Editing The Who Sell Out (section)

==Release and reception==
{{Music ratings
| MC = 96/100<br />{{small|(super deluxe)}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/the-who-sell-out-super-deluxe-edition-box-set/the-who |title=The Who Sell Out [Super Deluxe Edition] [Box Set] by The Who Reviews and Tracks |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=6 September 2021}}</ref>
| subtitle = Retrospective professional ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Unterberger"/>
| rev2 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|year=2011|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|publisher=[[Omnibus Press]]|isbn=978-0857125958|edition=5th|chapter=The Who}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Muze"/>
| rev4 = ''[[NME]]''
| rev4score = 9/10<ref name="Muze"/>
| rev5 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev5score = 8.5/10<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-who-the-who-sell-out-super-deluxe/ |title=The Who: The Who Sell Out (Super Deluxe) Album Review |work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=22 April 2021 |access-date=6 September 2021 |last=Sodomsky |first=Sam}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Muze">{{cite web|url=http://www.rakuten.com/prod/who-sell-out/210877706.html|title=Who Sell Out CD|publisher=[[Rakuten.com]]. [[Muze]]|access-date=1 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235746/http://www.rakuten.com/prod/who-sell-out/210877706.html|archive-date=2 December 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="RS99"/>
| rev8 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev8score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=871}}
| rev9 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev9score = 5/5<ref name="Kelly"/>
| rev10 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev10score = A+<ref name="Christgau95"/>
}}

The album was released in the UK on 15 December 1967 (Track 612 002 Mono & Track 613 002 Stereo). It reached number 13 in the charts. The original release date of 17 November had been pushed back due to arguments about the running order. It was released almost concurrently in the US,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSgEAAAAMBAJ&q=the+who+sell+out&pg=PA21|title=Billboard|date=December 30, 1967}}</ref> reaching number 48 on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=187}} although it peaked at number 21 on ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]''<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Top 100 Albums|magazine=Cashbox|date=February 24, 1968|page=51|accessdate=2025-05-05|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1968/CB-1968-02-24.pdf}}</ref> and as high as number 17 on ''[[Record World]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=100 Top LP's|magazine=Record World|date=March 9, 1968|page=30|accessdate=2025-05-05|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/60s/68/RW-1968-03-09.pdf}}</ref> The concept of the album hampered its commercial performance despite positive reviews,{{sfn|Atkins|2000|p=98}} as its irony sat awkwardly with the serious ambitions of the [[underground music]] scene, and it was too specific to the mod scene's background for many younger pop fans.{{sfn|Fletcher|1998|p=174}}

In a contemporary review for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', [[Jann Wenner]] called ''The Who Sell Out'' "fantastic" and praised its "exquisite" sense of humor and the Who's "consummate" musicianship, which includes "wholly original" instrumentation and cleverly placed electronic sounds.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Wenner|first=Jann|author-link=Jann Wenner|date=10 February 1968|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/the-who-sell-out-19680210|title=The Who Sell Out|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|access-date=1 July 2013}}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]], writing in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', said the album establishes the band as "the third best not just in Britain but the world", while citing "Tattoo" as the best song Townshend has "ever written, worth the price of the album".<ref name="Christgau68">{{cite magazine|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=May 1968|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/column3.php|title=Columns|magazine=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|location=New York|access-date=1 July 2013}}</ref> He later included the album in his "basic record library" of 1960s albums, published in ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]'' (1981).<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: W|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=W&bk=70|access-date=March 9, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref> Over in England, ''[[Melody Maker]]'' enthused that it's "an iron-backed album of strong and refreshing Pete Townshend compositions", concluding that it "easily surpasses anything the Who have done before."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Who Sell Out - And How!|magazine=Melody Maker|date=December 16, 1967|page=10|accessdate=2025-05-07|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Melody-Maker/60s/67/Melody-Maker-1967-1216.pdf}}</ref>

In a retrospective review for [[AllMusic]], Richie Unterberger said that, "on strictly musical merits, it's a terrific set of songs that ultimately stands as one of the group's greatest achievements."<ref name="Unterberger">{{cite web|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|author-link=Richie Unterberger|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-who-sell-out-mw0000652659|title=The Who Sell Out – The Who|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=1 July 2013}}</ref> [[Sociomusicologist]] [[Simon Frith]] referred to it as a "[[Pop art|Pop]] [[art pop]] masterpiece".{{sfn|Frith|Horne|2016|p=107}}

