I bow to no one in my appreciation of The Who. The way they took the same base materials of R&B as the Stones, Them et al, but used them to create something mythical and existential is nothing short of heroic. They were a uniquely powerful live band and I admire the way they’ve persevered and tried to find something new to say.
However, since A Quick One While He’s Away, Pete Townshend just hasn’t been able to resist the urge to compose something more “important” than rock’n’roll. So far, there’s been the rock operas, Tommy and Quadrophenia, the abandoned multimedia epic Lifehouse, The Iron Man (a musical), White City (a novel), Psychoderelict (a radio play) and Endless Wire (also a musical). Have any of these endeavours been truly satisfactory? I like bits from all of them, but none as much as, say, Who’s Next.
I guess what I’m saying is: can you point me in the direction of a Who (old or new) that’s cerebral but not attempting to be part of some operatic arc? My current Spotify best-of has got a respectable 76 songs on, but I’m sure there is stuff I’ve overlooked (I only recently heard the excellent Eminence Front). Next I’m going in on Pete’s demos, but please do let me know if there’s anything I’m missing.
Nowt. Who’s Next and about a side of Tommy and the same of Quad. That should do most people. Ok, and My Generation.
What and no Live at Leeds? Can’t believe you would omit that?
(Shhhhhh, never heard it: not that keen on live albums)
Too late, I heard that!
I share your skepticism over the merits of live albums in general, I really do. But honestly Live At Leeds is a different beast. It’s really well recorded for a start, but most of the tracks also have a liveliness and energy that (in all honesty) the band struggle to muster up in a studio environment. I always think the studio Who were a bit light and lacking in groove, at least until Who’s Next. But on Live At Leeds the songs suddenly come to life, especially the Tommy sequence on the expanded edition.
I fear it would be disloyal to my joint prejudices about the Who and live albums. These curmudgeonly idiosyncrasies don’t make themselves, you know.
I like Generation, but not as much as the run from A Quick One to Quadrophenia.
The Who By Numbers is a fine listen. But after that it’s all a bit diamonds in the mud.
2019s WHO has more than it’s fair share of great tracks. I’d argue their best, most consistent album since Who Are You.
The Who were 4 individuals who together sparked greatness. Take one element away it didn’t quite happen. No disrespect to Kenney Jones and Zak Starkey meant, but it seems it took nigh on 30 years to work out how to work without Keith.
I also think I’m allergic to cerebral ‘Oo. I don’t even like more than about half of Who’s Next.
If I had to choose one LP, it would be Live At Leeds.
If I was allowed three LPs, it would be the expanded Live At Leeds.
And My Generation.
Not sure how cerebral they are – but I always thought that two collections were undervalued: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy; and Odds & Sods. Agree with everyone above regarding Who’s Next and Live at Leeds…
A rare Roger composition, but I do like Early Morning Cold Taxi. https://youtu.be/5cIK7ZB4HMA
Not really what you’re asking for, but I think the essence of The Who is best seen in The Kids are Alright documentary. Watching the bits with Keith Moon playing up to Pete Townshend always brings a lump, even though we all know that Moon was a bit of a jerk.
The two albums I always go back to are always Live at Leeds and Quadrophenia, but then Who’s Next does have the great Behind Blue Eyes.
Cannot stomach Tommy though.
Pretty much concur with this, although I think there is a fair bit of sub-par filler on Quadrophenia, whilst Who’s Next is just one brilliant song after another and is indispensable.
Tommy is “interesting” but I could live without it.
The Maximum R&B Box is a good overview. Loads of gems.
Yes, indeed…
Definitely “not a fuckin’ tea party”
There’s a great lost Who album in there somewhere, if you pull together the various tracks they released that were lost Lifehouse material etc, in the early 70s. Some appeared as stand-alone singles, some as b-sides, and some on Odds And Sods:
Long Live Rock
I Don’t Even Know Myself
Pure And Easy
Let’s See Action
Relay
Join Together
Put The Money Down
Too Much Of Anything
Time Is Passing
Naked Eye
If Pete hadn’t been so fixated on creating his next magnum opus, they could have easily put together a successor to Who’s Next which might even have been a stronger album. As it is, these tracks trickled out, or were diluted by being compiled with lesser quality songs.
I think the band’s best, but underrated non-concept standalone album is Who By Numbers, though you could argue a concept running through it is Pete’s own self-doubt, bitterness and disintegration. It’s really a confessional, singer-songwriter album channelled through a band performance, with a novelty single thrown in for good measure (Squeeze Box).
