The song Pete Townshend considered his first true rock opera: “I was on a mission”
When we sit down and talk about legendary bands, there are usually some albums that spring to mind that are considered their best. When you talk to proper fans, you’ll find that there are divided opinions surrounding their best work, but the general public leans towards one more successful piece. For instance, with AC/DC, people tend to lean towards Back In Black, for Pink Floyd it’s Dark Side of the Moon, and with Jethro Tull it’s Aqualung.
This isn’t me saying that the above suggestions are definitive, more that there is a general consensus amongst a lot of fans. That being said, there are some bands where it is incredibly hard to pick even a universal greatest album because said bands have gone through a number of different styles and sounds. One of the best examples of this is The Who.
When you speak to people who like The Who, they tend to discuss two completely separate times in their career, which is either when they were a straight down the line rock band, or when they veered further towards concept albums and rock operas. Both of these phases in the band’s lifespan are incredibly important for different reasons.
When we look at some of The Who’s early work, we are privy to what can only be described as some of the greatest rock songs ever made. It wasn’t just that the band had good riffs, solos or good lyrics, but they were a strong collective. There is no individual instrument that stands out in The Who; instead, there is the band as a whole, all of which comes together to deliver a sound that is packed so full it’s overflowing, unrelenting in its power. There’s a reason why people listen to tracks like ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, ‘My Generation’ and ‘The Seeker’ decades later with the same passion they did when they were initially released: because they’re timeless.
Of course, we look at The Who’s rock operas with the same level of fondness. With these albums, we don’t single out specific songs; instead, we look at the LP as a whole body of work, something which requires our undivided attention whenever we put it on. When you listen to albums such as Quadrophenia and Tommy, you aren’t just listening to some songs from a band; you’re taken on a full-blown journey, you get to explore the narratives of different characters, understand their emotions, and listen to some killer rock music at the same time.
While both of these phases are equally important to The Who’s legacy, there is still the question of how they went from one extreme to the other. How did one of the biggest rock bands in the world decide to leave behind writing great singles and instead focus on elongated, in-depth concept albums? There are a few reasons, but one of them is the song (or series of songs) ‘Rael’.
These tracks all appeared on the album The Who Sell Out, and they represented the first time Townshend ever put together a rock opera. He clearly realised he had an affinity for this kind of music, and as a result, afterwards, committed to making more of it.
“With the song ‘Rael’ I was on a mission to try to write a real opera and I suppose I meant a rock opera. I meant an opera that might have orchestration in it. I was certainly studying orchestra and studying orchestration. I just didn’t have the time,” said Townshend, “So I think with ‘Rael’, for example, which was my mini opera, which should have been an ‘opera opera’, (laughs), I was aware that I wasn’t going to be able to do this in the time that I had available. I couldn’t learn the art quick enough. I couldn’t do it fast enough.”
It’s a blessing that Townshend didn’t have time to engage with the song as much as he wanted, as it left a hunger in him to explore the sound and style more. This hunger led to some of The Who’s most formidable albums.
