Aug 27 AOTD: The Who - Who's Next

The Who - Who's Next

1971



Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpZmkrA0wEU&list=PLWnVxuqvY7Jh4s8AyVxYaL4vB5QapV7It

It's the first rock album to ever use a synthesizer.

The first song - "Baba O'Riley" - takes it's name from two of Pete Townshend's heroes, his spiritual guru, Meher Baba and jazz experimentalist Terry Riley.

Nicky Hopkins guests on piano throughout the album.

"Baba O'riley" features Dave Arbus of East of Eden on violin at the end of the song.

The guitar Pete Townshend uses in "Won't Get Fooled Again" was given to him by Joe Walsh of the Eagles.

The songs are only a small collection leftover from an abandoned project of Pete's called, originally to have been called Lifehouse.  That project was to tell a futuristic dystopian story of teen girl pied-pipered away by a rock musician and the father that is determined to follow her and then bring her back.  But forget the story.  It's the themes that matter and hold the remnants up, despite the abandoned narrative.

"Baba O'Riley" opens the album and was to have originally been the start of the story as well, with the father taking his wife Sally and two children and hitting the road to escape the pollution of the city. But it's that bridge with Pete Townshend singing "Don't cry, don't raise your eye/It's only teenage wasteland." The line is packed with multiple meanings.  Pete says he was inspired to write it after seeing the teens at Woodstock losing it on acid.  But it also carries meaning within the intended story as an interlude implying that the teenager running away from/leaving home is expected; it's a stage in life filled with emptiness, sowing oats, and adventure - most of it meaningless but also somewhat frightening to adults/parents in the moment. It can also be satirical, questioning the dismissive attitude of friends and family to those young people doing drugs to the point of wasting their minds or lives; after all, Pete had lost close friends like Jimi Hendrix to overdoses, all of these great minds cut down prematurely in a "teenage wasteland."

"Love Ain't for Keeping," details their trip some more as, out in the country during early dawn with the "babes still sleeping," the father beckons to his wife to come lay with him by the fire - one of my favorite rock love songs (not sure that it fits "ballad" description) - and also one of my wife's favorite Who songs. "Going Mobile" round out the trifecta of the "on the road" songs.

Bargain explores spiritual transcendence, featuring a line from Meher Baba: "I'll gladly lose me to find you."

"Behind Blue Eyes" is a great reminder that perceived/real criminals are people too - and, like "Won't Get Fooled Again," plays with the idea of reality vs. illusion.  "Behind Blues" (along with "Love Reign O'er Me") is in the running for one of the most beautiful Daltrey vocal recordings.

In the heart of the album are two songs that highlight everything great about this band, from the writing of hooks and monster choruses to the musicianship to the vocals of both Daltrey and Townshend: "Getting in Tune" and "Song is Over."

The song "Won't Get Fooled Again" is the sound of band flying off the tracks, train cars of heavy musical muscle flying in every direction, yet somehow that train stays, wildly, centered and barreling along.  At a few points it seems like everyone is soloing, yet listen carefully and you'll hear someone applying the glue - Keith on drums (though rare - as he loves his constant fills), John on Bass, Pete on guitar, the synthesizer (yes, the song owes it's cohesiveness mainly to this instrument, which Keith strove to play along to during the recording), or perhaps a vocal refrain to remind us what song we're in.  then comes that synthesizer bridge with all other instruments and vocals suspended for almost a minute. Roger Daltrey's scream that brings the song back to it rock elements is considered by Dave Marsh and Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest scream in Rock and Roll - I'd agree.

This is in competition for one of the top 10-15 greatest albums of all time.