Absolutely agree on By Numbers. It’s my favourite Who because it is the most personal. Pete’s acoustic guitar playing is magnificant. The mono My Generation is still hair-raising.
Otherwise, I perceive them as a great singles band. None of their albums really work, other than the above, in my view. Their operas are disappointing. Who’s Next feels disjointed, a U shaped album if ever there was one. What is really good, though, is putting together your own Lifehouse, using all the tracks recorded with that project in mind, including the singles, B sides and extras from Who’s Next. That U shape is stretched much more evenly over the equivalent of four sides. Let’s see action!!
Definitely. When you consider something of the calibre of Pure And Easy was left off Who’s Next, you do wonder how they decided what did or didn’t make the original cut. Mind you, I think the whole Lifehouse project had pushed Pete to the brink of total collapse by that point. So it was probably a case of getting something out as straightforwardly as possible.
Pure and Easy just goes on way too long. Including just the snippet on Who’s Next was the right thing to do. And it stands up perfectly as an album if you just ignore all the Lifehouse legend.
Thirded on By Numbers. It’s miles away from the blokey shouty stadium rock that turns me off a lot of their stuff.
I think Join Together and Squeeze Box are both The Who at the top of their game. Tommy is overrated. Live at Leeds and Who’s next are their best albums followed by Who by Numbers
The deluxe Live At Leeds has the show from the Young Vic where they played a lot of the Lifehouse stuff. As a mate said they appear to be careening out of control and manage to haul it back just in time.
Also…..LIVE AT HULL!
My Dad was there, so when LAH was released separately (presumably in 2010) I ventured into town to get him a copy as a treat. Could I get it in the HMV that’s 150 yards from City Hall? Could I fuck. So off to the Dodgers I went. And they wonder why record shops are dying.
You needed Syd Scarborough’s mate.
(Long gone I assume)
SS went the way of all flesh in the noughties.
My Generation has some great stuff on it like the title track and The Good’s Gone, plus a few dodgy covers. A Quick One is bonkers but has the immense title track amid an attempt to get all members to write songs for the album for financial reasons, side 1 has only 1 Townshend song and 2 Keith Moon ones! The Who Sell Out is a near masterpiece and I like Tommy, patchy but with moments of transcendental beauty.
Like The Beatles and The Stones they released many great standalone singles in the 60s and early 70s. Best heard on Meaty Beaty … and Rarities vol 2.
Live at Leeds essential, I prefer the original 6 track version, all killer no filler. Who’s Next obviously great and Quadrophenia is stodgy but probably their last great work.
By Numbers is ok, some great songs but I find it a bit flat. After that EPs would be enough for all studio albums.
You also need to hear great solo Townshend like Rough Mix (with Ronnie Lane), Empty glass and …. Chinese Eyes
I would also recommend expanded versions of their first 3 albums, they recorded way more stuff than was put on the original releases.
I love Chinese Eyes, in spite of, or perhaps because of its need to be somewhat self-indulgent.
Those solo albums (including the pairing with Ronnie Lane) represent Townshend’s best songwriting of the time and outstrip anything the band did late 70s/early 80s.
Though I do have a strange soft spot for It’s Hard.
To me Face Dances sounds like a solo record with Roger on vocals and doesn’t work. It’s Hard sounds more like a Who album, but it was very rushed and the songwriting wasn’t up to scratch.
In the 1980-1982 period there are 4 albums mostly or completely written by Townshend:
Empty Glass 80
Face Dances 81
Chinese Eyes 82
It’s Hard 82
Pete was spreading hmself way too thin.
Interesting that in the ensuing 38 years he has released only 5 more albums (solo and “The Who”)
Interesting that we all seem to be on the same page with the band here. For a classic act, it’s definitely a patchy back catalogue. I agree that Odds & Sods is well worth a rummage, as are those Lifehouse-era songs mentioned by Henry Haddock. Any album that featured Pure and Easy, Naked Eye, Time Is Passing, Put the Money Down and Long Live Rock could have been fantastic. It’s also noticeable when trawling through the additional tracks on compilations etc how many of John Entwistle’s songs got rejected, plus even a couple written by Roger. Finally, I’d agree with Rigid Digit that WHO is better than we had any right to expect.
I can’t put my finger on exactly why but they’re an endlessly fascinating band. It’s something to do with their constant attempt to escape the shackles of being a just rock band, plus also their sheer combustibility. There’s definitely a cerebral art-rock band in there, struggling to fashion something more from their rudimentary R&B chops.
As stated above “Rarities Volume II” is a de-facto album from the early 70s period. It is excellent. You could also include The Seeker, I would replace Water with it, which I can’t stand.
