lets talk about the Who!

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 kingofbizzare wrote:

That title would have to go to the highly underrated Sell Out, which was designed like a radio broadcast (complete with commercials).

I wouldn't go with The Who Sell Out as their first concept. Townshend in remastering the album,  included a lot of outtakes  which seem to me remove any consistency for a concept - so I would suggest he didn't see the album as a concept. Further, this album represents the Who's management (Mr Kit Lambert) further exploiting a contract they had with the English pirate radio station Radio London (the BIG L), to write the advertising jingles and some station IDs (little known fact Townshend/Moon were responsible for the music of a long term British ad favourite for Heinz Baked Beans  - hence Daltry's cover pose!), by putting said ads etc. onto a record. Coincidently I Can See For Miles was only a no.1 in the Radio London  chart , (it was certainly played very heavily by the station) and at best No 2 was the highest position elsewhere in the UK charts. At the time Townshend claimed this single was the last chance they gave the British record buyers to give the Who a number one single hit - and as a result the Who decamped to played North America in preferences and amassed their significant fame over there in the next 2 years: what was America gain was the UK's loss.

As written elsewhere, A Quick One (Whilst he's Away), is a makeshift solution to Townhend having  few standard length songs ready for an LP. Lambert discovered PT had 5 or 6 songs only part started and suggested that these should bunged together to make a single tune to end fill the album (hence its disjoinedness). As an afterthought it was called a mini-opera.