Track Listing

1. Baba O'Riley - The Who, Glyn Johns, Andy Macpherson, Jon Astley, Bill Curbishley, Robert Rosenberg, Chris Charlesworth
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain't For Keeping - The Who, Glyn Johns
4. My Wife - The Who, Glyn Johns, Jon Astley, Andy Macpherson, Bill Curbishley, Robert Rosenberg, Chris Charlesworth
5. The song is over
6. Getting in tune
7. Going Mobile - The Who, Glyn Johns, Andy Macpherson, Jon Astley
8. Behind Blue Eyes - The Who, Glyn Johns
9. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
10. Pure And Easy - Glyn Johns, Kit Lambert, The Who
11. Baby Don't You Do It - Kit Lambert, Leslie West, The Who
12. Naked Eye - The Who, Andy Macpherson, Jon Astley
13. Water
14. Too Much Of Anything - Glyn Johns, Nicky Hopkins, The Who
15. I Don't Even Know Myself - The Who
16. Behind blue eyes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5238 in Music
• Released on: 1999-12-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 78 minutes

From Amazon.com
A mix of old favorites and buried treasures makes this edition of Who's Next a definite must. One of the defining albums of 70s hard rock from one of the 60s most successful bands, the original album includes some of The Who's best-known work, such as the anthemic "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", the by turns sorrowful and angry "Behind Blue Eyes", and perennial favorite "My Wife". The new tracks on this album are equally worth hearing, including "Pure and Easy" (an alternate edition of which is available on Odds & Sods) and the original version of "Behind Blue Eyes". A hard rock classic, Who's Next is required listening for rock fans of all ages. --Genevieve Williams

CD Description
While both THE WHO SELL OUT and TOMMY have their passionatedevotees, WHO'S NEXT is the Who's masterpiece. Originally, Pete Townshend intended these songs for an even larger-scaleproject than TOMMY, a massive multimedia extravaganza, called LIFEHOUSE, that the songwriter eventually abandoned. Townshend was initially keen to keep at least the basic structure of the story for the Who's next record, but associate producer Glyn Johns convinced him that a straightforward single disc of the project's best songs would make a stronger album. Wise counsel indeed, because WHO'S NEXT is by far the group's most focused and powerful effort.
Bracketed by "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", two classic rock epics that did more to advance the cause of synthesizers in mainstream rock than Kraftwerk's entire career, this album is basically flawless, ranging in mood from the heartbreaking "The Song Is Over" to John Entwistle's bitterly funny "My Wife". Although nearly every song on the record, barring only thebluesy acoustic interlude "Love Ain't for Keeping", is a saturation-level FM-rock-radio mainstay, WHO'S NEXT is that rarity--an intimately familiar album that never gets tiresome.

Customer Reviews

The Best Who Album Got Better, but......
Who's Next, apart from having a brilliant cover, is for me the absolute studio peak for this band. The songwriting, recording, musicianship and
'feel' of the album remain stunning almost forty years after its release.

It was/is the perfect Who album, although so are The Who Sell Out, and Who Live at Leeds, and.....

BUT, in these days of CD, why do the record companies think they have to fill up the disc to give value? The bonus tracks are excellent and most welcome, of course, but why not (OK, I know it's dollars) put them on a second CD?


Won't Get Fooled Again was the perfect close to the record, but now it closes with Behind Blue Eyes: great song, but not the 'kapow' ending of the original. Of course, in these days of MP3 and IPods, you can re-jig albums in any way you like, but can you imagine Sgt Pepper ending with, say, an outtake version of Lovely Rita instead of Day in the Life?!

Anyway, enough griping. This is great stuff, and I defy anyone to avoid playing along with the drum break in Won't Get Fooled Again.

PS There is another issue of Who's Next, too. This is a 2 CD set which features a terrific, unreleased live collection from the Vic Theatre which was planned to be part of the Lifehouse project, I think. The first CD is the same as the first re-issue reviewed here.

Rock at its best
A fantastic album, definitely up there with the best rock has offered over the last 50 years. A slightly more grown up and `rock' sounding Who compared to some of their earlier work, but still with all the classic sounds and features that made the Who so great, from Keith Moons rather mad drumming to Pete Townshend's huge chords and excellent guitar playing.
This album starts with Baba O'Riley, opening with a synth line that flows through the whole song (at times in the forefront, other times hidden under guitars) to which a simple few chords on piano are added and drums and the song gets into swing, Daltrey's vocals of teenage years and feelings, and the huge crashing guitars. Before later stripping right back down to the basics before building up again for the crash of the ending.
Bargain is another five plus minutes of classic Who rock, starting with some violin inspired guitar swells before launching into the song proper, a song of chasing that one girl.
I don't want to go through all the songs individually, but `Behind Blue eyes' must be mentioned, more lately known from a Limp Bizkit `cover' of it (some would say massacre) this is the original version as it should be. A heartfelt song of not fitting in and being the outsider, simple acoustic and bass playing and vocal line for a few verses until the song opens up with Keith Moon coming crashing in on the drums accompanied by Pete Townshend with huge crashing chords and riffs.
And on to `Won't Get Fooled Again' the original ending to the album (more recent versions have some extra songs added, and even more recently the release of the deluxe version with a second disc from one of the first gigs playing the new material, with some live versions of the earlier tracks and some old favourites) Another song with synths going in the background, opening up with one chord being hit on the guitar and the synth line opening, kicking in again. A song about moving forwards and advancing in life (I tip my hat to the new constitution.) and not getting left behind, the song advancing and breaking down, coming crashing in and moving along until everything is stripped back to just the synth lines playing along and modulating until the drums come kicking back in, and Daltrey's huge scream - one of those brilliant moments of rock.

The album was originally written as the concept album `lifehouse' which was deemed too complex and it was stripped back into the collection of songs you have here (properly released years later by Pete Townshend) but this album definitely isn't the remains of something else, as I said above, Definitely up there with the crème of the last 50 years of music

There once was a note, pure and easy, playing so free like a breath rippling by...
Before buying this album it's important to consider that the Deluxe Edition contains a live disk which history may judge to surpass Live at Leeds, as great as that is. The two main things going for it -- it goes without saying that the band are on the top of their form -- are (i) the quality of the songs (the best of Who's Next, apart from Baba O'Riley, along with equally great songs from Lifehouse that didn't make it onto that album, above all Pure and Easy, but also Naked Eye, Water, I Don't Even Know Myself), and (ii) the quality of the sound, thanks to the Rolling Stones mobile. This remastered edition is great: the Deluxe Edition is incomparably greater.