audio discs, an 80 page hardback book and a poster…
The full-blown rock opera about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy that launched the band to international superstardom, written almost entirely by Pete Townshend. Hailed as a breakthrough upon its release, its critical standing has diminished somewhat in the ensuing decades because of the occasional pretensions of the concept and because of the insubstantial nature of some of the songs that functioned as little more than devices to advance the rather sketchy plot. Nonetheless, the double album has many excellent songs, including "I'm Free," "Pinball Wizard," "Sensation," "Christmas," "We're Not Gonna Take It," and the dramatic ten-minute instrumental "Underture." Though the album was slightly flawed, Townshend's ability to construct a lengthy conceptual narrative brought new possibilities to rock music…
Celebrating 50 Years Of The Who’s Tommy. Performed by Roger Daltrey, with members of The Who band and the orchestra conducted by Keith Levenson with orchestration from David Campbell. 24 track live album recorded in Budapest and Bethel in upstate New York, the scene of the first Woodstock festival 50 years ago, was produced by Roger and Keith Levenson and features the core band of Simon Townshend – Vocals / Guitar, Frank Simes – Guitar, Scott Devours – Drums, Jon Button – Bass, and Loren Gold – keyboards, all of whom have played with The Who live. Keith Levenson conducted The Budapest Scoring Orchestra from new orchestrations by David Campbell.