Tommy in 5.1 Surround Sound - Press Release

["O'Neal, Kevin W." <Kevin.ONeal@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"This is what Tommy was meant to sound like" 
Press release on new CD/SACD hybrid release of The Who's 1969 album.
Pete: "...the public will finally hear it the way it was intended."
U.S. release Oct. 28.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031017/laf007_1.html> 

Press Release Source: MCA/UMe 


The Who's Classic TOMMY Remixed by Pete Townshend in 5.1 Surround Sound For Hybrid SACD Release of Two-CD DELUXE EDITION Featuring Rare Bonus Outtakes, Alternate Versions and Demos
Friday October 17, 10:00 am ET 


LOS ANGELES, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- "Tommy can you hear me?" will be heard like never before with the hybrid SACD (Super Audio CD) release on October 28, 2003 of the double-disc TOMMY - DELUXE EDITION (MCA/UMe). One of the pre-eminent rock albums in history, TOMMY - DELUXE EDITION marks the most significant album to be first issued on a hybrid SACD, a disc which offers three formats: SACD 5.1 Surround Sound, SACD Stereo and CD Stereo. Only a hybrid SACD can be played in CD players as well as SACD-capable players.
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Says The Who's Pete Townshend, who digitally remixed the album from the original master tapes: "To be able to listen to TOMMY in what is master quality audio, just as Roger, John, Keith and I did in the studio so many years ago, is a special experience -- and completely new for fans of The Who and the album. This is what TOMMY was meant to sound like and I couldn't be happier that the public will finally hear it the way it was intended."

Disc 1 features the complete original album in 5.1 Surround Sound, SACD Stereo and CD Stereo (all remastered by Jon Astley, Townshend's catalog reissue collaborator). Disc 2 brings together 12 rare or previously unreleased outtakes (such as "I Was" and "Miss Simpson") and alternate versions (such as for "Tommy Can You Hear Me?," "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "Christmas") in SACD 5.1, SACD and CD Stereo, plus four never-before-released demos ("It's A Boy," "Amazing Journey," "Christmas" and "Do You Think It's Alright?") in SACD and CD Stereo. The package also features liner notes and copies of some of Townshend's original handwritten and typed lyrics.

The first "rock opera," TOMMY tells of a "deaf, dumb, and blind kid" who witnessed traumatic events in his adolescence. Released in 1969, the album was hailed by both rock critics and the mainstream press. Life magazine wrote that "for sheer power, invention, and brilliance of performance, TOMMY outstrips anything that has ever come out of a recording studio."

TOMMY includes such classics as "I'm Free," "Sensation," "We're Not Gonna Take It," "Pinball Wizard," "The Acid Queen," "Eyesight To The Blind," "See Me Feel Me/Listening To You" and the 10-minute instrumental "Underture." Its success, bolstered by tours of Europe and the U.S. and the movie WOODSTOCK, turned The Who into superstars. TOMMY also introduced a new audience to rock music as the band played some of the world's most celebrated opera houses and luminaries such as Leonard Bernstein praised the work. TOMMY has since been performed as a play, a 1975 film starring Roger Daltrey and a 1993 Broadway musical which earned five Tony Awards (the West End version was nominated for eight prestigious Olivier Awards).

A DVD-Audio version of TOMMY is expected to be released at a later date.