It seems like in the music industry, there are certain albums
which are unofficially considered “sacred cows” by the fans. These
are the albums considered to be untouchable classics, and heaven
help anyone who dares to speak negatively about them.
In the past, I’ve not been afraid to tackle some of these
albums, with mixed results. But I do have to admit, right off the
bat, that I’ve never really liked
Tommy, the 1969 “rock opera” that cemented The Who’s place
in the annals of rock history. Since the time I bought my battered
vinyl copy when I was about 17 to today, when I listened to the
album via compact disc, I’ve always wondered why people hold this
album in such high regard.
Granted, this could be seen as the album which made rock music
acceptable for the “high-brow” crowd: a story told with electric
guitars. It’s been powerful enough to be the focus of one of the
many Who reunion tours, a major motion picture, a symphonic
rendering, and even a Broadway musical. But when you boil it down
to the essentials,
Tommy is a rather disturbing tale backed with a selection of
questionable music — though some of it is fabulous.
For the moment, let’s forget the three hits off of the album –
namely, “Pinball Wizard,” “I’m Free” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
Chances are these songs are as familiar to you as the picture on
your driver’s license. Let’s also not get into the re-telling of
the plot, as there are enough differences of view on it to rival
the Kennedy assassination in terms of theories.
The issues I have with
Tommy are two-fold. First and foremost, the music often
seems disjointed and has an air of under-achievement. Sure, tracks
like “Christmas,” “Overture” and “Eyesight To The Blind” stand out
as being exceptional, showing the power of Pete Townshend and crew.
But more often than not, the musical structure of the songs seems
like they were not fully developed. Maybe it’s not that tracks like
“Tommy, Can You Hear Me?” and “Fiddle About” are bad, it’s just
that they could have been so much more.
Forget, for a moment, the content of “Fiddle About,” which is a
tad disturbing. But if you compare it to a song like “Cousin
Kevin,” which also features the central character getting abused
(albeit in a different way), there’s a real hatred you build up
against the school bully as he details the ways he’ll “have fun”
with
Tommy. Uncle Ernie, the lead character of “Fiddle About,” is
merely passed off as a drunken pervert — and, frankly, while
there’s some outrage this one builds, it’s not quite as strong as
it needed to be.
Likewise, the music has a confused air about it, as if The Who
wasn’t comfortable with turning up the amps and going into
full-smash mode this time around. In terms of power, the songs on
Tommy just don’t have the wattage to light up my speakers –
surprising when you compare the whole album with the well-known
tracks.
The second issue is the story itself. Yes, I find many aspects
of it bothersome – but my quarrel isn’t with that. No, it’s that
the story moves far too fast to really come up with some
explanation of why
Tommy remains in his deaf, dumb and blind world and how he
goes from Helen Keller-like rigidity to becoming a Jim Jones-like
character (as illustrated in “Sally Simpson” and “We’re Not Gonna
Take It”). I’ll concede that, due to time and space limitations on
vinyl, certain aspects of the story had to be truncated, otherwise
this would have been something like a six-album box set. But there
is much more information needed to make this story a complete
picture.
Biased, you say? Actually, I went into this listen of
Tommy wanting to like it. After all, it is revered by Who
fans as one of, if not the, ultimate Who album. But like other
cultural icons such as The Beatles’
White Album, I have no choice in the end but to admit that,
while it has some bright moments,
Tommy seems to be much ado about nothing.
