The Who – “Who’s Next” – Revisited
Fifty-five years ago today, the Who released their legendary album “Who’s Next” featuring their hit songs “Baba O’Reilly” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – and on December 16th 2012, I had wrote this. To be young, and hear the Who and then to have spent a good portion of your life listening to the Who gives you a better understanding of the music, the lyrics and so forth. That being said, you’ve probably noticed it’s been a few years since I’ve wrote anything on here, so is this a comeback? Probably not, but a hopeful resurgence of getting back into what I’ve loved with a more matured and better understanding of music. So, let’s drop that needle on the A-Side and get into it.
Everything – and I do mean EVERYTHING is perfect about “Baba O’Reilly” (or “Teenage Wasteland” as we all probably called it growing up because we most likely hadn’t actually known the name.” Roger Daltrey is a fantastic vocalist, he is a man with an absolutely stunning voice and vocal range. Musically, every part of this track is absolute art, the piano playing, the drums, the violin playing everything about the song is an absolutely masterpiece. We continue on with the track “Bargain” – which back in 2012, I called it the “true masterpiece” of this album. I will say that I still find the song to have a lot of appeal to it, vocally and musically. Do I still think many years later that it is still the “true masterpiece” of the album, no. Do I still think it is a great song, absolutely. Next up, “Love Ain’t For Keeping” and there is something about the way that Roger Daltrey shouts “love” that just always gets me, though I am a huge fan of “Quadrophenia” (album and film) – this song isn’t quite as good as the songs on “Quadrophenia” but still a good song. We continue on with the song “My Wife” and I find it to be better than the previous track for sure, The Who definitely had the sound back in the 70’s that was almost impossible for anyone to replicate that really made them stand out from the rest. Keith Moon’s drumming on this matches the “machine gun” lyric with his “machine gun” delivery on the drums. Lastly, the A-Side closes out with the track “Song is Over” which starts off as a slower track. Piano playing by the ever talented Pete Townshend. Much like other albums by the Who this one does feature more than one rock anthem, and I do believe that this one here is another prime example of a fantastic rock anthem.
The B-Side opens with the track “Getting in Tune” – it is a slower track again, featuring Pete on the piano accompanying Roger’s fantastic vocals, I do have to give credit to John Entwistle for his fantastic bass playing. This song was a great opening to the B-Side. “Getting Mobile” continues the album, and it’s another great song on this album, musically it is fast paced, and well delivered. Of course, we continue on with one of my personal favorite songs by the Who, “Behind Blue Eyes” and it’s one of those songs that gets you where you feel, hooks you in with the slow, melodic build up until all that emotion and feelings that they wrote about come out, not just in the music but in our own feelings. Lastly, the album closes with what is probably one of the Who’s most known hits (aside from Baba O’Reilly) – “I Won’t Get Fooled Again” – and everything about this song is absolutely perfect, but most importantly and fundamentally, Pete Townshend’s guitar playing is what honestly impresses me the most on this track, it’s sharp, it’s powerful and unapologetic. (And as I incorrectly wrote 14 years ago, the song is not used by a “cop show on NBC” – rather the opening theme to CSI Miami on CBS.)
Fifteen years ago I picked this album up for a dollar at the Salvation Army when I started collecting, and all these years later the music within will forever stand the test of time. Though, I do think my record needs a bit of a cleaning.
And with the amount of times I wrote “Baba O’Reilly” I am really surprised that I didn’t accidentally write Baby.
Catalog Number:
MCA-2023
Credits:
Produced by The Who
Recorded by, Mixed by and Associate Producer – Glyn Johns
Executive Producers – Kit Lambert, Chris Stamp and Pete Kameron
Drums, Percussion and Violin on “Baba O’Reilly” – Keith Moon
Vocals – Roger Daltrey
Bass, Brass, Vocals, and Piano on “My Wife” – John Entwistle
Guitars, VCS3 Organ, A.R.P. Synthesizer, Vocals and Piano on “Baba O’Reilly” – Pete Townshend
Piano on “Song is Over” and “Getting in Tune” – Nicky Hopkins
Violin on “Baba O’Reilly” – Dave Arbus
Photography – Ethan A. Russell
Design – John Kosh
Recorded and Mixed at Olympic Studios, London
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” recorded at Stargroves and mixed at Island Studios, London
All songs composed by Pete Townshend, except “My Wife” composed by John Entwhistle
Released:
1973
Find your own copy on Discogs.
