The Who -- Tommy

  Heavily ambitious, out conceptualizing the concept album, rock opera, Tommy.  Now first things first, do I think that Tommy out does The Who's previous efforts ... hardly!  As far as my overall opinion of this record, I can't say I loved it, I found the lyrics were over the top pretentiously juvenile ramblings of a young man with delusions grandeur and mental illness, I know it's suppose to be about enlightenment, but I'm not buying it.  Musically I feel the same way as I do about the lyrics.

  Album one is the most stable, well rounded, and Who sounding record of the set.  I don't really want to get into too many Tommy story details, I can safely assume if you are reading this you are aware of the tale. Otherwise it starts off from the beginning, birth, and then embarks into what is going to be Tommy's very strange existence.  I did like how they cleverly found a way to slip in a Sonny Boy Williamson cover, Eyesight To The Blind, to play into their theme.

  Album two, unlike the first record's clear song structure, they use snippet tunes to move the story along, which I found dumbed down the details of what was going on, for example, when Tommy was being molested by Uncle Ernie the descriptor was the band chanting, "fiddle about," which I guess would have been a young man's interpretation, but seemed to condescend a very serious moment in a boy's life, but at the same time what else could you say?  Then the, "deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball," c'mon give me a break, after all he's been through he becomes a Pinball Wizard, great tune musically with killer riffs, but cheesy as hell lyrically.  As Tommy's life goes on they determine that the problem is psychosomatic, there's some realization, a quote unquote Miracle Cure, and Tommy becomes a Sensation.  Sally Simpson, a story about a random follower/ fan, proves to be the most interesting element, I like the outsider perspective, it's about her struggles and tribulations in relation to Tommy's life, she gets a terrible gash on her face and marries a Californian rock star.  At the end of the album Tommy becomes a cult/ guru type figure, with his own cover your eyes and block your ears enlightenment pinball camp.

  My final thoughts on the album are that I find the records to be entities of their own, almost like they were recorded different years and could have been sold seperatly.  The first record has a Overture and an Underture with concise songs in the middle.  While the second record is a total mish-mash.  To me Tommy's camp sounds like Jonestown, through all his experiences and trials he becomes a narcissistic jerk.  And c'mon seriously a pinball enlightenment camp, with Uncle Ernie helping and exploiting Tommy ... bullsh*t!  But this mega classic is still great, it's a huge project to undertake, and is open to all kinds of analysis, just look how much I wrote and that was just scratching the surface, so even if my critique isn't all for it, not many albums are worthy of a four paragraph essay.  So Tommy I think I heard you!