The Who and the Making of Tommy

by Nigel Cawthorne

The the Making of Tommy (Vinyl Frontier) Cawthorne, Nigel

Genres: Music

Hardcover

First published October 22, 2005

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".

One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.

Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).

Reviews

[Allan Heron]

Although this book provides an easily read narrative about the gestation of Tommy and it's continuing history through film and stage productions, it's riddled with factual errors which only serve to cast doubt on information that is new to the reader.

For example, the album certainly did not cost £23 when issued as claimed. The Moody Blues did not have any disagreements with Deram because Days Of Future Passed wasn't an R&B album. And Pete's wife's maiden name was Astley and not Ashley.

The text claims that Tommy was first performed at Glasgow's Strathclyde University. Is this gig included in the list of those where Tommy was played in whole or in part?. No. So is the claim in the book accurate or not? (It also fails to include a show at the Green's Playhouse in Glasgow in October 1971. I know because I was there.)

Poor effort.

[William Reid]

Very interesting read

[Michal]

This book is very interesting, and not just by merit of its subject. The author gives a clear outline of the making of the album, while adding background information and interesting tidbits - not just about The Who, but about their contemporaries and about that exciting time period. It certainly sent me back to my CD collection to re-listen to Tommy and to several other records and other artists.
My only complaint, and I don't know if this is just the edition I read, but horrible typos and proofing mistakes throughout the book, getting worse and worse to the point where I almost had to stop reading. Normally something like this could put me off the whole book, and if I wasn't interested in the content I definitely would have just dropped it. Too bad, and quite disappointing.

[Phil Syphe]

Being a die-hard Who fan since 1988, I’ve read quite a lot of books & magazines relating to my favourite band, of which this volume is perhaps the least impressive.

It struck me as a means to make some money from the Who name and the “Tommy” phenomenon.

Can’t remember much about the book a decade after reading it, other than it offered nothing I didn’t already know, plus it contained several inaccuracies. Add the amount of grammar mistakes and we have a lame effort on a legendary band.

This is the only book about The Who that I haven’t kept in my collection.