The Opinion Review

Deaf dumb and blind boy… Lives in a quiet vibration land.

The Who’s Tommy is a bit of rock and roll genius. A story of love, life and success. A story of how a deaf dumb and blind boy starts a new religion. All based on his handicaps and the game of pinball… It just don’t get much better than that.

Sure there are other “concept” records but Pete Townshend just seems to do it better than most. The fact that it is the first one and therefore the godfather of all the rest makes it the most respected for me. And many, like Rush’s 2112 just seem to pale in comparison.

  The music is very “pretty”. I love the chord patterns on the record. I have always loved music that tends to pull at the heart strings. Yet The Who is the godfather of punk so it also has attitude. As Tommy’s followers in the end write him off as a flake. “We forsake you, gonna rape you, let’s forget you better still.”

The drums are of course awesome.. Kieth Moon get’s busy as usual..And the drum sound (the recording) is maybe the best I have heard. Those premier drums just really sound good on that record.

Sometimes when I hear it I think I hear mistakes during the recording. Flawed guitar stuff… It’s like they kinda recorded it in a hurry or just said…”Hell, that’s good enough.” That is my kind of stuff because most of my recordings sound like demo’s…Since that’s what they are. But it’s great to hear mistakes on a “real album.

Tommy shines as the 60’s drug fueled messiah.  They say if you put a candle in the middle of the room and listen to the entire record you will “see god” It’s like a spiritual experiance. Of course all of pete Townshends stuff has spiritual undertones. He’s a very spiritual guy.

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