The 500 - #115 - The Who Sell Out - The Who

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by New York-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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Album #:115
Album Title: The Who Sell Out 
Artist: The Who
Genre: Rock, Art Pop, Power Pop, Mod Pop
Recorded: Multiple Studios in London, Nashville, Los Angeles and New York

Released: December, 1967
My age at release: 2
How familiar was I with it before this week: Somewhat
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #316, dropping 201 places

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: I Can See For Miles

In the mid‑eighties, during a stretch when my Who obsession was in full bloom, I must have picked up The Who Sell Out a dozen times in local record shops, debating whether to add it to my growing collection. The cover alone made it hard to resist. Guitarist/singer Pete Townshend rolling an oversized deodorant stick under his arm beside lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, soaking in a bathtub of baked beans. Flip it over and the spoof ads continue. There is drummer Keith Moon smearing acne cream across his face, and bassist John Entwistle draped in cheetah print with a bikini‑clad model on his arm, pitching a Charles Atlas fitness program. It was all so wonderfully odd.

Back cover to The Who Sells Out.

Despite the lure of that wonderfully bizarre cover, I never actually bought the album. After spending time listening to it on Spotify recently, I wish I had. The whole record is a bright, mischievous collage of styles and sounds. It runs the gamut, from the satirical mini‑commercials (the brassy, almost Monty Pythonesque Heinz Baked Beans is my favourite) to explosive rockers such as I Can See For Miles. But then it surprises the listener with tender moments such as I Can’t Reach You or Sunrise. I played it for my wife on a drive from London to Niagara Falls and found myself pointing out how each track feels like a quick, clever burst of creativity. If one doesn’t grab you, just wait a minute. The Who will soon be chasing the next idea.

Album sleeve for single, I Can See For Miles.

There are several versions of this album floating around on Spotify. You can start with the original mono release, 13 tracks exactly as listeners heard them in 1967. There’s also the 1995 Deluxe Edition, which adds 10 bonus cuts, including a wonderfully unhinged psychedelic rock take on In the Hall of the Mountain King by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843–1907). And for the completists, the 2009 multi‑disc set offers both the stereo and original mono mixes, plus roughly thirty additional outtakes, ads, and curiosities that reveal just how much fun the band was having in the studio.

As I was scrolling through the various editions on Spotify, one cover stopped me cold. It featured a brunette woman standing in for Townshend and Daltrey, complete with deodorant roll‑on and a bathtub of baked beans. The album was titled Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out. Intrigued, I pressed play and was instantly rewarded. What I’d stumbled upon was a fully a cappella re‑creation of the record. Every instrumental line and harmony was not simply sung, but magnificently layered, textured and performed entirely by the voice of the woman on that cover, the astonishingly talented Petra Haden.

Album cover to Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sells Out.

My research, which had begun with the four lads from West London, England, took a sharp turn and landed me across the Atlantic with a multi‑instrumentalist from New York City. Born in 1971, she is one of three triplet sisters, the daughters of the legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden. Among his many accomplishments, Charlie spent years playing with Ornette Coleman. Their shared credits include the 1959 record The Shape of Jazz to Come, an album I wrote about in September, 2023, when it appeared at #248 on The 500.

Charlie Haden (1937-2014)

Musical brilliance clearly runs deep in the family. Her sister, Rachel Haden, plays bass for the Los Angeles rock band That Dog, while their other triplet, Tanya, is an accomplished artist, cellist, and singer, married to one of my all‑time favourite entertainers – actor, musician and comedian Jack Black. Imagine the creativity bursting out at their family reunions? I'd gladly man the barbeque just to be a "fly-on-the-wall" observer.

Jack Black and his wife, Tanya Haden.

As the story goes, it was musician and producer Mike Watt who suggested that Petra Haden record this all-vocal version of The Who’s third record, Sells Out. Watt recently toured with Iggy Pop and The Stooges (three records on The 500) and was also with the punk band Minutemen. My late friend Claudio Sossi wrote about the album Double Nickles on the Dime (#413) back in July, 2020. At Watt’s urging, Petra began this massive project.

Mike Watt.

She took the idea seriously, and ambitiously, with the goal of recreating the entire original album front-to-back -- not just the songs but the commercials, textures and instrumental lines, using only layered vocals. Every guitar riff, bass line, drum fill, horn blast, jingle, and harmony is sung by Petra herself, meticulously overdubbed track-by-track. It took her three years to complete and, when she decided to perform it live, she needed to assemble a 10-woman choir, which she dubbed The Sellouts.

Petra Haden (middle) and the Sellouts, perform the album live.

As it turns out, I saw Petra Haden perform long before I knew who she was. In 2006, my pal and frequent guest blogger, Steve “Lumpy” Sullivan, scored us box seats to see Bob Dylan at the then new John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. The opening act was the Foo Fighters, who were performing their hard rock catalogue with acoustic arrangements. Providing violin and backing vocals on that tour was none other than the talented Ms. Haden.

