Pete Townshend - Who Demos, Volume 4: Tommy (1968-1969)

Earlier this month, the Who released a studio album of all new material, simply called "Who." It's their first new album since "Endless Wire" in 2006. It's surprisingly good, and certainly better than "Endless Wire." A lot of Who fans are saying it's the band's best since "Who Are You" in 1978 or "Who by Numbers" in 1975.

In celebration of that new release, I wanted to post something Who-related, and this Pete Townshend album of demos is next on my "to do" list. But first, note that I'm adding two bonus tracks from the new Who album to an album I've already posted. Most versions of the new album come with three bonus tracks. But one of them, "Got Nothing to Prove," is actually a Pete Townshend demo from 1966 with some new overdubs to give it more of a full, Who-like sound. It's a nice song, but in my opinion it seems extremely out of place on the new album. Townshend's voice alone places it in the 1960s.

Furthermore, the Who have released another bonus track, "Sand." But this one is only available on the Japanese version of the new album! Either that, or one can buy it on a "deluxe" version of the new album, with only this one extra song, for $50. Just like "Got Nothing to Prove," "Sand" really is a Townshend demo from 1966, with new overdubs to give it a fuller sound. I think it's an even better song, but it also feels extremely out of place in context of the new album. I think it's unreasonable for fans to have to pay $50 or track down a Japanese album just for one song.

Thus, I've just added both of these songs to my album of 1966 Who stray tracks, "Ready Steady Go." It's debatable if these are Who songs or Pete Townshend songs. Even though Townshend is probably the only member of the Who on both of them, I've decided to consider them Who songs, since they're released that way, and they've been fleshed out to fit with a Who sound.

Here's the link to the updated version of my 1966 Who album, with the two songs added:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-who-ready-steady-who-various-songs.html

Now, let me get to this album. This is very straight forward. These are all Pete Townshend demos of the Who's 1969 album "Tommy," listed in the same order as that album. "Tommy" was released in mid-1969, but most if not all of the demos actually date to 1968.

All these demos have been officially released, as part of a "super deluxe" edition of "Tommy" released in 2013. Normally, I wouldn't want to post released material like this. But I'm making an exception so there won't be a whole in my long chronological series of albums collecting Pete Townshend's demos of Who songs.

By the way, the instrumental "Dream One" appears here but not on the final "Tommy" album. 

UPDATE: On November 12, 2022, I updated the mp3 download file. I didn't add or remove any songs. However, I changed the title of the album from "Volume 3" to "Volume 4," due to splitting "Volume 2" into two albums. So I changed the cover art and info on all the mp3 tags.

01 Overture [Instrumental] (Pete Townshend)
02 It's a Boy (Pete Townshend)
03 1921 (Pete Townshend)
04 Amazing Journey (Pete Townshend)
05 Dream One [Instrumental] (Pete Townshend)
06 Sparks [Instrumental] (Pete Townshend)
07 Eyesight to the Blind [The Hawker] (Pete Townshend)
08 Christmas (Pete Townshend)
09 The Acid Queen (Pete Townshend)
10 Underture [Dream Two] [Instrumental] (Pete Townshend)
11 Do You Think It's Alright (Pete Townshend)
12 Pinball Wizard (Pete Townshend)
13 There's a Doctor (Pete Townshend)
14 Go to the Mirror (Pete Townshend)
15 Success (Pete Townshend)
16 Tommy Can You Hear Me (Pete Townshend)
17 Smash the Mirror (Pete Townshend)
18 Sensation (Pete Townshend)
19 Miracle Cure (Pete Townshend)
20 Sally Simpson (Pete Townshend)
21 I'm Free (Pete Townshend)
22 Welcome (Pete Townshend)
23 We're Not Gonna Take It (Pete Townshend)

https://www.imagenetz.de/c5m6U

For the cover art, I used a photo of Townshend in his home studio around 1968 or 1969. But it didn't seem "Tommy"-esque enough for me. So I overlaid the "Tommy" album cover and let that show around the edges. Finally, I tinted to photo blue to better match the "Tommy" artwork.