The “Listen Again” series was popular enough that your favorite crusty chronicler has decided to follow the lead of some TV executives and do a spin-off. In this series we once more examine previously-released albums BUT the platters we’ll peruse in this particular series will be (Rolling Stone magazine) FIVE-STAR albums. In this edition of the series we will focus on The Who’s Who’s Next.
For the unbelievably uninformed, The Who is a UK rock band founded in 1964 by singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, the late John Entwistle on bass and the late Keith Moon on drums. They became famous for their energetic live gigs which invariably included destruction of their own instruments. They have sold over 100 million records, had 27 top forty singles in the US and the UK and 17 top ten albums. They scored 18 gold, 2 platinum and 5 multi-platinum albums in the US alone.
Their career, however, was not always an award-winning one. In fact, the early Who records present perhaps one of the most interesting problems posed in rock ‘n’ roll history. Early on in their career the band was thought to be much better in live performances than on their records. That opinion, however, would soon change.
It was 1971 and the group had begun to record material for Lifehouse, a Townshend-penned rock opera, with producer Kit Lambertin New York. They would drop the opera idea and restart sessions with associate producer Glyn Johnsa month later. Songs from the accumulated material along with “My Wife”, an unrelated song by Entwistle, were released as a traditional studio album, Who's Next.
Daltrey would add harmonica to the recording and Townshend would not only play guitar but organ, VCS3, piano ARP synthesizer and even sing on some of the songs including “Going Mobile” and the original version of “Love Ain’t For Keeping”. Entwistle would also stretch a bit handling not only bass but backing vocals, brass and even lead vocals and piano on the above-mentioned “My Wife”. Additional artists were also employed including: Nicky Hopkins on piano, Dave Arbus on violin, Al Kooper on organ on the alternate version of "Behind Blue Eyes" and Leslie West on guitar on the extended version of "Baby Don't You Do It".
Perhaps it was the very absence of an overriding musical theme (which had been the basis of some previous Who projects) that permitted the band to focus on maximizing the impact of these individual and sometimes unrelated tunes. In fact, some believe that this new album, released in late summer of 1971, is so different from what the group had previously released that it almost sounds like it was recorded by a different band.
For the first time in their career the band was able to capture the live energy of a concert in the studio and the result was devastating. Johns engineered here and deserves a lot of credit but the album remains an individual triumph for each band member as well as a solid group work. It became their most successful album among critics and fans and includes some of Townshend’s most beautiful numbers such as “Bargain” “The Song Is Over”, “Going Mobile” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
Entwistle’s “My Wife” is his best tune and many listeners consider it one of the best tracks on the album. Moon accomplished the challenging task of maintaining his abandoned drumming style while matching the rigid rhythmic structure of the backing tapes on such tracks as “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”--both of which are also examples of pioneering synthesizer use in rock songs. The backing tapes added the promised technological edge to the group’s sound and Townshend’s use of a guitar distortion device now commonly known as an envelope follower on “Going Mobile” was no less than amazing at the time.
The final perhaps most convincing triumph is Daltrey’s. While his vocals improved as the band continued to record, his singing here on Who’s Next was considered by critics to be simply stunning and was surely one of the strongest rock vocal performances on record. His scream at the climax of the track “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is truly a moment of pure rock transcendence.
Who's Next hit number 4 on the US pop charts and number 1 on the UK charts. It was immediately lauded for its unique and dynamic sound and was both a critical and commercial success. It almost immediately went gold and has since gone triple-platinum. The first single from the disc, “Behind Blue Eyes”, was considered another excellent example of the band’s signature sound and hit number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The second single off the album, the climatic closing cut, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, reached number 9 on the UK Singles chart, number 8 on the Netherlands Top 100 chart and number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Baba O’Riley”, a tribute to two of Townshend’s favorite people, reached 11 in The Netherlands and would quickly forever become an unofficial anthem for young people thanks in part to the phrase “teenage wasteland” which is often mistaken for the tune’s title.
Upon release Who’s Next was named “the best album of the year” in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics’ poll. The album was later given the number 13 slot on VH-1’s best albums of all time list and number 28 on Rolling Stone’s list.
Other honors include being ranked at number 3 on Guitar World's Greatest Classic Rock Albums list, getting the number 15 slot on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 albums of the 1970s and being included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 1999 it was the subject of a Classic Albums documentary produced by Eagle Rock Entertainment which aired on VH1 as well as the BBC. It was appropriately titled Classic Albums: The Who - Who's Next.
Further recent recognition would follow earlier this millennium. In 2006 the disc was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time and the following year (2007) the recording itself was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. The album has been re-issued and remastered in several different countries on different occasions using tapes from different recording sessions.
Further re-issues may not be possible as the master tapes for the Olympic sessions have either been lost or destroyed. In fact, the video game publisher Harmonix had originally announced that Who's Next would be put out as playable, downloadable content for the game series Rock Band. Unfortunately, this looks highly unlikely since many of the master tapes to this particular album are according to Townshend “missing”.
Three of the songs from the album ("Behind Blue Eyes", "Baba O'Riley", and "Going Mobile") were instead included in a compilation titled The Best of The Who was released as downloadable content in lieu of the Who's Next album. Indeed, The Who’s Who’s Next/MCA2023 has not only survived the decades since release but it has crossed entertainment genres as well. It truly is an indispensible album –an essential inclusion to any comprehensive collection.
My name is Phoenix and . . . that’s the bottom line.
Comments