Disco de The Who: “Who's Next”

Due to some positive comments made, I would like to elaborate on the "Spruce Goose" comment present in this review for those unfamiliar with that particular bit of history.

In the 1940s, Howard Hughes, the famous aviator and notorious recluse, built the largest "flying boat" ever built. The plane has the largest wingspan ever. Martin Scorceses produced a film called "The Aviator" with Leonardo Decaprio playing Hughes. The airplane was so massive and so unwieldly that only one flight was ever conducted, with Hughes behind the controls, on November 2, 1947. After that, the plane was permanently grounded, and no other subsequent models or additional planes built to the specifications of the Spruce Goose were ever built. The plane is still in existince today.

The whole "Lifehouse" project is analogous to the famous airplane. "Lifehouse" was unwieldy, impractical to implement, and no one really knew what Townsend was trying to accomplish with the project. Ultimately, it was too big for its own good and became doomed due to its size.

Mike London 9-10-2012

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The Who have always been overshadowed throughout their career by other, more `relevant' trends. The Who persisted, however, and in the end created a body of work, largely penned by Townshend, which has become stands in the rock canon, but they've always had to fight for the spotlight. In the mid 1960s they had to contend with The Beatles and Stones and the rest of the Peace movement. From the early 1970s they had to deal with the singer-songwriter influx, and in the late part of their recording career they had to contend with punk (much of that relationship is dealt with in the highly underrated WHO ARE YOU album).

However, in a three year span, The Who was THE center of rock and roll. From 1969 to 1971, The Who had the world in a spin with ferocious live shows, a whole new idea of what rock and roll could do (TOMMY), and the sheer power and velocity of them live was absolutely amazing. The Who were at the top of their game, and took the live performance of TOMMY on the road for two years. Everyone was wondering what their next move would be.

WHO'S NEXT was the next move. Coming from the failed LIFEHOUSE, the album suddenly changed the direction that The Who had been established in. This is the turning point in The Who's career as far as sound goes. Townshend went from writing mod anthems to more album-oriented rock. When listening to albums like TOMMY or SELL OUT or QUICK ONE and then the later albums such as QUADROPHENIA, this one, or WHO ARE YOU, while you can tell it's the same band they've changed their sound drastically. Although they've always been loud, now The Who were playing genuine hard rock, and boy did it ever rock.

The source material for WHO'S NEXT, LIFEHOUSE, a multi-media extravaganza about how rock was going to save the world, has become, like Brian Wilson's SMILE, one of the great mysteries which everyone wonders what would have been had it come to completion. In The Who's case, I think it benefitted the work overall to not come to completion. Although it always escapes me why "Pure and Easy" was left off the album (as well as "The Naked Eye"), over all WHO'S NEXT plays very tightly, concise, and extremely focused. Townshend sometimes let the concept bog down the music, although not nearly as much as, say, Roger Waters. To his immense credit, Townshend always made sure that the songs were very catchy, and TOMMY has some of the band's best music, but taking it outside the context of the "concept," the music does not stand up as well as WHO'S NEXT.

That's the main difference between TOMMY and WHO'S NEXT, and that's what makes this record such a fascinating listen. If you know the plot of LIFEHOUSE*, then each song makes sense within its context. However, what makes WHO'S NEXT so powerful is the fact that, taken out of the LIFEHOUSE context, the music becomes an entirely different animal, which cannot be said for TOMMY. With LIFEHOUSE failing, instead we, as the listeners, have to take it on the basis of each individual song, and this gives the tracks from WHO'S NEXT more power than they ever could have if Townshend's second rock opera had been fully realised.

The best example of Townshend's songs working better outside the LIFEHOUSE plot is, of course, the last track on the album, "Won't Get Fooled Again." Instead of it being that great finale where Bobby and all his friends have escaped and are playing the final Lost Chord, it acts as excellent social commentary, and coming at the very beginning of the 1970s, after seeing the turbulence of the 1960s and all the tumult we were going through, Townshend manages to pen one phrase that blows the entire free love, hippie generation mentality, and with this one blow they never recovered. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," the very climax of the song, hits so hard and so fast it left the culture reeling, making that song the single most powerful statement made against the 1960s.

Much of "Won't Get Fooled Again's" power would have been deflated had LIFEHOUSE been completed. Another excellent example is "Behind Blue Eyes" which is about the villain of LIFEHOUSE. Instead of being about one specific villain, it instead becomes about the villain in all of humanity. The same can be said of "Bargain." Instead of talking about some esoteric Lost Note that will crumble the Grid, Townshend gives us a very spirituality-driven song. To those who interpret the song about a man and a woman, that's their right, but I've always taken it as more of man's relationship with God.

In the end, WHO'S NEXT becomes The Who's most powerful statement, not in spite of LIFEHOUSE's failure, but BECAUSE of LIFEHOUSE's failure.

*There are several places on the Internet where you can get in detail LIFEHOUSE's plot. Essentially, it's a science fiction piece about rock and roll saving the world. Everyone is plugged into this Grid, and it reads kind of like Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD where they're kept doped up in the fact that they realise nothing's wrong. Bobby, the main character, decides to instigate a revolution, founds this place called the Lifehouse, where a band is playing music. When you go to the Lifehouse, people take all your personal data, everything you are, and then you are given your own personal musical identity. The climax is everyone gets caught up in the music, and everyone's information is fed into this computer which then produces everyone's identity into one single note. The rebels play the Note, everything is put right in the world, and they live happily ever after. Townshend was going to actually do this, and The Who would play rock concents and everyone's data would be represented musically. Can anyone say Spruce Goose?

