Editing Tommy (The Who album) (section)

==Release and reception==
After delays surrounding the cover artwork, ''Tommy'' was released on 19 May 1969 in the US by [[Decca Records|Decca]] and 23 May in the UK by [[Track Records]].<ref>{{harvnb|Neill|Kent|2002|p=232}}; {{harvnb|Atkins|2000|p=282}}.</ref> The original double album was configured with sides 1 and 4 on one disc, and sides 2 and 3 on the other, to accommodate [[record changers]].{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=231}}

The album was commercially successful, reaching No. 2 in the UK album charts. It peaked at No. 7 in the US in 1969,<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Billboard 200 Chart|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1969-07-19|access-date=2 September 2020|magazine=Billboard}}</ref> but in 1970 it re-entered the charts, at which time it went on to peak at No. 4.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Billboard, 19 September 1970|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/70s/1970/Billboard%201970-09-19.pdf}}</ref> It sold 200,000 copies in the first two weeks in the US alone and was awarded a gold record for sales of 500,000 on 18 August.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=340}}  "Pinball Wizard", "I'm Free" and "See Me, Feel Me" were released as singles and received airplay on the radio. "Pinball Wizard" reached the top 20 in the US and the top five in the UK. "See Me, Feel Me" reached the top 20 in the US and "I'm Free" reached the top 40. An [[Extended play|EP]] of selections from the album was planned to be released in the UK in November 1970 but was withdrawn.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=421}}

When it was released, critics were split between those who thought the album was a masterpiece, the beginnings of a new genre, and those that felt it was exploitative. The album had a hostile reception with the [[BBC]] and certain US radio stations, with [[Tony Blackburn]] describing "Pinball Wizard" as "distasteful".{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=230}} Nevertheless, [[BBC Radio 1]] received an advance copy of the album at the start of May and gave the material its first airplay on [[Pete Drummond]]'s show on 3 May.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=231}} Townshend promoted the album's release with interviews in which he attempted to explain the plotline. Unfortunately, because it fundamentally dealt with the abstract concept of [[Meher Baba]]'s spiritual precepts, the interviews often gave confusing and contradictory details.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=330}}

For ''[[Melody Maker]]'', [[Chris Welch]] went to the album's press launch show at [[Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club|Ronnie Scott's]] and although the volume left his ears ringing for 20 hours, he concluded "we wanted more." ''[[Disc and Music Echo]]'' ran a front-page headline saying "Who's Tommy: A Masterpiece".{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=340}} Critics and fans were confused by the storyline, but [[Kit Lambert]] pointed out this made ''Tommy'' no less confusing than the operas of [[Richard Wagner]] or [[Giacomo Puccini]] a century earlier.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=329}} In a 1969 column for ''[[The Village Voice]]'', music critic [[Robert Christgau]] said that, apart from the Mothers of Invention's ''[[We're Only in It for the Money]]'', ''Tommy'' is the first successful "extended work" in [[rock music]], but Townshend's parodic side is more "profound and equivocal" than [[Frank Zappa]]. He praised Townshend for deliberately constructing the album so that each song can be enjoyed individually and felt that he is determined to "give his audience what it wants without burying his own peculiarity".<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=12 June 1969|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/who-69.php|title=Whooopee!|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|access-date=3 July 2013}}</ref> [[Albert Goldman]], writing in ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine, said that the Who play through "all the kinky complications" of the narrative in a [[hard rock]] style that is the antithesis of most contemporary "serious" rock. Goldman asserted that, based on innovation, performance, and "sheer power", ''Tommy'' surpasses anything else in studio-recorded rock.<ref name="Goldman">{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JFAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20|magazine=[[Life Magazine]]|title=A Grand Opera in Rock |date=17 October 1969 |access-date=3 July 2013|page=20}}</ref> Robert Christgau named ''Tommy'' the best album of 1969 in his year-end list for ''Jazz & Pop'' magazine.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Jazz & Pop|last=Christgau|first=Robert|year=1969|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/jpballot-69.php|title=Robert Christgau's 1969 Jazz & Pop Ballot|access-date=17 April 2014}}</ref>