Another Week Another Vinyl: The Who: Who's Next
My life has been pretty crazy this past week. I went on vacation and was met with terrible weather every day leaving a bit of a damper on my experience. I came home only to lose my phone on a roller coaster which was subsequently picked up by someone who decided it would be a good idea to make international calls to Jamaica. The following day my girlfriend and I in our haste to find my missing phone met London from the embarrassingly great Daisy of Love on VH1. On Monday I was told by work that I would have to do some traveling which inevitably meant scrambling to make hotel reservations. A few days later I was told that I will have to cancel the reservations because I may no longer have to go, but in the case that I do still go I'm going to have to find a hotel that will accept reservations the day of. But all is well, because I have one of the greatest albums of all time - on vinyl.
The Who’s Who’s Next is practically a who’s who of the most memorable songs in rock. It’s an album that sounds like a greatest hits compilation with hit after hit from this classic rock powerhouse. Opening up with arguably the most anthemic song in rock, “Baba O’Riley” and closing with the in your face "Won't Get Fooled Again" featuring the primal screams of the one and only Roger Daltrey. The album never ceases to blow minds with its consistency and its influence on all music proceeding it. Even the more subdued songs like “I’m in Tune” rock in their own melancholy kind of way. If you were to say Who's Next is the greatest album of all time, there wouldn't be any argument from me.
posted by Jeff at 5:19 PM
9 Comments:
Who's Next is definitely a great album. I haven't heard all of The Who's albums, but I think this is their best.
A great album. I obtained my copy in the mid seventies by swapping a copy of John Lennon's 'Imagine' for it with a guy down the corridor from me in my college Hall of Residence. At the time, I felt the Who just edged it!
I had heard it was written/recorded in a very short amount of time. Maybe thats the trick to writing/recording really great music. Spend as little time screwing with the takes that you can. This album was one of the first rock albums I owned. The testament to its greatness is how many tv shows and commercials use the music. They did have some more great music but I would have to say it was either Quadrophenia or their earlier stuff. I especially like Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy.
Russ - I love Quadrophenia and Tommy, but Who's Next is probably their best work.
Musicobsessive - While Imagine is an amazing album I'd take Who's Next over it any day.
Dan - I agree - I think a lot of bands over-analyze their music and end up trying to release something overly polished and disconnected. I think this is a problem especially now and days. When you look at artists like Jack White and Omar Rodriguez Lopez who are coming out with something new every year, it's clear how great their music is, especially when compared to artists who are releasing albums once every three years.
I think Who's Next is one of the greatest albums ever. A true classic!
The off-cuts from "Lifehouse" definitely formed their most concise (and best sounding) release. Townshend's use of the ARP synth was way ahead of its time.
Just looking at the COVER of this album brings memories flooding back. Its in my top ten (don't ask me what the other nine are it changes daily).
Seeing them perform (starting the concert with Baba O'Reily) was one of the best live music moments of my life.
Can't go wrong, here. Love Ain't For Keepin' is my personal fav song off Who's Next. I know this is about vinyl, but the remastered cd has almost an entire albums worth of extra songs. One of the top 30 albums of all time.
I think objectively, this album is THE definitive rock album. Over the course of the sixties, rock n roll was evolving into rock and, while Motown and the Beatles and others made some incredible records, nothing brought everything together like Who's Next. The funny thing is that few were ever able to match the Who's use of synthesizers and most subsequent attempts (particularly a decade later) turned rock into something lite and safe. But the Who was neither of those, especially on this album.
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