The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964.

Their classic lineup

consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass
guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered
one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century and have sold over 100
million records worldwide.

The Who developed from an earlier group, the Detours, and established themselves as
part of the pop art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying
guitars and drums on stage. Their first single as the Who, "I Can't Explain",
reached the UK top ten, and was followed by a string of hit singles including "My
Generation", "Substitute" and "Happy Jack". In 1967, they performed at the Monterey
Pop Festival and released "I Can See for Miles", their only US top ten single. The
group's fourth album, the 1969 rock opera Tommy, included the single "Pinball
Wizard" and was a critical and commercial success.

Live appearances at Woodstock in August 1969, and the Isle of Wight Festival in
1970, along with the concert album Live at Leeds in 1970, established their
reputation as a respected rock act. The success put pressure on lead songwriter
Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs from the
project made up the 1971 Who's Next, which included the hit "Won't Get Fooled
Again". The group released the concept album Quadrophenia in 1973 as a celebration
of their mod roots, and oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy in 1975. They
continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at
the end of 1976. The release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed by Moon's
death shortly after.

T O M M Y

Prologue

An opening montage of London is presented, beginning in 1940 with the initial

meeting and then marriage of the Walkers. Amidst World War II, the husband, Captain
Walker, parachutes into Germany, where he is captured as a prisoner of war by the
Nazis ("Overture"). Back in London at 22 Heathfield Gardens, the captain's brother
Ernie delivers a care package to the pregnant Mrs Walker just as two officers
arrive at the home to announce the disappearance and presumed death of her husband
("Captain Walker").

Act I

The following year, two nurses gently hand Mrs Walker her newborn son, Tommy;
later, in 1945, American troops liberate Captain Walker's POW camp, proclaiming the
end of the war ("It's a Boy" / "We've Won"). Mrs Walker has since attained a new
lover, and they celebrate her twenty-first birthday and discuss marriage together
with four-year-old Tommy ("Twenty-One"). To their surprise, Captain Walker enters
the house and a fight erupts between Captain Walker and the boyfriend. Mrs Walker
turns Tommy away, but he watches his father shoot the boyfriend to death through a
large mirror. Captain and Mrs Walker embrace but soon realise what Tommy has
witnessed, and violently shake him, telling him he did not see or hear anything
("What About the Boy"). The police arrive; Tommy simply gazes at the mirror in
silence. A narrator—Tommy's older self—appears to the audience, introducing and
framing the story of his exceptional childhood ("Amazing Journey").

Captain Walker is tried for murder but found not guilty by reasons of self-defense.
However, Tommy fails to celebrate his father's release, and his family quickly
realizes that he has apparently gone deaf, mute, and blind. Tommy's parents have
him undergo a battery of medical tests, to no avail ("Sparks"). At ten years of
age, Tommy's unresponsive state remains unchanged ("Amazing Journey – Reprise").
The Walkers all go to church and host a Christmas family dinner, though the family
is unnerved that Tommy does not know that it is Christmas or understand its
significance ("Christmas"). Everyone is stunned when Tommy responds only to his
uncle Ernie's, playing the French horn. Mr Walker, in a desperate attempt to reach
his son, shouts "Tommy, can you hear me?" multiple times. Older Tommy, only visible
to young Tommy, who persistently stares at the mirror, sings to him ("See Me, Feel
Me").

The Walkers leave Tommy with a slew of vicious babysitters, including alcoholic and
sexually abusive Uncle Ernie ("Do You Think It's Alright?" and "Fiddle About"), as
well as his cousin Kevin, a sadistic bully ("Cousin Kevin") [Keith Moon in the
film]. Cousin Kevin and his friends take Tommy to a youth club where, to everyone's
astonishment, Tommy plays pinball brilliantly ("Sensation"). Meanwhile, another
doctor, a psychiatrist, tests Tommy yet again with no success ("Sparks – Reprise").
The desperate Captain Walker is approached by The Hawker and Harmonica Player [Eric
Clapton in the film], ("Eyesight to the Blind") who promise a miraculous cure for
Tommy. They take young Tommy to the Isle of Dogs to find a prostitute called The
Gypsy [Tina Turner in the film], who tries to convince Captain Walker to let her
spend time alone with Tommy, introducing him to drugs ("The Acid Queen"). Horrified
by her methods, Captain Walker snatches Tommy away. By 1958, Tommy has apparently
become a pinball-playing expert as Cousin Kevin and a group of adolescents await
17-year-old Tommy's appearance at the amusement arcade, where his rise to local
popularity has begun ("Pinball Wizard")[Elton John in the film].

Act II

By 1960, Tommy has become the local pinball champion and hero of the neighborhood
lads ("Underture"). Captain Walker persists unsuccessfully in seeking doctors and a
cure for Tommy ("There's a Doctor" and "Go to the Mirror!"). One doctor discovers
that Tommy's senses do function but not at a self-aware or openly expressive level.
On the street, a group of local louts surround Tommy ("Tommy, Can You Hear Me?")
and carry him home. The Walkers, at their wits' end, passionately confront each
other in an effort to reconcile and face the reality that Tommy might never be
cured ("I Believe My Own Eyes"). Captain Walker leaves Mrs. Walker with Tommy.
Tommy stares into the mirror blankly as his mother tries desperately to reach him
one last time, before smashing the mirror in a rage ("Smash the Mirror"). With the
mirror in pieces, Tommy suddenly becomes fully lucid and interactive for the first
time since the age of four, and he leaves home ("I'm Free"). Through 1961 to 1963,
news of Tommy's miraculous regaining of full consciousness receives huge media
attention ("Miracle Cure"), Tommy is idolized by the public and the press
("Sensation – Reprise"), and he begins appearing in packed stadiums, playing
pinball with a helmet that temporarily blinds and deafens him ("Pinball Wizard –
Reprise"). Uncle Ernie tries to capitalise on Tommy's newfound stardom, by selling
cheap souvenirs for a grand opening party of Tommy's new holiday camp, resulting
from Tommy's cult-like following ("Tommy's Holiday Camp"). That night, an
adolescent fan named Sally Simpson falls from the stage in her eagerness to touch
Tommy and is pummeled by guards ("Sally Simpson"). Tommy, in horror, stops the show
and tends to Sally. He says he has had enough and decides to go home.

Realizing how caught up in celebrity he has become, Tommy wishes to do something in

return for his fans and invites them all back to his house ("Welcome"). Once there,
the population of fans keeps growing, though Tommy generously, but naïvely, wishes
to welcome everyone equally. Sally then asks Tommy how she can be more like him and
less like herself ("Sally Simpson's Question"). He is confused, and insists that
there is no reason for anyone to be like him, when everyone else already possesses
the amazing gifts that he was deprived of most of his life. He suddenly realises
that he had thought his fame came from his miraculous recovery, when it in fact
arose due to his fans desire for a spiritual leader, hoping he could communicate
wisdom from his experience of not being able to hear, see, or talk for so long.
Now, disenchanted with their hero for failing to provide the answers they wanted to
be told to them, the crowd turns on him in anger and eventually leaves ("We're Not
Gonna Take It"), leaving Tommy with just his family surrounding him. Tommy hears
the voice of his ten-year-old self from the mirror ("See Me, Feel Me") and for a
moment, to the horror of his family, seems to be reverting to his old state.
Instead, he turns to his family, whom he has ignored during his stardom, and
embraces them in acceptance, before he climatically reunites with his younger
selves onstage ("Listening to You/Finale").

NOTES: as there is no art included in the official 24bit, I added the book scans
from the similar CD release.

The Who - Tommy (Super Deluxe Edition)

Label: Geffen Records
Format: WEB, 70 files FLAC, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 24bit 96kHz HDtracks
Released: 2014
Originally released: 1969
Genre: Rock
Style: Rock Opera

The Original Album 2013 Remastered

01. Overture 5:20

02. It's A Boy 0:38
03. 1921 2:48
04. Amazing Journey 5:04
05. Sparks 2:05
06. The Hawker 2:14
07. Christmas 4:32
08. Cousin Kevin 4:06
09. The Acid Queen 3:34
10. Underture 10:04
11. Do You Think It's Alright? 0:24
12. Fiddle About 1:31
13. Pinball Wizard 3:01
14. There's A Doctor 0:23
15. Go To The Mirror! 3:47
16. Tommy Can You Hear Me? 1:35
17. Smash The Mirror 1:34
18. Sensation 2:28
19. Miracle Cure 0:12
20. Sally Simpson 4:10
21. I'm Free 2:39
22. Welcome 4:32
23. Tommy's Holiday Camp 0:57
24. We're Not Gonna Take It 7:06

MP3 @ 320 Size: 186 MB

Flac Size: 1.70 GB

Live In Canada - 1969 2013 live disc

All tracks are from the Capitol Theatre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 15 October 1969,
except for "I'm Free", "Tommy's Holiday Camp", "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "See
Me, Feel Me" which are from Swansea City Football Club, 12 June 1976.

25. Overture (Including Introduction) (Live) 7:00

26. It's A Boy (Live) 0:39
27. 1921 (Live) 2:28
28. Amazing Journey (Live) 5:07
29. Sparks (Live) 2:49
30. The Hawker (Eyesight to the Blind) (Live) 1:54
31. Christmas (Live) 3:11
32. The Acid Queen (Live) 3:30
33. Pinball Wizard (Live) 2:47
34. Do You Think It's Alright? (Live) 0:21
35. Fiddle About (Live) 1:12
36. Tommy Can You Hear Me? (Live) 0:55
37. There's A Doctor (Live) 0:24
38. Go To The Mirror! (Live) 3:22
39. Smash The Mirror (Live) 1:10
40. Miracle Cure (Live) 0:12
41. Sally Simpson (Live) 4:01
42. I'm Free (Live) 2:12
43. Tommy's Holiday Camp (Live) 0:48
44. We're Not Gonna Take It (Live) 3:28
45. See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You (Live) 7:51

MP3 @ 320 Size: 142 MB

Flac Size: 1.20 GB

Demos

46. Overture (Demo) 4:06

47. It's A Boy (Demo) 0:41
48. 1921 (Demo) 3:12
49. Amazing Journey (Demo) 4:47
50. Dream One (Demo) 3:09
51. Sparks (Demo) 7:39
52. The Hawker (Eyesight To The Blind) (Demo) 4:46
53. Christmas (Demo) 4:40
54. The Acid Queen (Demo) 3:34
55. Underture (Dream Two) (Demo) 1:49
56. Do You Think It's Alright? (Demo) 0:26
57. Pinball Wizard (Demo) 3:42
58. There's A Doctor (Demo) 0:24
59. Go To The Mirror! (Demo) 4:33
60. Success (Demo) 0:10
61. Tommy, Can You Hear Me? (Demo) 1:15
62. Smash The Mirror (Demo) 1:34
63. Sensation (Demo) 2:47
64. Miracle Cure (Demo) 0:11
65. Sally Simpson (Demo) 4:51
66. I'm Free (Demo) 2:29
67. Welcome (Demo) 3:26
68. We're Not Gonna Take It (Demo) 5:04
69. Trying To Get Through (Demo) 2:11
70. Young Man Blues 2:48

MP3 @ 320 Size: 185 MB

Flac Size: 1.60 GB