Editing Tommy (The Who album) (section)

==Editions and cover art==

''Tommy'' was originally released as a two-[[Gramophone record|LP]] set with artwork designed by Mike McInnerney, which included a booklet including lyrics and images to illustrate parts of the story. Townshend asked McInnerney to do the cover artwork for Tommy in September 1968.<ref name="McInnerney">{{cite web|url=http://mikemcinnerney.com/biography/|publisher=Mike McInnerney|title=Biography|access-date=6 October 2019}}</ref> Townshend had originally considered [[Alan Aldridge]] for the cover.<ref name="McInnerney"/> The cover is presented as part of a [[triptych]]-style fold-out cover, and the booklet contained abstract artwork that outlined the story.{{sfn|Atkins|2000|p=121}} Although the album included lyrics to all the songs, indicating individual characters, it did not outline the plot, which led to a concert programme being prepared for shows, that carried a detailed synopsis.{{sfn|Atkins|2000|p=121}}

Townshend thought Mike McInnerney, a fellow follower of [[Meher Baba]], would be a suitable choice to do the cover. As recording was near completion, McInnerney received a number of cassettes with completed songs and a brief outline for the story, which he immediately recognised as being based on Baba's teachings.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=336}} He wanted to try and convey the world of a deaf, dumb and blind boy and decided to "depict a kind of breaking out of a certain restricted plane into freedom."{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=337}} The finished cover contained a blue and white web of clouds, a fist punching into the black void to the left of it.

The inner triptych, meanwhile, showed a hand reaching out to light and a light shining in a dark void.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=337}} Townshend was too busy finishing the recording to properly approve the artwork, but Kit Lambert strongly approved of it and said it would work. The final step was for record company approval from Polydor, making one concession that pictures of the band should appear on the cover. These were added to the globe on the front.<ref name="1996CD"/> These pictures were later removed on the 1996 CD remastered reissue.<ref name="book">{{cite book |last= Segretto|first= Mike|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ghmXAwAAQBAJ&q=baba+the+who+faq+tommy+outrageous&pg=PT129|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |title= The Who FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Fifty Years of Maximum R&B|year= 2014|isbn= 978-1-480-39253-3|access-date=6 October 2019}}</ref>

''Tommy'' was first released on CD in 1984 as a two disc set.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/tommy-mobile-fidelity-mr0000485623|title=Tommy [Mobile Fidelty]|website=AllMusic|access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref> [[Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab]] subsequently released a special single-disc edition of the album in 1990, featuring an alternate take of "Eyesight to the Blind" and a low volume extensive break on the glass in "Smash the Mirror".{{sfn|Atkins|2000|p=282}} It was also remastered by Erick Labson for single disc release in 1993.<ref name="1993CD">{{cite AV media notes|title=Tommy|publisher=MCA|id=MCAD-10801}}</ref> Polydor and MCA released a newly remastered version on single disc in 1996, which had been remixed by [[Jon Astley]]. Astley was able to access the original [[8-track tape|8 track tapes]] and bring out instruments that had been buried, such as the guitar in "Christmas", the [[French horn]] in "Sparks", the cymbals in "[[The Acid Queen]]" and the organ in "We're Not Gonna Take It".{{sfn|Atkins|2000|pp=120,121}} This release came with Mike McInnerney's complete artwork and a written introduction by Richard Barnes.<ref name="1996CD">{{cite AV media notes|title=Tommy|publisher=Polydor|id=531–043–2}}</ref> For this edition, the cover was revised to remove the Who's faces, which were originally placed at the request of the record label.<ref name="book"/>

In 2003 ''Tommy'' was made available as a deluxe two-disc hybrid [[Super Audio CD]] with a 5.1 multi-channel mix. The remastering was done under the supervision of Townshend and also includes related material not on the original album, including "Dogs-Part 2" (the [[A-side and B-side|B-Side]] to "Pinball Wizard"), "Cousin Kevin Model Child" and "Young Man Blues", plus demos for the album and other unreleased songs that were dropped from the final running order.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/tommy-deluxe-edition-mr0001390644|title=Tommy [Deluxe Edition]|first=Richie|last=JoneUnterbergers|website=AllMusic|date=15 August 2014}}</ref> ''Rolling Stone'' considered the disc sonically "murkier" than the 1996 CD and was critical of the absence of the original [[libretto]].<ref name="Mac">{{cite magazine |last=Randall |first=Mac |title=Tommy (Deluxe Edition)  |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/tommy-deluxe-edition-113712/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=19 September 2018}}</ref> In 2013, a super deluxe version of ''Tommy'' was released as a 3-CD / [[Blu-ray]] box set. As well as the original album, the package includes additional demos and a live performance mostly taken from the Who's show at the Capital Theatre, [[Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada on 15 October 1969. The live disc was significant, as it debunked a long-standing myth that the tapes for the tour were burned in preference for the Leeds University show in February 1970 that made up ''[[Live at Leeds]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thewho.com/blog/story/5852/|title=The Who to release Super Deluxe Box Set and Deluxe Edition|publisher=The Who (official website)|date=11 November 2013|access-date=15 August 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140815153352/http://thewho.com/blog/story/5852/|archive-date=15 August 2014}}</ref>