Side one
No. Title Original release Length
1. “Join Together” Non-album single, 1972 4:17
2. “I Don’t Even Know Myself” B-side of “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, 1971 4:30
3. “Heaven and Hell” (Entwistle) B-side of “Summertime Blues”, 1970 3:35
4. “When I Was a Boy” (Entwistle) B-side of “Let’s See Action”, 1971 3:30
5. “Let’s See Action (Nothing Is Everything)” Non-album single, 1971 3:58
Side two
No. Title Original release Length
1. “Relay” Non-album single, 1972 3:38
2. “Waspman” (Moon) B-side of “Relay” 3:02
3. “Here for More” (Roger Daltrey) B-side of “The Seeker”, 1970 2:24
4. “Water” B-side of “5:15” and “Love, Reign o’er Me”, 1973 4:39
5. “Baby Don’t You Do It” (Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier) B-side of “Join Together” 6:18
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rarities_Volume_I_%26_Volume_II#Rarities_Volume_II
That live version of Baby Don’t You Do It is monumental, and easily superior to the studio outtake version on the expanded Who’s Next. It’s now available on the Maximum As and Bs compilation (download only, or streaming).
Never been madly keen on Entwistle’s songs, with the exception of the live Heaven And Hell and Success Story on By Numbers.
Heaven and Hell and Postcard are alright.
Come on! My Wife is an absolute belter.
The live one on the box set is great. Also the H & H that kicks off the full Live at Leeds.
I’ve always liked Someone’s Coming, while we’re Ox-minded.
I liked White City at the time. It now sounds fairly abominable.
There’s some exemplary mid-80s rock production on it. With Dave Gilmour and Pino Palladino in all his fretless pomp, it’s up there with Peter Gabriel’s So as one of the best sounding albums of the time.
Pino’s on it? Time for a reassessment!
BOOO-DOWWWWW!
He is indeed. Plus yer Rabbit Bundrick and Mark Unpronounceablename from Big Country. And if you like that Gilmour riff in White City Fighting, he also gave it to Roy Harper for this, which I only just found out today:
THE WHO=SINGLES….it’s really all you need
Not really.
The Lambert & Stamp film from a few years ago was fabulous, but it revealed an uncomfortable truth; I like Lambert, I like Stamp, I like Moon, the other three I can’t stand! That piece Mojo did on Entwistle last year was the final straw.
Play the debut once a year, the terrific E.P., and a few mid-60s As and Bs, otherwise Them, The Pretty Things, The Action, The Birds get far more spins.
The Who are my favourite band with the weakest catalogue. Who’s Next and Live at Leeds (original version) are superb. Quad has two good songs and a bunch of sub-musical theatre awfulness. Tommy is mostly embarrassing. There are a few OK singles from the 60s and 70s, so one of the billion compilations will cover those.
So there you go: Who’s Next, Live at Leeds (without Tommy) and a compilation will do you. There is some other good live stuff, but Leeds towers above all.
Townshend never realised that he made his best work when he wasn’t trying to make a statement and was just letting the Who be a rock band. Who’s Next came from an abandoned concept album and was all the better for it.
My takeaway from this thread is that several people who claim they really like The Who have little appreciation for their recorded output. Granted, their output wasn’t always presented in the best way – Odds & Sods indeed, but the releases from 67 to 73 were mostly of a very high standard.
The Who in their prime – 67/68 to 71 – were at their best as a live band and a match for anyone. Rock and Roll Circus, Woodstock, Isle of Wight are evidence of that. And yet there are people on here haven’t listened to Live At Leeds, an essential part of The Who’s catalogue.
Quadrophenia, like most double albums, is a little bloated, but it also contains some of their best work. On a good system (I have the original vinyl) listen as the faders go up and the band comes in on ‘I’m One’. That’s one majestic rock band.
Well said, agree with most of that. Am going to do a post here about Quadrophenia one day.
That late 60s period also included bonkers obscurities like this (Dogs), released as a (flop) single.
A superb exciting ’60s singles band. as “Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy” easily demonstrates. Diminishing returns as the pop scene from about ’68 onwards no longer fitted that sort of stuff.
“Tommy” was the first big disappointment, overblown rubbish for the most part. “Live At Leeds” and “Who’s Next” showed them trying a bit harder and succeeding, pretty much. “Quadrophenia” has it’s moments but overblown indulgence again.
Nothing of interest (to me) thereon. Beyond this point I pretty much wrote them off and I see no reason since to change that opinion.
https://youtu.be/KR6cpIhWsKE
..and that is why Keith was so hard to replace. A completely unique and quite loopy way of playing the drums