Michael Fremer

Petra Haden, the very talented daughter of bassist Charlie Haden, and former member of That Dog has released an a cappella version of The Who Sells Out that is charming, entertaining, ingenious and loads of fun.

I've seen literally hundreds of copies of this 1959 Weavers release, but until this reissue, I've never seen a stereo copy. Didn't even know it existed in a black label “Stereolab” edition.

"Keep Your Jesus Out of My Face,” is a bumper sticker I'm contemplating having printed so I can stick it on my car's rear end, and tell people who are offended where they can stick it. That's just how I feel about religion, and Jesus, and Yahweh, and Zeus and Poseidon, and Mary, and the rest of the endless myths that hobble and delude mankind into thinking the latest iteration is the truth, the way, the best, my way, or the highway, or whatever. More evil has been committed in the name of religion than any other institution invented by mankind and nothing you're going to tell me is going to turn me around.

When MCA's UNI division originally issued this album in 1970, it became an immediate hit. Though it was Elton's second album (Empty Skies came first), but was issued later in the United States), it was his first produced by Gus Dudgeon and arranged by the brilliant Paul Buckmaster.