My ticket stub for Bob Dylan, The Foo Fighters and Petra Haden.

I didn't end up buying The Who Sell Out in the ’80s, but after re-issues, re-discoveries, chance encounters, and one astonishing a cappella cover, it found me. If there’s a moral to this story, it’s this: trust your curiosity, follow the weird detours, and never underestimate where a baked‑bean bathtub might lead.

The 500 - #248 - The Shape Of Jazz To Come - Ornette Coleman

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #248
Album Title: The Shape Of Jazz To Come
Artist: Ornette Coleman
Genre: Free Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz
Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA
Released: November, 1959
My age at release: Not born
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #417, down 169 spots from 248 since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Lonely Woman

As the 20th century girded for the hippies and the topsy turvy Swinging Sixties, the year 1959, marked a seismic shift in the world of jazz. In fact, In 2009, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) released a one-hour documentary, entitled 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz. It focused on the changes happening to jazz music at the time and how the genre was impacted and influenced by societal change. It is available on YouTube and is well worth the watch.

Between August and November of that pivotal year, four monumental jazz records were released: Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis; Time Out from The Dave Brubeck Quartet; Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus; and this week's record, The Shape Of Jazz To Come, by Ornette Coleman.

Four of the important and influential jazz records released in 1959.

I knew the music of Brubeck and Davis and was familiar with some of Mingus’ work. Kind Of Blue was the first jazz compact disc I purchased on the recommendation of a long-forgotten university classmate. Not only is it a personal Top Twenty record for me, it sits at position #12 on The 500 list. Time Out from Dave Brubeck's Quartet is also a record I have owned. It features the well-known jazz standard Take Five, which became a hit single on pop record charts in the 1960s and remains the biggest selling jazz single of all time. If I was going to introduce someone to Jazz, those two records would be worthy examples of the genre and safe bets for the uninitiated.

Single for Take Five by Dave Brubeck Quartet

Ornette Coleman is new to me. I knew nothing about him or his music but was delighted to learn of his powerful impact. Coleman helped develop the sub-genre of avant-garde, or free, jazz which eschews established conventions that include tempo, tone and traditional chord changes. Converts to the emerging style believed more improvisation would enhance the sounds of bebop and modal jazz established in the 1940s and 1950s. Following a move to California in 1958, Coleman connected with like-minded musicians willing to embark on his spontaneous form of music-making, and his first album, Something Else, was released.

It is now lauded as groundbreaking, but was poorly received at the time, with critics calling it "freakishly structured" and "dissonant". Established jazz heavyweight Miles Davis even questioned Coleman's sanity and felt he was "all screwed up inside." Davis, like many others, would come around to the genius of Coleman.

Legendary jazz musician, Miles Davis.

I've been thinking a lot lately about improvisation and risk-taking. I am currently part of a community theatre group that is in the "dress-rehearsal" stage of our preparation for eight Autumn performances. Right now, each rehearsal is a full run-through. If a player makes a mistake, such as flubbing a line, he, or she, is expected to keep going, improvising as necessary to get the scene back on track.

Poster for the upcoming theatre production I am in.

On several occasions I have tripped up only to find the recovery is both terrifying and exhilarating – terrifying to realize your error, then exhilarating at an extemporaneous recovery. A bonus is the euphoric rush of endorphins at the end of the scene. Phew! I imagine Coleman and his bandmates felt much the same as they pushed their musical experiments to the limit.

Coleman (right) with one iteration of his quartet.

An interesting aside to this evolution in jazz is that the trumpet player who worked with Coleman for many years, including the recording of this record, was the legendary Don Cherry. (NOTE: not to be confused with the Canadian hockey broadcaster Don Cherry, -- although, the idea of the blunt, brash, politically-incorrect former hockey player playing free jazz trumpet in his garishly loud suits and high collars makes me chuckle).

Canadian former broadcaster Don Cherry

I discovered trumpeter Don Cherry in 1997 through the music of his son, Eagle-Eye Cherry, and his debut record Desireless.

Desireless, the debut record from Eagle-Eye Cherry (1997)

Years ago, I bought Eagle-Eye's compact disc for his hit song, Save Tonight, and my wife and I fell in love with the entire album. It includes the title track, Desireless, an extended performance built from a hauntingly beautiful trumpet motif showcased originally by his father on his 1973 free jazz record, Relativity Suite.

Relativity Suite, from Don Cherry (1973)

Coleman died in June, 2015, at the age of 85. His pioneering work is now revered among jazz critics and fans as groundbreaking and seminal. It turns out his improvisational experiment paid off and, during the final decades of his life, he was lauded by his peers. Honours included a Pulitzer Prize for Music and a Lifetime Grammy Award. In 2009, he was accorded the prestigious Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Not bad for someone who was once considered "screwed up inside.”