― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― darin (darin), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:26 (eighteen years ago) link
Who's Next is an all-time classic, by the way.
― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:33 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Mark (r-...), March 13th, 2006 7:23 PM.
ditto. I love it. I get sick of some of the songs like anyone else, but now and then one of them hits me like a ton of bricks. I used to hate "Bargain" but it might be my favorite now.
― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:35 (eighteen years ago) link
So OTM. It is weird. I guess a lot of it is The Who didn't grow old gracefully next to those other bands (Townshend arrested for child porn, among other things), plus their back catalog was never treated as something with value. Who records have always been seen as something you pick up cheap at a flea market, where the Beatles and Stones make every reissue seem like a big event.
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 00:47 (eighteen years ago) link
I like Who By Numbers more, overall.
― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 01:28 (eighteen years ago) link
Entwistle's best song = "Heaven and Hell," no contest.
― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 01:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 02:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― M. Biondi (M. Biondi), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 02:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 02:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 02:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:41 (eighteen years ago) link
Plus, cause of Moon's disinterest in/inability to keep straight time, you can't fuck to the Who. Whereas LZ, via the baddest, solidest, most-deliciously behind the beat englishman to ever put wood to pigskin, well…
― veronica moser (veronica moser), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Cunga (Cunga), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:59 (eighteen years ago) link
When I do pull them out I have a bit of a preference for parts of It's Hard. "I've Never Known War" kills me every time. Best anti-war song ever, I think. As for Who's Next, it's hard to imagine listening to it from beginning to end. "Going Mobile" is my favourite, though.
― All The Furniture Is In The Garage (Bimble...), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 04:59 (eighteen years ago) link
I think this sums up why they have had such a brutal critical reappraisal over the last ten or so years.
I, also, never need to hear this record EVER AGAIN.
― sleeve (sleeve), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 05:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 05:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― happy jack, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― happy jack, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:41 (eighteen years ago) link
I listen to the radio when not driving my own car. Mostly oldies radio but classic rock is on the presets usually.
― Cunga (Cunga), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:48 (eighteen years ago) link
"Don't let Colin M see this."
Saw it, wasn't offended, Douglas was absolutely right anyway (Heaven and Hell).
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 08:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Let's get this clear...I am NOT technology (Bimble...), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 08:26 (eighteen years ago) link
It did indeed 'born' the whole Classic Rock idiom.
That's how good it was.
I missed out on the whole "Who" love at the time, and got the 2CD version in a competition. And it's a big marvellous thing. Sure, I love "Who Sellout" more, but that is only to be expected, it's more human and has fragile moments and out and out comedy.
I admire it without necessarily loving it. (I certainly like it well enough)
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 09:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Craig Kenny (Dr X O'Skeleton), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:29 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Ned Raggett
but is a classic album just wish they hadn't sold out to everyone possible...
On a side note is Mark, Ryan?
― BeeOK (boo radley), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― happy jack, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 13:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 13:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― dr x o'skeleton, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:00 (eighteen years ago) link
My Wife is funny, but not poignant. Heaven and Hell is funny and poignant. Postcard is funny but not that poignant.
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:05 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't consider "Getting In Tune" bad at all, at the least for the part where Roger sings the "right in on you..." part, and Entwhistle and Moon kick things up a few notches, turning what was a ballad into a heavy rocker.
― James, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:15 (eighteen years ago) link
since classic rock radio has no analogue in the U.K. (or does it? not sure), did '70s-era "rock and roll is IMPORTANT" 'Oo get shoved down yr throats?
i ask cuz i know lots of english ex-pats who never heard LZ—or at least were disinclined to check 'em out— until they moved to the US, since punk and new wave was opposed to dinoaur-ism.
― veronica moser (veronica moser), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:23 (eighteen years ago) link
and Entwistle wrote a song for the 'Oo called "When I was a boy" that was "serious."
― veronica moser (veronica moser), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link
It doesn't
did '70s-era "rock and roll is IMPORTANT" 'Oo get shoved down yr throats?
No reason for it, after punk
― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 15:04 (eighteen years ago) link
-- BeeOK
Not sure if this was addressed to me, but if so, Mark is Mark, not Ryan.
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 16:12 (eighteen years ago) link
Back to Who's Next, It's patchy and I think it's status as the first classic rock album puts it in a bad light but a lot of it isn't worth recommending. I'd say the essential Who is Live At Leeds, The Who Sell Out and that compliation from 2002. After that the orginal My Generation. I think you had to be there for Tommy and Quadrophenia, they are even more patchy than Who's Next
― MitchellStirling (MitchellStirling), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link
As for Who's Next it's both classic and dud. Past 1967, Townshend's failures are generally pretty interesting and the sinking of Lifehouse results in a pretty outstanding rock album without all the conceptual blubber of hippie mysticism weighing it down. I'd dump some of the tracks with a couple of the Odds And Sods leftovers (really just "Pure And Easy" and "Naked Eye") though.
