The one hundred fourty-fifth album: #145 The Who - Tommy
We've had a few albums that try to tell a story before, but this feels like the first major one we get, on a scale I don't think I've quite seen before. Having seen the movie before, I roughly know the beats even if the album doesn't quite have it.
The album as a whole concept is quite interesting - the storytelling isn't always subtle, but it sort of works to give an idea of what's going on. Pinball Wizard, as a tentpole song, works as something everything else runs around. It's not the most amazing songs, but a lot of darkness culminates in the more upbeat song while we reach the first climax of the story, leading into Go to the Mirror as the second triumph that's linked to it.
As a standalone album, it works well too, in part because a lot of songs get the right intros. Having this buildup works, but on the whole the band sounds good, with deent writing and a decent variation in melody that still stays like a coherent whole. It's a good album, complemented with a decent story, and even without any further performance elements stands on its own.