Who's Next

Fate sometimes plays a large role in the forming of a classic album, and in the case of Who's Next, it played a slightly bigger role than in most. Pete Townshend's next project was to have been another rock opera , their previous studio album was Tommy, called Lifehouse. However things did not go well in attempting to put together this "live recorded concept album", creating a huge rift between Townshend and producer Kit Lambert, and also leaving Townshend on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown. Some of the ideas were retained within Who's Next, which now became an album of unrelated songs. This did however allow the band to concentrate their energies into each individual song instead of kowtowing to an overall concept idea that needed to be carried through each track.

A fantastic track listing of solid songs: John Entwistle's contribution "My Wife" written whilst walking in the woods after an argument with said wife, the acoustic chugger "Love Ain't For Keeping" originally envisioned as a hard rocker, "The Song Is Over" and "Getting In Tune" both pieces of beautifully quiet lyricism. This album however had a triumvirate of musical tracks that would transcend the album that contained them to become known as classics in their own right. 

Side One

1."Baba O'Riley" 5:08

2."Bargain" 5:34

3."Love Ain't for Keeping" 2:10

4."My Wife" (John Entwistle) 3:41

5."The Song Is Over" 6:14

Side Two

6."Getting in Tune" 4:50

7."Going Mobile" 3:42

8."Behind Blue Eyes" 3:42

9."Won't Get Fooled Again" 8:32

Was there, before or since, a better opener to an album than "Baba O'Riley"? Was their ever a more angst driven lament than "Teenage Wasteland" within a song? From an insidious beginning to a shuddering tumultuous pinnacle before plunging back down to the inspired violin solo, provided by Dave Arbus, after Keith Moon suggested the idea.Then there is the masterful penultimate track "Behind Blue Eyes". The beatific start to the song camouflages the rage laying beneath the surface calm. It only takes a couple of minutes for the dam to burst though and as the rage erupts on the crescendo of Pete's guitar and Keith's thundering drums, it is an impassioned plea, to help control the anger, that arrives, "When my fist clenches, crack it open / Before I use it and lose my cool / When I smile tell me some bad news / Before I laugh and act like a fool." The dynamics and contrast created in the song work so well with the emotions involved. That just leaves the final track...but what a track! "Won't Get Fooled Again" a song about the pointlessness of revolution. That whatever happens you end up in the same place all over again, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". Townshend impressed on journalists that it was an anti-establishment song but that revolution didn't achieve anything in the long run and people just got hurt along the way. Nonetheless it was a fantastic piece of rock and still does the job to this day.

Baba O'Riley

Behind Blue Eyes

Won't Get Fooled Again