Who's Next also marks the point where the studio version of The Who completely separates from the live version of The Who. It's not surprising, Townshend has everything he needs to feed his maniac pursuit to whatever/wherever, but the one thing he can't do is get the live sound down of the 70s-era Who. Too bad, the live versions of "Won't Get...," "Baba...," and "My Wife" on The Kids Are Alright are still U & K and there's a live take of "Bargain" out there that's just amazing.
― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 19:32 (eighteen years ago) link
I think the biggest reason the Who haven't aged well is because of all the falsetto. It's terrible, and sucks all the masculine power out of every song. A shame, because they're pretty good otherwise.
― Poliopolice, Thursday, 6 September 2012 05:23 (eleven years ago) link
^^Cosign. That was actually a Volume 2, with V1 covering stray stuff from '65-'70. I have a CD combining both--far and away the best Who obscurities comp EVAH.
― frustration and wonky passion (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 9 August 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link
Can't seem to find it now, but I was remembering some discussion in Richie Unterberger's Won't Get Fooled Again about Keith Moon playing it straighter on Who's Next. Not sure I agree with your characterization completely Tarfumes - I think something like "Go to the Mirror" is classic Moon and pretty wild playing. "Sally Simpson" is like playing a fill through the whole freaking song.
― timellison, Friday, 9 August 2019 18:40 (four years ago) link
His drumming on "Tommy" is really good.
― Euripedes' Trousers (Tom D.), Friday, 9 August 2019 18:41 (four years ago) link
He plays hard and rules as usual on "Baba," but it's not a bunch of wild fills all over the place.
― timellison, Friday, 9 August 2019 18:42 (four years ago) link
On Quadrophenia too
xp
― timellison, Friday, 9 August 2019 18:43 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QIwN0IQHG0
― timellison, Friday, 9 August 2019 18:45 (four years ago) link
counterpoint- 'Who's Next' is very good actually
― the public eating of beans (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 9 August 2019 18:49 (four years ago) link
i sort of feel like the who are overdue for a reevaluation of their post-60s era -- i know a lot of ppl who don't rate this stuff at all and insist the only good who is my generation/sell out, etc. who's next was never a huge favorite of mine even when i was a who obsessive as a teen, but i replayed quadrophenia a few weeks ago and was amazed by how well it held up, some seriously good songwriting on there.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 9 August 2019 19:21 (four years ago) link
I find "Quadrophenia" next to unlistenable, I've never been able to make my way through the entire album at least.
― Euripedes' Trousers (Tom D.), Friday, 9 August 2019 19:27 (four years ago) link
i love random comps like that
― brimstead, Friday, August 9, 2019 2:27 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
― frustration and wonky passion (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, August 9, 2019 2:33 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
I had a cassette with both volumes and nearly wore it out. All non-LP singles and b-sides (from a UK perspective; the US Who's Missing and Two's Missing are just as great, though there's some overlap).
"Baby Don't You Do It" on this comp is from a mindblowingly great 1971 San Francisco show. A handful of other songs from the show are frustratingly scattered among other Who releases, and the whole show has inexplicably never been released.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 9 August 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link
When I was 14, Quadrophenia was my favorite album, period, and when I saw the movie at age 15, it was the best thing I'd ever seen. Every few years I try putting on Q, but can't make it through. Just too fussy. Love the singles though! Still liked the movie a lot last time I watched. For one of the architects of concept albums, they mostly hold up as as singles band.
Some of it is Daltry's arena style, which is just way out of fashion and may not come back. The narratives never made a lot of sense, but I wanted them to, and when I stopped wanting, Tommy/Lifehouse/Quadrophenia stopped working for me, not to mention the constant fretting about being 36 or whatever in the subsequent work. Townshend is great at capturing specific weird emotions in concise songs, but strains when he tries to tie them together into grand statement. Not a minimalist, but he's best as a miniaturist.
― bendy, Friday, 9 August 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link
"Baby Don't You Do It" on this comp is from a mindblowingly great 1971 San Francisco show.
