Tommy - As Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra & Chambre Choir with Guest Soloists [Soundtrack, Import]

London Symphony Orchestra, Tommy (Related Recordings) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 23, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack, Import
• Label: Castle
• ASIN: B0000086D3
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,848 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic But its NOT limited, August 5, 2001

By 

Eric V. Moye (New York, by way of Dallas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tommy - As Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra & Chambre Choir with Guest Soloists (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful adaptation of the Who's classic rock opera. To my mind, it is far, far superior to the movie soundtrack. The trouble with the Soundtrack (in my opinion) was the predominance of the non-singers like Jack Nicholson, Ann-Margaret and Oliver Reed (the Broadway version does not even merit mention). Sure, there was Tina Turner and Elton John, but overall, the hallmark of that 'track was the signature non-singers singing in what was an incredibly weak effort. By contrast, here we have Merry Clayton, Rod Steward and Richie Haven. Do they match up performer to performer with the Soundtrack? Depends on whether you prefer Elton to Rod, and Tina to Merry. Otherwise down the line, this is far superior.

But it is the fabulous performance of the London Symphony Orchestra and accompanying choir give this effort a fullness and lush quality which is missing from every other adaptation. Give a listen to the "Underture" which sounds just fine on the original concept album, that is, until hearing it done by a full orchestra.

Reviewer 'Music fan' may be correct. The way to go may well be by the purchase of the movie soundtrack (for Elton and the Divine Ms Turner), the Original, and this effort. Then burning one's own CD (or making an original cassette) which will give the best of all worlds.

This stands very well, however, alone. Something that until now, only the Original Concept Album could do.

If my memory serves, this came out in 1975 or so. One of my best friends from the old neighborhood gave me this for a birthday present before heading back to college (thanx, Roger). I made a cassette, then combined the three onto my reel-to-reel.

I have searched for this CD for a long time, but why Amazon calls this limited I don't know. They advertise and sell it new, with next day delivery since Rhino has re-released it.

It's the best, Mrs. Walker, its the best!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant fusion on rock and symphony, July 28, 2002

By 

Nagronsky "Nagronsky" (Skagit Valley, Wa USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tommy - As Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra & Chambre Choir with Guest Soloists (Audio CD)

I love this recording. The performances by the guest artists are outstanding, led by a pre-glam Rod Stewart's "Pinball Wizard", and even the atonal delivery of Richard Harris comes across well. Ringo cracks me up as Uncle Ernie(as does his portrait in the accompanying pamphlet). Merry Clayton does a credible Acid Queen, but I'm comparing her with Tina's in the film version, and Bette Midler's wonderful job in the 1971 Seattle stage version(the 1st time Tommy was performed as a full-on stage production). Maggie Bell steams as Tommy's mother, and Roger Daltrey's plaintive "See Me, Feel Me" is one of the highlights. And, while I agree with the above reviewer that this is meant to be listened to LOUD, the first time I let a friend play this CD, he played the opening overture through once, and said "Wow! I've got to crank this." And promptly blew the woofers in his Klipsch Belles. Pick this up, and if you get the chance, snag the vinyl set, as the tiny format of the CD pamphlet doesn't do the booklet in the original 2-record box set justice at all. You MUST get it for the "mean widdle kid" portrait of Rod. It's classic. The vinyl set came out in '73, and though most of my musical tastes have changed, this remains a constant to me.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic music - but buyer beware !, September 6, 2005

By 

Michell A. Ross (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tommy - As Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra & Chambre Choir with Guest Soloists (Audio CD)

The music itself is a classic of the 1960's / 1970's. The addition of the London Symphony, chorus, and various artists brings out the Pete Townsehnd opera. I own the original on Decca (US) vinyl and wanted a CD for it's clean sound. The original vinyl is getting hard, if not impossible, to find, and it's hard to play an LP in the car :-)

I now have two versions of the CD. One is on Rhino / ODE records and was purchased for $20 from Best Buy. The other purchased from Amazon is on Polydor and cost $60. I purchased the Amazon version first, and as you will read further, then went looking for a different version. Upon further research, I found there are actually multiple pressings / mixes of this CD. Beware of what you are looking for. I may have a rare original CD set (or maybe a poor pirate version), but the Polydor version I purchased from Amazon is not listenable.

The Rhino / ODE version comes on one CD, has 25 tracks, and when loaded into iTunes - immediately brings up all the tracks. The Polydor version comes on two CD's, has only 24 tracks, the final three on the Rhino / ODE CDE are blended into two on the Polydor version. The Polydor version sounds worse than my well used (though well maintained) vinyl. On a B&O turntable, I can distinctly hear my Decca vinyl hiss in the background - on the Polydor CD it's much worse and is clearly in the foreground ! On the Polydor CD version you can distinctly hear the needle drop onto the vinyl at the start, multiple clicks and pops as you progress through the sound, and further, the Polydor version has noticeable skips on several of the tracks. It almost sounds as if someone played a poor version of the vinyl on inferior equipment and simply burned it onto the CD's. My own well used vinyl version burned to CD would have sounded better !

The Rhino version has a jewel case insert which looks just like my vinyl case - black top, two eyeballs. Further the Rhino / ODE insert has interior artwork miniaturized from the original vinyl. The Polydor insert is yellow on top and has interior artwork is completely different.

I have since learned that there are several versions of the CD's. There is a 1996 remix on MCA (USA) and Polydor (Germany & Japan) which are highly recommended. I would also highly recommend the Rhino / ODE version. It's clean, crisp, and aside from the usual purist comments of analog vs. digital sound, is a faithful, clean sounding version of the original. The Polydor, if it's real, for listening purposes is a piece of junk. I suspect it's a pirate version, because from all the folks I've contacted all of the CD's sounded good, so this one ...

I have purchase literally thousands of $ worth of items on Amazon, and this is my first disappointment. I don't know yet for sure if it's a rip-off / pirate or just an original but bad recording.

Beware the imitators !