By GRAHAM REID
(Herald rating: * * * * *)
Also in this reissue series (like the earlier Donna Summers' Bad Girls, Blind Faith, Frampton Comes Alive, among others getting the expanded treatment) is this double CD. It follows last year's reissue of their classic Who's Next which was given an expanded
reissue with live tracks.
Tommy of '69 might not have been the first rock opera - that honour goes to the Pretty Things' SF Sorrow the previous year - but it was the first anyone actually listened to. Reason? It was essentially a series of individual songs which carried the off-kilter narrative and was populated by character-driven songs such as It's a Boy, Cousin Kevin, Fiddle About (the paedophilia song delivered in all its sleaziness by drummer Keith Moon and written by the late bassist John Entwhistle) and Sally Simpson.
A few hits were sprung out of it, especially after Ken Russell's movie treatment (Elton doing Pinball Wizard, Tina Turner as The Acid Queen) but this is the first and best version. It is musically tight (an opera without an orchestra is a good thing) and Moon's drumming was not only the driving force behind Townshend's taut guitar work and Entwhistle's insinuating bass but a melodic instrument in itself.
The additional disc adds little - it's out-takes, demos, and studio banter - but it does confirm Moon's reputation as a ferocious, idiosyncratic drummer with a maniacal laugh which must have been terrifying if you heard it coming down your driveway late at night.
Label: Universal