Good science fiction; hard as hell to pull it off in any other format other than the novel. No wonder it never got completed.

P. S. Stop acting like the bonus tracks are part of the album. It's unfair to deduct stars from an album because of the bonus material. They are bonus tracks, simply that.

Once again, MCA re-releases "Who's Next", and once again, MCA misses the opportunity to finally put out the 'definitive' "Who's Next" compilation.

Much like the 1995 re-release, the 'bonus tracks' are a major disappointment to say the least. The accompanying booklet goes into great depth discussing the additional songs recorded during the 'Lifehouse Sessions' that were omitted, so then why aren't any of them included here? Where's "Let's See Action", "Join Together", "Put The Money Down", "Time Is Passing", "Too Much Of Anything", and the definitive take of "Pure And Easy" (from the obscure 'Odds and Sods')?

Instead the consumer is treated to mostly redundant 'alternate take' versions of songs already included on "Who's Next". They might be interesting to hear once or twice, but the 'bonus track' space would have been much better served by including the titles listed above...and would have once and for all reconstructed "Who's Next" close to the original "Lifehouse" as was originally designed.

However, if you're a fan of The Who "Live At Leeds" and "Live At The Isle Of Wight", the second disk is a real treat. The sound quality is excellent, The Who play great, and you get rare 'live' renditions of songs from "Who's Next" that don't show up anywhere else. Disk 2 is reason enough to purchase this set.

Who knows (no pun intended), perhaps there will be yet another re-release of this classic album. And maybe next time it will include the missing 'Lifehouse' songs. For now, disk 2 will have to do as compensation. lr**

June 22, 2003

Originally released in 1971, "Who's Next" was a landmark album for The Who. This album depicts some of The Who's most creative and best songwriting ever. Songs such as "Baba O'Riley", "Bargain", "Behind Blue Eyes", "The Song Is Over", "Getting In Tune" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" clearly show The Who's ability to write beautifully crafted acoustic based songs as well as straight ahead no holds barred rockers. This special Deluxe Edition of "Who's Next" has been remastered (again) and disc one includes the original album as well as songs from The New York Record Plant Sessions (all tracks have been newly remixed). Songs from this session include a fabulous version of the Marvin Gaye classic "Baby Don't You Do It", a longer and alternate version of "Getting In Tune" which is superb. A more raw sounding "Won't Get Fooled Again" is also included. Other songs from the session include "Pure And Easy", "Love Ain't For Keeping", and "Behind Blue Eyes".

Disc Two contains a "live" concert at The Young Vic Theater recorded on The Rolling Stones Live Mobile in South London on April 26, 1971. The Who's performance has to be heard to be believed and the average listener may even think he/she are listening to studio versions of the songs played. There are songs from "Who's Next" such as "Love Ain't For Keeping", "Behind Blue Eyes", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Bargain", "Getting In Tune" as well as one of The Who's first hits "My Generation" and classics such as "(I'm A) Roadrunner" and "Young Man Blues" to name a few. Also included is a twenty seven page booklet which includes interesting information on each song as well as other tidbits and nice photos of the group. This 2-cd Deluxe Edition is clearly better than the remastered single disc version of "Who's Next" and is worth every cent and more. If there's one Who album (or cd in this case) you buy make this be it. You will not be disappointed. Highly Recommended.

Although the Deluxe Edition hypes that the original version uses the original master tapes for the first time, this is not true. In 1984, Steve Hoffman remastered this disc in the 1980s (a copy of the digital master he made from the original master tape was used on this Canadian budget import version available at hmv.com, absound.ca, cdplus.com and other Canadian music stores). The master tape was found in a file cabinet in The Mastering Lab in LA back in the 1980s and used it for the CD. The Hoffman CD has an EQ that favors the vocals. For his CD, Hoffman essentially played the tapes back "straight", without fading the hiss out between tracks. [side note: the Canadian version has the hiss "blacked" between some tracks. The original US and Japanese pressings don't.]

When I received this album as a gift, I didn,t even have an idea of who The Who was, let alone was I familiar with their unique brand of rock. But listening to the first five minutes of the album, the uplifting and powerful "Baba O'Riley" instantly rendered me a fan of their wild yet brilliantly provocative sound.

This album is filled with the best synthesizer-supported music I have ever heard, and the rough sound of Roger Daltrey's voice perfectly balances with the ear-splitting guitar riffs. The lyrics are ingenious and a true pleasure to listen to, as much a part of the audio effect as the robust acoustic and electric guitar playing. My favorite track is easily "Won't Get Fooled Again," the eight and a half minute opus of electric organ, phenomenal percussion by Keith Moon, and mastermind Pete Townsend's resounding guitar notes. And not to mention lead singer Daltrey's deafening yet perfectly on-pitch screams. I would rate this song as the best ever, but all the other songs contribute to making "Who's Next" the best album ever.

These other songs include "Bargain," the sweeping "Goin' Mobile," the loud and triumphant "The Song is Over," the fresh and crisp "Pure and Easy," and the blues-oriented "Getting in Tune." And of course, the silver medal to "Won't Get Fooled Again"'s gold is the dynamic "Behind Blue Eyes," an intense song filled with poignant vocals and rough, heavy rock and roll.

This album is the best ever, filled to the brim with angry, harsh rock, loud screams, pleasurable acoustic guitar, and poetry half-shouted, half-serenaded with a flourish of emotion. If I was ever wrong about anything before concerning music, I know that I'm definitelty right when I tell you that this album is an absolute must!