The band’s seventh studio album by The Who and marked a watershed moment for the band, as its songs were, for the most part, more introspective and personal than those they had released previously.
“The Who By Numbers is a tricky album to talk about,” says Pete Townshend. “It’s the only one where I allowed songs that were so personal to be used by The Who.”
“In some ways, The Who By Numbers is my favourite [Who] album,” explains Roger Daltrey. “For me, songs like ‘Imagine A Man’, ‘How Many Friends’ and ‘However Much I Booze’ expose our vulnerabilities, and the album is wonderful for that.”
The record was a commercial success, peaking at No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard chart aNo. 7 in the U.K., partly due to the success of one of the album's lighter moments, the lead single “Squeeze Box,” which became an international hit, reaching the top ten in the U.K., top 20 in the U.S. and No. 1 in Canada.
50 years on, “The Who By Numbers” is to be reissued this October as a 5CD/1Blu-Ray super deluxe edition boxset featuring a 100-page hard back book with photos, memorabilia & exclusive notes from Pete Townshend and Who expert Andy Neill, 92 unreleased tracks and mixes, brand new Atmos, 5.1 & Stereo mixes by Pete Townshend, 11 of Pete's original demos for the album, tracking sessions from Ramport & Shepperton Studios, early mixes, guide vocals, the fullest version of Live At Vetch Field, Swansea, Wales, June 12, 1976 released to date and on the Blu-Ray audio and video from a previously unreleased Who concert shot on 2" videotape from Metropolitan Stadium, Pontiac, Michigan.
The Who's show at Pontiac, Michigan, on December 6, 1975 set the record at the time for the largest-ever indoor rock concert attendance, with 76,896 people. The entire show has been exhumed from The Who's archives and professionally cleaned up, with remastered audio. It now stands as one of the few existing visual records of this memorable Who tour, their last with the irrepressible Keith Moon.
Six months later, The Who played three British football grounds under the banner Who Put The Boot In. The first of these, at The Valley, the home of Charlton Athletic, was recognised by the Guinness Book Of World Records as the world's loudest rock concert. The third show at Swansea FC's Vetch Field was recorded for a proposed live album, and over the years, songs from the Swansea concert have appeared on official Who releases. Now, the available original mix tapes have been remastered and returned to their original order. The show was Keith Moon's last proper show before a British audience, capturing the level of performance power The Who attained over the year-long tour.
Produced by Glyn Johns, who had previously worked with the band on their 1971 album “Who's Next,” “The Who By Numbers,” despite its light-hearted John Entwistle-drawn sleeve and massive hit single, features some of the darkest songs ever recorded by the band.
This new super deluxe edition sheds light on the making of the album and the state of mind of its composer, Pete Townshend. As he puts it in the 100-page making-of-the-album book that accompanies the box set, "I could feel a new wave or reaction and rebellion coming in the music business, the big bands were becoming careless and self-indulgent. I wanted my songs to continue to have a cathartic function for our audience. When punk hit a few years later, I was not surprised."
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