The full-blown rock opera about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy that launched the band to international superstardom, written almost entirely by Pete Townshend. Hailed as a breakthrough upon its release, its critical standing has diminished somewhat in the ensuing decades because of the occasional pretensions of the concept and because of the ...
Pete Townshend revisited the rock opera concept with another double-album opus, this time built around the story of a young mod's struggle to come of age in the mid-'60s. If anything, this was a more ambitious project than Tommy, given added weight by the fact that the Who weren't devising some fantasy but were re-examining the roots of their own ...
Much of Who's Next derives from Lifehouse, an ambitious sci-fi rock opera Pete Townshend abandoned after suffering a nervous breakdown, caused in part from working on the sequel to Tommy. There's no discernable theme behind these songs, yet this album is stronger than Tommy, falling just behind Who Sell Out as the finest record the Who ever cut. ...
Following in the footsteps not only of Universal's many Ultimate Collection, but also the Beatles 1 -- a groundbreaking collection in the sense that it proved that a collection that contains all the hits will actually sell on CD (thereby proving the cynical ploy of leaving hits off a compilation in order to sell catalog is flawed) -- the Who's ...
Pete Townshend originally planned The Who Sell Out as a concept album of sorts that would simultaneously mock and pay tribute to pirate radio stations, complete with fake jingles and commercials linking the tracks. For reasons that remain somewhat ill defined, the concept wasn't quite driven to completion, breaking down around the middle of side ...
Since there was a Pure Funk and Pure Disco, it makes sense that a Pure '70s would follow. It couldn't be called "Pure Rock," since a lot of this simply doesn't rock at all -- "American Pie," anyone? However, all 20 songs on this collection (mostly culled from the Polygram vaults) reek of the '70s, and that's why this is a fun listen. Yes, it's ...
There have been plenty of Guess Who collections on the market, from the original Best of the Guess Who to the multi-disc Track Record. Of all of these, the best is the 1999 collection Greatest Hits, which contains a generous 18 songs, including all but two of their charting American singles -- not counting 1965's "Shakin' All Over," the missing ...
Rushed out in 1970 as a way to bide time as the Who toiled away on their follow-up to Tommy, Live at Leeds wasn't intended to be the definitive Who live album, and many collectors maintain that the band had better shows available on bootlegs. But those shows weren't easily available whereas Live at Leeds was, and even if this show may not have ...
Rushed out in 1970 as a way to bide time as the Who toiled away on their sequel to Tommy, Live at Leeds wasn't intended to be the definitive Who live album and many collectors maintain that the band had better shows only available on bootlegs. But those shows weren't easily available whereas Live at Leeds was, and even if this show may not have ...
The Who by Numbers functions as Pete Townshend's confessional singer/songwriter album, as he chronicles his problems with alcohol ("However Much I Booze"), women ("Dreaming From the Waist" and "They Are All in Love"), and life in general. However, his introspective musings are rendered ineffective by Roger Daltrey's bluster and the cloying, ...
Two Rooms is a wildly uneven star-studded tribute to a wildly uneven superstar songwriting team. Though Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote many of the best pop songs of the '70s and '80s, they have written more than their fair share of clunkers as well. Some of them were chosen for this collection. Tina Turner, for example, tackles the ludicrously ...
The Who's second album is a less impressive outing than their debut, primarily because, at the urging of their managers, all four members penned original material (though Pete Townshend wrote more than anyone else). The pure adrenaline of My Generation also subsided somewhat as the band began to grapple with more complex melodic and lyrical themes ...
The Best of 70's Supergroups is a thoroughly entertaining 14-track collection that contains a wealth of album-rock and hard rock hits, including such radio staples as "More Than A Feeling," "Evil Woman, " "Come Sail Away, " "Taking Care of Business, " "American Woman, " "Black Magic Woman, " "Green-Eyed Lady, " "Sweet Home Alabama" and "We're an ...
The Who retired following their 1982 farewell tour but like Frank Sinatra's frequent retreats from the stage, it was not a permanent goodbye. Seven years later, the band -- Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle; that is, Keith Moon's replacement Kenny Jones wasn't invited back -- embarked on a reunion tour, and ever since then the band ...
Driven by Pete Townshend's arching musical ambitions, It's Hard was a final effort from the Who. Featuring layers of synthesizers and long-winded, twisting song structures, the album featured the anthemic "Athena" and the terse "Eminence Front." [The compact disc reissue adds four bonus tracks to the original 12-song lineup, all of them live. ...
On the Who's final album with Keith Moon, their trademark honest power started to get diluted by fatigue and a sense that the group's collective vision was beginning to fade. As instrumentalists, their skills were intact. More problematic was the erratic quality of the material, which seemed torn between blustery attempts at contemporary relevance ...
The Who's catalog was revamped in the mid-'90s, with every title (except My Generation, due to legal entanglements with producer Shel Talmy) receiving new remastering and bonus tracks. Nearly eight years later, Who's Next, one of the group's most beloved albums, was given another remastered/expanded treatment as part of Universal Chronicles' ...
The Who's second album is a less impressive outing than their debut, primarily because, at the urging of their managers, all four members penned original material (though Pete Townshend wrote more than anyone else). The pure adrenaline of My Generation also subsided somewhat as the band began to grapple with more complex melodic and lyrical themes ...
This two-disc set should be the final word regarding the Who's February 14, 1970, performance at Leeds University. The main impetus for consumers -- who may have repurchased this title in its various formats -- is having the entire Tommy rock opera intact. While impressive, that performance merely scratches the surface of the multifaceted sonic ...
As many Who fans know, disputes between the Who and producer Shel Talmy held back the release of a CD version of My Generation taken from the best available original sources for quite some time. Eventually the dispute was resolved, and 2002 saw the release of the deluxe edition of this classic album, expanded into a two-CD work with the addition ...
Much of Who's Next derives from Lifehouse, an ambitious sci-fi rock opera Pete Townshend abandoned after suffering a nervous breakdown, caused in part from working on the sequel to Tommy. There's no discernable theme behind these songs, yet this album is stronger than Tommy, falling just behind Who Sell Out as the finest record the Who ever cut. ...
Odds & Sods, a compilation of outtakes and rarities from the Who's first decade, is a rather jumpy listen that harbors few songs that could be termed top of the line. Also, since its 1974 release, several of the tracks have been issued on other compilations, or as bonus tracks to CD reissues of legitimate Who albums. Setting your expectations at ...
The Guess Who always seemed a bit like the Canadian predecessor/counterpart to Grand Funk Railroad, but they typically fared far better with the critics because of the versatility that they possessed. That trait is very evident on this collection of hits and great songs. From the opening "These Eyes," with its orchestral strings and Zombies-like ...
This four-disc box set was released commemorating the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival that took place in August 1969, and combined both of the Woodstock albums released in 1970 and 1971 with previously unreleased material. It's a well-known part of the festival's history that many of the participants played self-confessed ...
The Guess Who's most successful LP, reaching number nine in America (and charting for more than a year), has held up well and was as close to a defining album-length statement as the original group ever made. It's easy to forget that until "American Woman," the Guess Who's hits had been confined to softer, ballad-style numbers -- that song (which ...
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