Petra Haden - Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
Published February 04, 2005
I became a die-hard Who fan at the age of 15. Did I say die-hard? More like obsessed, obsessive, consumed, in love with a rock band the way you can probably only be when you are discovering the world and your place in it for the first time.
Mike Watt and d.boon (of the late, great Minutemen) were also die-hard Who fans from a young age, and had a friendship that was cemented, solidified through their shared love of and for music. d.boon died in an automobile accident in 1985, and Watt (he's just Watt) has continued fighting the good fight and continued making great music.
Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out is the brainwave of Mike Watt, and was inspired by his friendship with d.boon and their shared Who obsession. Watt suggested the idea to Haden, who is a friend and colleague, and she took on the challenge. The result is what will definitely be one of the most remarkable albums of the year.
While obsessive fans of any band can sometimes be somewhat rigid and defensive of the music they love, Who fans are probably some of the worst offenders. To many of them, there is no other music worth listening to, and no one, repeat, no one, can touch the Who's music. As an example, for a better part of the 90s a large majority of Who fans were up in arms over Eddie Vedder "daring" to perform the Who's music and sing Pete Townshend's songs - somehow, overlooking that he had been invited by Pete himself.
So Petra Haden is one brave woman, taking on the recreation of an entire Who album, solo. She doesn't even have brand recognition working in her favor. If she got one thing, the tiniest, most miniscule thing wrong with this record, she would be skewered alive.
But there is not one thing out of place on this record, and this is notable because there is no instrumentation whatsoever on the album. That's right, the entire record is performed completely a capella.
Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out is absolutely a cover album in the classic sense. Haden tracked every single note, every thundering Entwistle bass note, every rollicking Keith Moon drum roll, every Townshendian crescendo, every classic Daltrey vocal warble. But the difference here, and what makes this album so remarkable, is that every vocal track, every sound effect, every instrument, is created using Haden's voice and only her voice, multi-tracked.
This record is nothing less than jaw-dropping brilliant. It's astounding. It's a truly remarkable, joyful musical performance, while also being the most original idea for a cover album, ever. That said, part of the album's brilliance is that the interpretation is blindingly original, but at the same time, not so inaccessible that it won't speak to a larger audience.
- Petra Haden - Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
- Published: February 04, 2005
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Indie Rock
- Writer: Caryn Rose
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I am very intrigued by this, especially after hearing Petra's gorgeous voice in her album with Bill Frisell (which came out in the US a couple weeks back.) Sell Out is one of my favorite Who albums and it's easily the most "fun" album by the band. And this sounds a lot more fun than the other "big" all-vocal album, Bjork's Medulla.
fantastic.
february 22 cannot come early enough.
pretty good for "just a record review".
I should point out that Todd Rundgren did an all-vocals cover of a Beach Boys album back in the late 70's or early 80's. Can't remember the name at the moment, but he did "Good Vibrations."
Aaman, in response to your question about whether this is "originality or karaoke-style talent," I can't speak for this specific album, but Petra Haden's a very gifted vocalist, both original and possessed of a beautiful, clear voice.
plus, anything that Watt is involved in has to at the very least be mildly interesting.
As I said elsewhere, I heard Miles and Miles on the radio, and I concur.
Caryn - This sounds like a big expansion on Phish's concept of performing albums in concert. Like in 1995 when Phish performed The Who's Quadrophenia.
Now can Petra Haden take "The Who Sell Out " concept on the road?
Thrasher
ps - I really like your Jukebox Grad blog.
pss - still into PJ? ;)
This is so far beyond karaoke - I tried to make the point in the review that she enhances it and takes it to a next level.
IMHO, I see what you're saying, but it can't even compare to Phish's Halloween efforts. That is a karaoke effort - a massive, talented and noble one, but it was very much about playing it straight, and they were still using traditional instrumentation.
I'd love to see this on the road, somehow.
p.s. thank you.
p.p.s. not so much. there's a review on my blog from the VFC tour...
Karaoke is not bad - some very talented people out there - with training, they can find an original voice.
What is VFC?
I personally have to thank the good people at mojo magazine for tipping me off to this cd. I have never heard of petra before but I love Sell Out and I love people who take famous peoples 'less-famous' stuff and take a swing at it. Mojo just had a picture of the 'beans shot' and told people to brace themselves for this album. That was enough for me. I'm sold, and I hope it's as grest as I can imagine!
Cover versions are some of the most interesting music. It's rare that it can be done well or is worthwhile on an extended basis - so I'm fairly intrigued here as well.
By the way, since I have neglected to say so, this went up on Advance.net Sunday night.
So if this album does well it's because of that and this review ;-)
- Thanks.
Although I haven't gotten the CD yet, I'm already blown away by the reviews. As a long time non-obsessive fan (I've been a Who fan since the 60s) I might not treat the original with the same reverence as those who are obsessed, but given that the Who had huge mainstream success, I don't think that the typical Who fan will have a problem either.
The original has an important place in rock history, but the production values of its day were showing, at least on my vintage cassette copy. While Townsend had a brewing talent, and a great band to go with it, he did was not free of the constraints that were thrust upon him by the industry, nor did he have today's technology. Although Petra didn't use it either, I'm sure that if it were possible for the Who to record this today, it would be very different.
That being said Petra Haden's, brand recognition is not entirely lacking. To be honest, I had no clue who she was. But she has an impressive resume, and is the daughter of a music legend. Given the material she grew up with, I expected something intriguing by that alone. So I'm buying the well recognized Haden brand, and that suits me fine.
As if that were not enough, Townsend's comments about the CD (here and elsewhere) were enough to make me order it before I even finished reading my first review of this.
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This is very interesting - one must check this out.
Are there other examples of tonal colors being created only through the voice?
Also, would this be considered originality or karoake-style talent, as Simon put it on American Idol last night - Freddie Mercury clones abound in karaoke bars around the world