In 1995, ''The Who Sell Out'' was [[reissue]]d by [[MCA Records]] with numerous outtakes and rejected jingles added to the end of the original album.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/who-sell-out-deluxe-edition-mr0001360678|title=Who Sell Out <nowiki>[Deluxe Edition]</nowiki>|website=Allmusic|access-date=1 July 2013}}</ref> In the liner notes for the reissue, [[Dave Marsh]] called it "the greatest rock and roll album of its era" and "the Who's consummate masterpiece, the work that holds together most tightly as concept and realization". Marsh believed the album's essence is "most tightly linked to the glorious pop insanity that psychedelia and its aftermath destroyed forever."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/431345/2-WHO-ALBUMS-RE-EMERGE-FULL-OF-ROLLICKING-APPEAL.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023133301/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/431345/2-WHO-ALBUMS-RE-EMERGE-FULL-OF-ROLLICKING-APPEAL.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 October 2013|access-date=1 July 2013|last=Boren|first=Ray|date=2 August 1995|newspaper=[[Deseret News]]|location=Salt Lake City|title=2 Who Albums Re-Emerge Full of Rollicking Appeal}}</ref> Reviewing the reissue in ''[[The Village Voice]]'', Christgau called it the Who's "only great album", feeling they had yet to "take their pretensions seriously", with nothing but good songs throughout, including the faux-ads and bonus tracks.<ref name="Christgau95">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=26 December 1995|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1295-95.php|title=Consumer Guide|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|access-date=1 July 2013}}</ref> It was also deemed the band's best work by Todd Hutlock from ''[[Stylus Magazine]]'',<ref>{{cite web|author=Stylus Staff|date=7 April 2003|url=http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/the-hidden-track-the-stylus-magazine-non-definitive-guide.htm|title=The Hidden Track: The Stylus Magazine Non-Definitive Guide|work=[[Stylus Magazine]]|access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> while ''[[Melody Maker]]'' said the record was a masterpiece because of its "glorious celebration of pop as useless commodity and a commercially corrupted art form" without degrading itself.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|location=London|title=Review: The Who Sell Out|date=22 July 1995|page=36}}</ref> ''Rolling Stone'' called it "the most successful concept album ever" in a 1999 review.<ref name="RS99">{{cite magazine|title=Review: The Who Sell Out|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|date=28 November 1999}}</ref>

In 2003, ''The Who Sell Out'' was placed at number 113 on ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 greatest albums of all time]],<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|date=11 December 2003|page=124}}</ref> 115 in a 2012 revised list,<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/the-who-the-who-sell-out-171509/|year=2012| title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time| publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]| access-date= September 19, 2019}}</ref> and 316 on the 2020 list.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-who-the-who-sell-out-3-1062917/| title=The Who Sell Out ranked 316| date=22 September 2020| publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]| access-date= 20 March 2021}}</ref> [[Mark Kemp]], writing in ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' (2004), called it Townshend's first and best concept album and said that he "successfully does what he would overdo" in ''[[Tommy (The Who album)|Tommy]]'' and ''[[Quadrophenia]]'': "There's no fixed narrative to take away from the music. And the music is sensational".{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=872}} In 2007, ''Rolling Stone'' included it on their list of the 40 essential albums of 1967 and stated, "the Who's finest album exemplifies how pop this famously psychedelic year was."<ref name="RS07">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/15327933/the_40_essential_albums_of_1967/photo/40/large |access-date=1 July 2013 |title=The 40 Essential Albums of 1967 |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York |date=12 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708201203/http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/15327933/the_40_essential_albums_of_1967/photo/40/large |archive-date=8 July 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The album was reissued in 2009 as a two-disc deluxe edition, which [[Danny Kelly (journalist)|Danny Kelly]] of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' magazine said was the "definitive" release of the Who's most "entertaining" and "endearing" album.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite magazine|last=Kelly|first=Danny|author-link=Danny Kelly (journalist)|title=The Who – The Who Sell Out|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|location=London|date=April 2009|url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/the-who/the-who-the-who-sell-out-review|access-date=1 July 2013|archive-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015223914/http://www.uncut.co.uk/the-who/the-who-the-who-sell-out-review|url-status=dead}}</ref> In his review for [[eMusic]], [[Lenny Kaye]] said that ''The Who Sell Out'' is a "classic of prophetic [[pop art]]" because of "the concept of branding that has taken the place of record label patronage these days".<ref name="Kaye">{{cite web|last=Kaye|first=Lenny|author-link=Lenny Kaye|date=16 November 2010|url=http://www.emusic.com/music-news/review/album/the-who-the-who-sell-out/|title=The Who, The Who Sell Out|publisher=[[eMusic]]|access-date=2 July 2013}}</ref>

On 23 April 2021, the album was re-released as a new Super Deluxe Edition Set, designed by [[Richard Evans (designer)|Richard Evans]], featuring 112 tracks on five CDs: "The Original Mono Album", "The Original Stereo Album", "Pete Townshend's Demos", "The Who's Studio Sessions", and "The Road to Tommy", including 48 previously unreleased tracks, two 7" singles, posters, memorabilia, and new liner notes by Townshend.