Once of my fave Head Heritage reviews: https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/the-who-join-together-baby-dont-you-do-it "Their live rendition doesn’t sound remotely Tamla nor Motown: it sounds like “Live At Leeds” and the songwriting credits should’ve read Holland-Iommi-Holland instead. "
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 9 August 2019 19:52 (four years ago) link
Maybe 'wanting them to' is part of the fun? There is something for me about the appeal of Tommy and Quadrophenia songs, which can be great in their own right, relating to their individual places in the drama. I could criticize the sketchiness of the narratives, but my inclination instead is to appreciate the effort and appreciate the ways in which they succeed.
― timellison, Friday, 9 August 2019 19:54 (four years ago) link
Quadrophenia opened up for me in hearing the most recent mixes, fwiw. I don't care for the original mix.
― timellison, Friday, 9 August 2019 19:55 (four years ago) link
― timellison, Friday, August 9, 2019 2:40 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
I hear what you're saying, but this strikes me as far more unhinged than "Sally Simpson" or even "Go To The Mirror." A lot of it is the aggression, but he does some straight-up batshit things here, like his left foot alternating between the hi-hat and the left bass drum (in order to hit both bass drums in unison...but only sometimes) starting around 2:36:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJH8DmPfVmU
And this doesn't exactly strike me as "reined in":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyOibvBoJKM
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 9 August 2019 19:56 (four years ago) link
I think the angle for reconsidering 70s/80s Townshend is in the tensions of his longing for highbrow acceptance (the more experimental stuff of the Scoop demos) and his constant thinly veiled, yet always veiled, bisexual longings. Like, even considering a song as intentionally idiotic as Squeeze Box, when he comes in and sings Mama's part on the bridge, there's a sincerity to his delivery, acting out the feminine role. That same quaking vibe comes fully out in "And I Moved".
I stuck a bunch of his 70/80s stuff on a Spotify playlist along with contemporaneous John Cale and Arthur Russell, 'cuz there's a similarity to their singing styles, but found a similarity of intent and longing as well.
― bendy, Friday, 9 August 2019 20:01 (four years ago) link
> Maybe 'wanting them to' is part of the fun?
You're totally right. I'm not sure why I wanted to stop wanting, but it hasn't come back.
― bendy, Friday, 9 August 2019 20:02 (four years ago) link
I had my (inexplicably belated) first listen to Vintage Violence the other day, and definitely got a Townshend vibe from the vocals.
And I dunno if they were in the studio at the time, but Cale played with Townshend and Moon on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHoqssrKBFg
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 9 August 2019 20:03 (four years ago) link
^ boy that's area Who with the Daltryisms excized.
Daltry seems like the nicest guy in a band with some very dark souls, I feel bad for ragging.
― bendy, Friday, 9 August 2019 20:17 (four years ago) link
I don't know if that would work for me because I hate the muddy overstuffed sound of "Quadrophenia". I tried listening to "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" once (God help me) and got the same feeling. Love the 70s but sometimes it sucked.
― Euripedes' Trousers (Tom D.), Friday, 9 August 2019 20:29 (four years ago) link
the classicest
getting in tune to the straight and narrow
just banging on my old piano
and nothing in the street
seems so different to me
and if i smile
tell me some bad news
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 02:21 (three years ago) link
Is that Unterberger book good?
― An Andalusian Do-rag (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 05:15 (three years ago) link
Too late.
The Unterberger book is well-written, and unties the knots of this period of The Who's history about as well as you could hope, but the basic problem is that Townshend never really decided what Lifehouse was. So if you're looking to have that explained lucidly, you may be let down. The making of Quadrophenia is very detailed, and less confused, as well.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 05:22 (three years ago) link
Unterberger says that three songs were newly recorded in ‘78/‘79 with Kenney Jones for the Quadrophenia soundtrack album: “Joker James,” “Get Out And Stay Out,” and “Four Faces.” That last one, though, was recorded (for the most part) in 1973 and has Keith on drums. I emailed Unterberger about this, and he said that documentation (wasn’t more specific than that) says it’s Jones on “Four Faces.” But it’s pretty obvious just by listening that it’s Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGF2N00K-Ws
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 13:46 (three years ago) link
https://images2.imgbox.com/10/cb/Axn9cRNZ_o.jpg
― conrad, Friday, 12 January 2024 00:23 (two months ago) link
gives a new meaning to the album title tbh
― kissinger on my list (voodoo chili), Friday, 12 January 2024 00:57 (two months ago) link
or it's almost like the name of the album is asking "who (of the members of the band that recorded me)'s next (to die? after all, two of the original four have already passed away)" - and then roger daltrey (the singer) says "it's probably me, I'm probably next." ba dum tish!
― conrad, Friday, 12 January 2024 05:34 (two months ago) link