Interesting Who's Next DE review

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Stephen Cooke over at The Halifax Herald Limited has
an interesting take on the Who's Next album. The
article is online at:
http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaystory?2003/06/07+148.raw+Entertainment+2003/06/07

Remastered Who's Next packs sonic wallop
By Stephen Cooke SOUNDSCAPES

THOSE WHO FORGET history are condemned to repeat it,
but that doesn't explain why MCA Records keeps
reissuing The Who's monolithic Who's Next (Deluxe
Edition) (Universal Chronicles). If ever an album
qualified as unforgettable, this one would be it. 

Part of the reason Who's Next is so indelibly etched
in our memory banks is the fact that the tunes that
bookend it, Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again,
will be played daily by classic rock radio until the
sun goes cold. But it's also the record that slammed
the door shut on the swinging '60s (or if you prefer
another metaphor, Keith Moon's concussive drumming is
the most furious hammer that ever nailed a coffin
shut). 

>From Baba O'Riley's clear-eyed survey of teenage
wasteland to the final - and somewhat depressing -
realization that the new boss is "the same as the old
boss," Who's Next comes after trips to Woodstock and
The Isle of Wight festival and the realization that
the following decade likely wouldn't be peace and love
and candles in the rain. At this point, the album
cover image of a concrete plynth atop a slag heap,
upon which The Who has just voided its bladders, comes
into sharper focus. Who's Next? You have a go, it
won't make any difference. 

Who's Next remains a powerful statement, the peak of
the band's powers as a performing unit and Pete
Townshend's grasp as a songwriter. Sandwiched between
the gargantuan two-record statements of the rock
operas Tommy and Quadrophenia, Who's Next is more
concise and more emotionally direct, which is
remarkable considering it was created out of the ashes
of another weighty concept, a sci-fi rock project
called Lifehouse. 

In his introduction to this deluxe edition of Who's
Next, Pete Townshend chronicles the massive anxieties
that were taking their toll on the band at the time,
from the collapse of the Lifehouse project, the
defection of longtime manager Kit Lambert and the
excessive amounts of drugs and alcohol that were
pushing every situation to the breaking point. But
somehow the band was able to get things into focus and
make the bloody thing. 

This deluxe edition of Who's Next marks the third time
it's been issued on CD, following the initial,
lacklustre release and a single-disc remastered
version with bonus tracks in 1995. This double-CD
trumps them with a whole side of live material from
London's The Young Vic (recorded for Lifehouse), and
six tracks taped at the Record Plant in New York with
early versions of Who's Next songs and a few later
relegated to b-sides and compilations. 

Most curious is an unreleased version of Won't Get
Fooled Again with Who belter Roger Daltrey opting for
a Southern accent in his delivery. You half expect him
to go "Stella!" when he goes for that bloodcurdling
scream at the end. 

Who's Next isn't my favourite Who album - I tend to
prefer the more esoteric pleasures of Quadrophenia or
The Who Sell Out. But it still packs a sonic wallop,
especially in this remastered version, which also
lends greater clarity to the quieter, more spiritual
moments like The Song is Over and Getting in Tune.
Spinal Tap joked about "the majesty of rock, the
pagaentry of roll" but here's an instance where it
applies, in one crowning achievement. 


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
http://www.thewho.net/News

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