Haden, Petra - The Who Sell Out

In the world of music, high-minded concepts go a long way towards affording the people involved at least a little bit of recognition. There’s the string quartet versions of Metallica songs, lounge versions of popular songs, muzak version of grunge hits, etc. etc.

Needless to say, it puts us music lovers and writers wondering if we could ever be surprised by anything ever again. I know that whenever I get a batch of CDs to review from my good friend, Tim, I grimace a little because I know after I pull out the stuff that I’m already familiar with and the stuff that at least could be interesting because of the people involved, there’s still about 40 CDs or so waiting for me to fight through because the majority thereof will not be worth the plastic they are pressed on.

So, imagine my surprise when I heard about a record that the mere idea of it alone had me doing double takes and wondering what in the world was going on. That concept: an entirely a cappella version of The Who’s The Who Sell Out. I don’t just mean a bunch of voices working through the lyrics and melodies, but rather a panoply of voices approximating the guitars, drums, bass, everything. This had to have been some ridiculous hoax. Curious as I was, I (and don’t tell anyone this) found a copy on the Internet and gave it a shot. Again, imagine my surprise, I have not been able to stop listening to this for about a week now.

What immediately grabbed me was the obvious amount of work that Ms. Haden had to put into this. Each song is full to the brim with voices, double and triple tracked for each part. The ability to keep up with that many parts is enough to afford our respect. As well, you have to applaud Ms. Haden’s restraint with the instrumental vocal parts. She is dealing with a band featuring three virtuoso players that would be almost impossible to ape to a clear facsimile style. Instead, she sifts each part down to its barest elements and only puts out as much as necessary to give the approximation of what the original sounds like. She obviously understands that when we listen to music, there are certain elements that our ears naturally gravitate towards unless we are willfully paying attention to an individual part. In doing so, she pays homage to the original while making the songs all her own at the same time. And isn’t that the whole point of tribute discs like this?

The only time Ms. Haden falls flat is when she has no choice but to cut to the heart of the song and try to approximate as best she can one of Pete Townshend’s ringing guitar solos. For example, the version of “Our Love Was” on this disc is amazingly enrapturing right up until the “Broawr, roawr…” sounds come soaring above the mix. But, with the nature of the project, these moments have to happen to give the songs the right amount of attention to detail and are so few and far between that they can be forgiven. Still, Ms. Haden couldn’t have picked a better record to attempt this with. With the many radio station like interludes and faux advertising that mark the original, The Who have provided many opportunities for Ms. Haden to show off her rather impressive vocal range.

Like any strange and new thing, this disc might take some getting used to, but once you have immersed yourself in it, there’s no doubt that by the time the opening strains to “Tattoo” start, you’ll be completely won over by this impressive sonic feat.

Bob Ham lives in Portland, OR with his fiancee, two ornery cats and an ornery turtle. He owns 1200 records, but takes no pride in that. He also really wants the baseball season to hurry up and start.

Posted on February 10, 2005 1:30 PM