Happy 50th Birthday to The Who's Tommy!

The Who's Tommy turns 50 years old today. I was inspired by the music and the storytelling. Instead of a collection of unrelated singles, Tommy is a story. There are characters, a narrator and a story line that is the perfect mix of clarity and "it is up to the audience to decide what happens at the ending".

Story telling is a powerful tool. The Who continued with other concept albums - Who's Next and Quadrophenia.

The studio album Tommy and the live performance are very different. The album has a light rock sound to it with vocals mixed up front and guitars in the back. This made sense - focus on the story and Tommy. The live versions of Tommy were loud.

Below is from The Isle of Wight 1970.

Best live versions of Tommy? Live At Leeds and Isle of Wight. The 1982 Toronto show version is good too - for different reasons.

This summer will be the 50th anniversary of a lot of things connected to the 1960's - Woodstock and many great album releases. I hope there will be some new live show releases. Yes, I read about the Woodstock release - I'm not into limited editions for $800!! For that kind of money, I'll buy art or buy a few bottles of crazy good wine.