Released in December 1967, The Who Sell Out reflected a remarkable year in popular culture. The album was originally planned by Pete Townshend and the band’s managers Kit Lambert & Chris Stamp, as a loose concept album including jingles and commercials linking the songs stylized as a pirate radio broadcast. This concept was born out of necessity as their label and management wanted a new album and Townshend felt that he didn’t have enough songs.

The new Super Deluxe Edition of The Who Sell Out features 112 tracks, 47 of which are unreleased, an 80-page, hard-back full-color book, including rare period photos, memorabilia, track by track annotation and new sleeve notes by Pete Townshend.

The Super Deluxe package also includes nine posters & inserts, including replicas of 20” x 30” original Adrian George album poster, a gig poster from The City Hall, Newcastle, a Saville Theatre show 8-page program, a business card for the Bag o’ Nails club, Kingly Street, a Who fan club photo of group, a flyer for Bath Pavilion concerts including The Who, a crack-back bumper sticker for Wonderful Radio London, Keith Moon’s Speakeasy Club membership card and a Who Fan Club newsletter.

As tasters for the set a series of digital EP’s are being released, the second of which includes three of the “jingles” that the band recorded to link together the songs on the album.

The Sell Out Jingles Digital EP

1. “Heinz Baked Beans (Takes 1 & 3)” (Previously unreleased in this form Take 3 is a new remix)
2. “John Mason Cars” / “Speakeasy” / “Rotosound Strings” / “Bag O’Nails” (Previously Unreleased)
3. “Premier Drums (Takes 1 & 4)” (New remix previously unreleased in this form)

Listen here.

The homage to pop-art is evident in both the advertising jingles and the iconic sleeve design created by David King who was the art director at the Sunday Times, and Roger Law who invented the Spitting Image TV show. The sleeve features four advertising images, taken by the renowned photographer David Montgomery, of each band member Odorono deodorant (Pete Townshend), Medac spot cream (Keith Moon), Charles Atlas (John Entwistle) and Roger Daltrey & Heinz baked beans. The story goes that Roger Daltrey caught pneumonia from sitting in the cold beans for too long.

The Who Sell Out is a bold depiction of the period in which it was made, the tail-end of the “swinging-60s” meets pop-art mixed with psychedelia and straight-ahead pop. It’s a glorious blend of classic powerful Who instrumentation, melodic harmonies, satirical lyrical imagery crystallized for what was only the group’s third album. The album’s ambition and scope is unrivalled by the Who, or any other act from that period.  

Within the bold concept, were a batch of fabulous and diverse songs. “I Can See for Miles,” a top ten hit at the time, is a Who classic. “Rael,” a Townshend “mini-opera” with musical motifs that reappeared in Tommy and the psychedelic blast of “Armenia City In The Sky” and “Relax” are among the very best material anyone wrote during the 1960s

One of the most extraordinary albums of any era, The Who Sell Out is The Who’s last “pop” album. Two years later came Tommy – a double concept album about a deaf, dumb and blind kid.

The Who Sell Out Super Deluxe Edition:

Disc 1 - Original mono mix, mono As & Bs and unreleased mono mixes
Disc 2 - Original stereo mix and stereo bonus tracks
Disc 3 - Studio out-takes, ‘fly-on-the-wall’ versions of early takes of songs from the album sessions, ‘studio chat’ etc.
Disc 4 - The Road to Tommy will contain stereo mixes of the studio tracks recorded in 1968 - some previously unreleased - plus 1968 As and Bs mono mixes (all tracks remixed from original 4 and 8-track session tapes in The Who vault)
Disc 5 - 14 of Pete Townshend’s original demos, previously unreleased & exclusive to this set

Bonus 7” Discs:

1. Track U.K. 45 repro “I Can See for Miles“ (early mono mix with single-tracked vocal) & “Someone’s Coming“ (original U.K. Track single mix with single-tracked vocal)
2. Decca U.S.A. 45 repro “Magic Bus“ (U.S./U.K. mono) & “Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde“ (original U.S. Decca single mix)

80-page, hard-back full-color book, including rare period photos, memorabilia & Track annotation and new liner notes by Pete Townshend with comments from from Pete Drummond (Radio Caroline DJ), Chris Huston (Talentmasters Studio), Richard Evans (designer), Roy Flynn (Speakeasy Club manager), Arnold Schwartzman (designer) & Andy Neill (Who biographer).

Memorabilia:

Nine posters & inserts, including replicas of:

20” x 30” original Adrian George poster
Gig poster - City Hall, Newcastle: The Who, Traffic & The Tremeloes
Saville Theatre 8-page program
Business card for the Bag o’ Nails club, Kingly Street
Fan Club photo of group
Flyer for Bath Pavilion concerts including The Who
Crack-back bumper sticker for Wonderful Radio London
Keith Moon’s Speakeasy Club membership card
Who Fan Club newsletter

Other formats:

- 2 LP deluxe (stereo) vinyl version, featuring the original album and extras highlights from box set.
- D2C 2LP deluxe (mono) vinyl version featuring the original album and extras highlights from box set pressed on colored vinyl; disc 1 “Odorono“ red / disc 2 “Baked Bean“ orange.
- 2-CD edition 6-panel digi-pak with a 16-page booklet.
- Also available in a variety of Digital formats