Song:Overture From Tommy
Album:Super Hits of the 70's: Have A Nice Day Vol. 16
It is time once again to unravel one of the mysteries of popular music. Of course the rock opera Tommy by The Who was one of the biggest albums of the late 60s. Most long time music fans probably remember hearing the Overture From Tommy on the radio and assume that it was a hit by The Who. But it was actually a 1970 top twenty hit by The Assembled Multitude. They were a group of Philadelphia session musicians who recorded one album for Atlantic Records in 1970. They recorded instrumental versions of songs like Woodstock, MacArthur Park and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Overture From Tommy was released as a single and reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. I think many music fans think it was The Who's version that was played on the radio but it was actually this version. The guy behind The Assembled Multitude was session musician Tom Sellers. He produced, arranged and even wrote a couple of original songs for the album. Then Sellers went back to producing music for others. The most notable thing about Sellers other than this was his pre-stardom association with Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates. He was a member of Hall's group Gulliver which released it's only album in 1969. Sellers produced albums by Essra Mohawk, Batdorf & Rodney and Eric Andersen and was a session musician and arranger on plenty of records. He died in a house fire in 1988. The Assembled Multitude album is available on CD from Wounded Bird Records but you can get Overture From Tommy on this Rhino various artists comp. Obviously The Assembled Multitude was nothing more than a one shot deal. But I guess it could be considered a forerunner to the very popular 70s instrumental group MFSB. Here's a video for Overture From Tommy by The Assembled Multitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment