For immediate release
“TOMMY” BY THE WHO
Super Deluxe Boxset And Deluxe Edition
Remastered with 20 Unreleased Demos, A Full Unreleased Live Version Of Tommy and Hi Fidelity 5.1 Mix
Released November 11th 2013
(Toronto, ON – 28 August 2013) – Tommy, The Who’s defining, breakthrough concept album – a full-blown rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy that launched the band to international superstardom, is to be released in Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions this autumn.
In May 1969, The Who were at a career crossroads. They were known mainly as a singles band, but the release of Tommy launched them as a serious ‘albums band’ and has now sold over 20 million copies while regularly turning up on lists of the most influential albums of all time.
Coming after The Who Sell Out in 1967, it marked a complete change in style with Pete Townshend’s lengthy conceptual narrative bringing exciting new opportunities to rock music. Tommy was and remains an ambitious, complex and controversial work, which was initially banned by the BBC.
These new Deluxe and Super Deluxe versions of the album come with a wealth of previously unheard material in the form of 20 demos from Townshend’s archive and also a full live performance of Tommy from 1969 taken from tapes that infamously Townshend asked the band’s sound engineer to burn!
Eighteen of the previously unheard and thought to be long lost live tracks are taken from a live show at the Capital Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario, on 15 October 1969. Three others, ‘I’m Free’, ‘Tommy’s Holiday Camp’ and ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ were lost due to tape reels being changed during the show so are taken from later shows of the same era.
As discussed at length in Pete Townshend’s autobiography, the tapes were all supposed to be destroyed, but were kept by long time Who sound man Bob Pridden, despite Pete’s instructions.
The Super Deluxe box also features a 5.1 mix featuring the complete album remixed in Surround Sound on new Hi Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray format.
As well as the music, the limited edition Super Deluxe boxset comes with a hardback 80-page, full-colour book featuring rare period photos, memorabilia, a 20,000-word essay by legendary Who aficionado Richard Barnes, and a rare facsimile Tommy poster housed in a hard-back deluxe slip-case.
TRACKLISTING AND FURTHER INFORMATION
Super-Deluxe Edition
Disc 1 – The original album (2013 re-master)
Digitally re-mastered in HD
Disc 2 – The demos and out-takes
Features 20 previously unreleased tracks from Pete Townshend’s demo archive.
Disc 3 – The 5.1 album mix – Hi Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray
The complete album remixed in surround sound on new Hi Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray format
Disc 4 – The live ‘bootleg’ album
Features 21 previously-unreleased tracks from various live shows from 1969
Hardback 80-page full-colour book featuring rare period photos and memorabilia
20,000-word essay by legendary Who aficionado Richard Barnes
Rare facsimile Tommy poster
Limited edition, housed in a hard-back deluxe slip-case
Tracklisting:
Disc 1 The original album (2013 re-master)
Disc 2 Demos & extras
Tracks 1 – 23 – Pete Townshend – original demos.
All previously unreleased except 2, 11 and 12 – released in 2003
Track 24 – The Who – studio demo/out-take.
Track 25 – The Who – studio recording (NOTE: This version was previously only available on ‘The House That Track Built’ vinyl sampler).
Disc 3 Hi Fidelity Pure Audio –Blu-ray disc (5.1 mixes)
Disc 4 Live Bootleg
OTHER FORMATS OF THE WHO’s TOMMY DELUXE EDITION
Physical
2-CD deluxe, digi-pak
CD 1 Original album remastered
CD 2 Live Bootleg
1-CD remastered version
Original album (single disc)
Deluxe vinyl edition
2-piece, heavyweight
Original LP configuration
UVINYL Website
Exclusive vinyl version of live ‘bootleg’ album
Hi Fidelity Pure Audio (Blu-ray)
‘Stand-alone’ original album mixed in 5.1
Digital Formats
Super-deluxe box set
Tracks from SDE box, excluding 5.1 mixes
+ MFiT version (iTunes only)
Digital deluxe edition
‘Mirror’ of 2-CD physical
+ MFiT version (iTunes only)
Digital album (original album)
Mirror’ of 1-CD physical
+ MFiT version (iTunes only)
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