CCMusic.com

• Track Listing

Rewind back before the Broadway musical, the Ken Russell film, the Woodstock set and all the hoopla and there lies Tommy, just a fantastic double-album that introduced the idea of the rock opera to the world. Behind the bombast and the overarching story of that "deaf, dumb and blind kid" lay a stellar set of Townshend songs that would have turned the Who into superstars even without the operatic trappings: Pinball Wizard; I’m Free; We’re Not Gonna Take It; Tommy Can You Hear Me?; Christmas; Amazing Journey; Go to the Mirror!; The Acid Queen; It’s a Boy, and more. The single CD here features the remastered album, and the deluxe edition adds 21 live recordings from 1969 performances, all previously unissued (all of the aforementioned songs and more). Disc three comes only in the super deluxe set: Pete Townshend’s original demos (23 of them including all the songs above and more), the outtake Trying to Get Through and the song Young Man Blues (previously available only in the vinyl sampler The House That Track Built). Also in the super deluxe version: a Blu-Ray disc with high-fidelity pure audio of the complete album (5.1 mix) and an 80-page, full-color hardcover book with a 20,000-word essay, lots of period photos and memorabilia—and, for your wall, a Tommy poster! Geffen.