The Who -- Who's Next

9/10

I thought for a minute about reviewing every The Who album here, but the fact of the matter is, my parents don't even own every Who album, and I only own two. As much as I like that band, as much as I personally know about their history (I've read their biographies, watched documentaries, blah, blah, blah...), I'm going to strictly follow the title of the series here, and only review the (The) Who albums that I own. Chronologically, the first of those is Who's Next.
Who's Next has gradually become The Who's most well-known album, eclipsing the once more well-regarded Tommy. I've heard both albums enough to agree with the emerging popular opinion that Who's Next is quite a bit better. Really, a cursory listen of this album at once reveals that it's loaded with songs embedded on just about everyone born between 1950-1990's mind...at least upon those who grew up listening to rock music.
Who's Next kicks off with "Baba O'Riley," once best known as a classic rock radio staple, know probably best known as the theme song for CSI: New York, a show I've never watched past its opening credits. Essentially every moment of the song is iconic, from the opening synthesizer line, to the rocking opening guitar riff, to the song's rhythm section, to the Pete-Townshend sung bridge, to Roger Daltrey repeatedly belting out the line "Teenage Wasteland." It's always remarkable when a band both pioneered and perfected a sound at once, and it's tough to argue The Who don't do both here with their blend of classic rock music and keyboards.
At this point, the "Whoa, this song is on here too?!" train continues with "Bargain," which feels at this point like it's been in one billion commercials. That's fine, but the song is great, and really hammers home how great this band is, and how unique and invaluable each band member's contributions are. In a run-on sentence: Roger Daltrey's trademarked, gravelly, yet versatile and wide-ranging vocals, Pete Townshend's balanced power chord/effects-experimenting lead lines guitar work, along with his dominant songwriting, keyboard experimentation, and softer vocals as a counter to Daltrey's, John Entwistle's pioneering, at times mind-blowingly nimble and active bass playing, which has often seen him placed him atop "greatest bassist of all-time" lists, and Keith Moon's excellent, hyper-active, tom and fill-heavy drumming are gelling and at their peak here. No one else has ever sounded like these four guys, and the combination of this quartet hitting on all cylinders together, as they do on this song, is astounding. "Love Ain't for Keeping" keeps this train moving, with part after memorable part over its brief two-minutes. As mind-blowing as this opening trio is, though, Who's Next isn't perfect. 

"My Wife," the only song here not written by Townshend, is sung by its songwriter, Entwistle. It's a fun song, with great instrumentation (Entwistle is even a one-man brass-section here!), but it most definitely comes off as a "Ringo song," which, if you're reading this review, you most likely understand. The song is silly fun, but doesn't fit on a perfect album. It knocks Who's Next down from mindblowingly PERFECT, to merely mindblowingly GREAT. Well, actually, the rest of the album isn't perfect, either. "The Song Is Over" adds some rock ballad elements to Who's Next, though it quickly starts bouncing back and forth between that and harder-rocking. Townshend writes so many changing parts into this song, it's essentially progressive rock. A more straightforward rocker would fit perfectly after this, but "Getting in Tune" follows next by doing most of the same stuff "The Song Is Over" did. They're both great songs, but their sameness makes the middle of Who's Next sag just a little bit. 

Next is the Townshend vocals-led "Going Mobile," which is one of those free-wheeling, hippie-sounding rock sounds about driving somewhere. It's fun. It's fine. Keith Moon's ADD drums are like the flu, except they make you feel good. The next two tracks are legendary. 

"Behind Blue Eyes" begins with an acoustic guitar line that sounds like it has existed since the beginning of time, as Daltrey softly sings, "No one knows what it's like/ to be the bad man/To be the sad man/Behind blue eyes." The lyrics start getting angrier and angrier until Townshend starts harmonizing, and Daltrey snarls "And I blame you!" before the two sing the line "My love is vengeance that's never free," and the whole band come in. To put an exclamation point on this climax, Daltrey starts singing in the most aggressive tones he's used up to this point. Great song. Legendary song. But the next one is better. 

"Won't Get Fooled Again" is as good, and maybe better than "Baba O'Riley." It theme-songed an even more popular CSI, so I think that might give it the edge. Or maybe it's the eternally prescient lyrics, rebuking the worldwide power structure--how the strong and well-off lord it over the weak, no matter the name of the government. This is a great, brilliant rock song, again combining the band's "hard for the 60's and early 70's" rock music with synthesizer experimentation. The moment the song goes to the building synthesizer bridge 3/4 through, then Moon comes in filling like a maniac, and then the guitar and bass come in at the same moment and Daltrey screams "YEEEEEEAHHHH!!! Meet the new boss! Same as the old boss!" is the most iconic in all of rock-and-roll, and like Daltrey facing a drug-abusing bandmate, I will fight you if you disagree. It's the most rock moment in history, and it's everything rock stands for. It's "fuck the system" and "damn the man" rock music of the highest order. That's what rock is supposed to be about.

So that's it, Who's Next is the classic rock album of classic rock albums, even if it ain't perfect. I love it, I've listened to it 1000 times, and I'll probably listen to it 1000 more. Who's Next was as true 40 years ago when The Who recorded it as it is true now.
NOW THIS IS A DAMN ROCK BAND:


1971 Decca Records
1. Baba O'Riley 5:01
2. Bargain 5:33
3. Love Ain't for Keeping 2:10
4. My Wife 3:35
5. The Song Is Over 6:17
6. Getting in Tune 4:49
7. Going Mobile 3:43
8. Behind Blue Eyes 3:42
9. Won't Get Fooled Again 8:35