Who's Next
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Believe it or not, this landmark album, the record that changed FM rock forever in the early-'70s, has never been reissued from the original master tapes...'til now! But that's only the beginning...in addition to the original nine tracks, disc one adds six bonus tracks that were recorded at The Record Plant in March 1971, ('Baby Don't You Do It', 'Getting In Tune', 'Pure and Easy', 'Love Ain't For Keeping',… Product details and pricing info |
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85 Customer Reviews Posted
- WHY NO SACD EDITION??
- How many Original Recording Remastered editions do you need?? If you're going to released a "Deluxe Edition" then have it include an SACD disc!!!!!
- 2008-11-09, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Who's Next in exile
- I like the Deluxe Edition packaging in general, and the remix on the original album tracks is superb. I do have one complaint: MCA needs to release one CD of all of The Who's 1971 Olympic recordings. The Who cut 17 songs (that were eventually released) as part of the Who's Next sessions at Olympic Studios for an intended double album, and they all sound fantastic. The Who never sounded better than they did on these tracks, with Glyn Johns producing and giving the excellent band performances a remarkably clean sound (compare Quadrophenia, where the band's sound tended to be washed out by the brass arrangements), and with the great Nicky Hopkins providing brilliant piano work which makes several songs by itself . In fact, it is difficult for me to say that the tracks that made it on to the album are much better than the ones left off-- Pure and Easy is a masterpiece, and the others aren't far behind. These tracks are, in short, the Holy Grail for anyone who appreciates the Who; the band simply never sounded better.
Townshend has said that, with the Lifehouse concept scrapped, he wanted to avoid making an unfocused double album ala the White Album. In hindsight, however, the 16 tracks collectively would have constituted the Who's most consistent and listenable double album musically, if not their most conceptually ambitious (both Tommy with its instrumentals and Quadrophenia with its overblown arrangements are sometimes difficult to listen to end-to-end). The songs from the Olympic Sessions each have a depth, power, and subtlety not found on other Who tracks or indeed really anywhere else.
For the record, here are the eight "lost" Who's Next tracks to which I am referring. They are not all easily available, by the way, and the obscurity into which they've fallen annoys me because had they been on the original album they'd have become fan favorites if not AOR radio hits:
1. Pure and Easy (on the Ultimate Collection; released originally on the 1974 Odds & Sods album, which is unfortunate because it is neither an odd nor a sod but rather one of Townshend's finest songs)
2. Let's See Action (the Ultimate Collection) (not released in the U.S. until it was included on the cash-in Hooligans compilation album in 1981)
3. Naked Eye (Odds & Sods) (Good live version on the Deluxe Edition bonus CD, although I like the studio version better for the reasons I generally prefer the studio versions of these tracks: Johns's production and the piano part).
4. Too Much of Anything (Odds & Sods) (the live version on the Deluxe Edition bonus CD is not good at all and put me off of the song until I heard the studio version, which is far, far superior.)
5. Water (bonus track on the Odds & Sods CD reissue; first released in 1973 as the b-side of the "5:15" single. There is a passable live version on the Deluxe Edition bonus CD which goes on too long).
6. I Don't Even Know Myself (bonus track on the 1995 Who's Next CD reissue; first released in 1971 as the b-side of the "Won't Get Fooled Again" single. The Deluxe Edition bonus CD has an excellent live version of this song, but the studio version is slightly better.)
7. When I Was a Boy (a fine Entwistle song: it doesn't rock as hard as "My Wife", but is a nice song reminiscent of the later "905" on "Who Are You", and it brings to bear the trademark Entwistle dark perspective which was so important in leavening Townshend's sometime tendency towards pretentiousness. I don't think When I Was a Boy is available anywhere now besides some out-of-print compilation CDs and LPs; it was first released in the U.S. on the now out-of-print Join Together compilation album in the early 1980s.)
8. There is also an Olympic Studio version of Time Is Passing, available as a bonus track on Odds & Sods. This studio version is the only one which lags behind the live version on the Deluxe Edition bonus CD in quality; the studio version has a goofy synth part appended to the end of the track, and the performance on the live version is tougher-sounding). - 2008-09-05, 1 of 1 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Their best album
- If I had but one album choice, it would be this one. Their finest work.
- 2008-07-31, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Worth the Money
- Others have done a great job summarizing the band and the music. Let me just add that I bought this for the sound quality (already having the album on vinyl and the standard issue CD). This was worth the money. The sound is fantastic and I have encouraged anyone I know who is a WHO fan to invest in this reissue.
Definitely an example of "if they improve the product enough - you are not getting ripped off to buy it again." - 2008-07-28, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- A Seminal Work Made Better
- A classic album that has only been made better with it's re-release as a deluce edition. The best part about this reissue is disc two--we already know what is great about the original album. The April 1971 show in which many of the Who's Next songs were played live for the first time is a breathtaking performance. This is saying alot when you consider that this concert comes in an era of truly great Who live performances. A great addition to the Who remastered re-releases.
- 2008-05-05, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
