[Today: The Who ditch the opera and rock out...]
The songs that eventually became Who’s Next were actually pieces of a conceptual album/theatrical production/motion picture that Pete Townshend was calling Lifehouse. Ultimately the narrative strings holding Lifehouse together proved to be too frail for Townshend’s multi-media ambitions, and he and the group handed the songs over to producer Glyn Johns to see if he could turn them into an album.
Johns did, and how – Who’s Next would go on to sell 3,000,000 copies in the 70’s alone. Album opener ‘Baba O’Reilly’ – with its flighty synthesizers and “Teenage Wasteland” refrain – is one of the most recognizable tunes of the rock era, even if it didn’t chart in the States. Album closer ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ is a perennial protest song that will ring true as long as governments stand. In between those highlights sit no minor songs, no filler, nothing less than arena-sized rock & roll. ‘Bargain’ and ‘Love Ain’t For Keeping’ are two of the group’s very best tunes, and ‘The Song Is Over’ is a surprisingly tender turn from a band who fancied themselves a bunch of hooligans.
During a February 1971 interview with Keith Altham, Townshend admitted to the crisis of confidence he was having with the Lifehouse material. “I’ve thought of having it released under a pseudonym but that’s no answer – not because I couldn’t bear it if it was a flop because I’m sure it would be, but because it is very personal material.” What he didn’t realize was that the conceptual baggage of the rock opera model had only served as a barrier to The Who’s music, and free from the puppet strings of Lifehouse, the intensely personal nature of Who’s Next made it their baddest and best album.
Listen: Love Ain’t for Keeping
Listen: Won’t Get Fooled Again
Listen: Bargain
Tags: Glyn Johns, Keith Altham, Lifehouse, Pete Townshend, The Who, Who's Next
30 May 2009 at 8:08 am |
Here’s a nice tidbit on the cover art, courtesy of Wikipedia:
“The album cover shows a photograph, taken at Easington Colliery, of the band apparently having just urinated on a large concrete piling protruding from a slag heap. According to photographer Ethan A. Russell, most of the members were unable to urinate, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect.”
30 May 2009 at 8:36 am |
“Most of the members were unable to urinate…”
I’ll bet Keith Moon had some piss for that post.
30 May 2009 at 8:21 am |
Probably one of the three most influential albums of my life. One of the first albums I ever bought back in 7th grade. Right AFTER Rush 2112.
1 June 2009 at 9:51 am |
i don’t doubt that this has to be one of the best — if not the best — LP created by the who. unfortunately, thanks to the AOR format of yesteryear and the classic rock stations still hanging around today, it has gotten so overplayed that i don’t ever EVER need to hear most of these songs again.
maybe they weren’t nuked into memory in either coast, but FM radio singlehandedly killed the appeal of this album (and the who) for me.
the who needed mr townsend to take the lead vocal MUCH more than he did. roger daltrey’s one-size-fits-all vocal approach has held them back from being überlegendary — IMO, of course. i would love to see this “on the fence” at some time.
in a rare, sad form of irony, overexposure can kill something great. (i will hang up now and take all comments off the air.)
1 June 2009 at 10:01 am |
I have to confess that I’m pretty lukewarm on The Who in general. Because I rarely listen to them of my own accord, they actually sound pretty fresh when I do throw them on the turntable. It’s also safe to say that their songs didn’t get pounded into oblivion on West Coast radio like they did in the Midwest.
You want The Who on the fence? Look for Tommy, coming soon to a fence near you…
1 June 2009 at 2:10 pm |
The Who WEREN’T überlegendary? Where else could they have gone?
And if they’re not, who is?
1 June 2009 at 2:35 pm |
Personally I wouldn’t put The Who on the same level as The Beatles, The Stones or Jimi Hendrix. But that’s just me, I know plenty of people who would…
2 June 2009 at 9:57 am |
yeah, i’d have to say they are definite tier 2 legend status…along with the likes of aerosmith, michael jackson, black sabbath and so on. frankly, that still doesn’t earn them much airplay at our house, although, rest assured, the radio stations in the lou still play the who like it’s 1977.
2 June 2009 at 10:37 am |
Thought “Who Are You” was slightly better. I B. with Furr, if they weren’t uberlegendary I don’t know which band is…
The battle for the turntable growing up was The Stones (my dad) and The Who
(my brother and I)
2 June 2009 at 10:47 am |
I didn’t want to get into this the other day but, now I can’t hold my tongue! Who was it that got so fired up about Billy Joel…Bob? I don’t want to go all “Bob” on you but how in the hell can you not think The Who aren’t überlegendary? You have to look beyond the fact that a Who song starts every episode of every CSI. Pete Townshend is legendary by himself! Your penance will be 1 Drowned 1 Squeeze Box 1 Eminence Front and 2 5:15. Maybe you need a little Who everyday for the next 10 days. Do it!
2 June 2009 at 10:51 am |
At their peak, the Who live could blow the doors off the Stones (and did so at the Rock n’ Roll circus– see [link removed]) or pretty much any other band of their generation (yes, Jimi included). On the strength of their live shows alone, they are uber-legends of the first order.
Live performances aside, no other band, including the Beatles, had such a unique approach to instrumentation (constantly changing their equipment setup, Moon’s drums serving more of a keyboard role, Entwhistle’s bass as lead guitar, etc.).
I’m always amazed when these guys don’t get their due and are placed on the second team with the The Kinks and, did I hear that right?, Aersosmith? Please.
dk, me thinks you have a volatile ON THE FENCE on your hands.
2 June 2009 at 10:53 am |
Sorry, bad link. Try this one:
2 June 2009 at 11:25 am |
Any time I hear a Who song, I get pretty psyched.
Sadly, I never saw them live.
3 June 2009 at 4:18 pm |
i did see them live (post keith moon). i can say they did not disappoint. they left it all out there. and they were one of the loudest shows i ever saw.
jo: i hear you on the eminence front — it’s my all time favorite who song. pete townsend is closer to überlegend status than the who. (now i’m really pushing my luck.)
finally, while i know that the crux of my distaste for the who is a some irrational combination of roger daltrey’s voice and their perhaps unintended overexposure, i believe i stand on terra firma when i say the who could never wipe the beatles’ collective arse.