Review Summary: This album is one of 1971's best. It has some country but some amazing songs. This is a very good pickup.
The Who has been a very successful band. They never really had an extremely bad album. In 1971 they released
Who’s Next was very good compared to what they had to compete with.
Led Zeppelin IV and
Aqualung were released that year and I’d say that it held its own against them. This album is a mix between beautiful piano, a powerful voice and a bit of country.
This album has some of their most famous works. Its starting track
Baba O’riley is one of them. This song is perfectly put together. It is like a musical puzzle. With its great keyboard, drums and make this song an a beautiful and lovely tune. That song is most certainly one of their best and most famous tracks. Another song in this great collection is
Won’t Get Fooled Again, which I think was on a commercial (correct me if I’m wrong). This song features key board just like
Baba O’Riley and has a bit more of a distorted sound coming from Pete’s guitar. Another great song is
Bargain. This mood swinging song starts out with an acoustic sound then punches you in the face with a Daltrey type powerful feel. This song also holds one of the catchiest choruses.
Another great quality that this album has is that the piano it used quite frequently. An example of great piano is in the uplifting
I Don’t even Know Myself. It does an excellent job of backing and has a small solo in that song.
My Wife, Entwistle’s song, has some piano. Though it is almost inaudible it still does an excellent song. One of the better songs including piano has to be the bi-polar
The Song Is Over. It is just a couple of chords over and over again, but without them it wouldn’t be half as good. I call it bi-polar because you see the soft and sad voice of Daltrey then the powerful in-your-face vocals of him. Though
The Song Is Over is good the best has to be
Getting In Tune. The two songs are extremely similar. They both have great piano, they have those mood swings and they are very uplifting. This song also includes amazing and energetic drums.
As I said in the intro this album has a tiny bit of country and happy sound. This really is the only downfall of the album but the songs aren’t terrible.
Going Mobile has the country quality but its not too hard on the ears. It has a very upbeat feel and the acoustic work, though it has a bluegrass sound, is very good. The only song that I think is below average is
Too much of anything. It has much more country it than
Going Mobile. Daltrey tries to make his voice an octave higher at one point and it is one of the things that ruin the song. The other thing that ruins the song is the chorus. It just has too much country in it for my taste. The only thing that is decent in this song is the guitar work but it is way too faint to appreciate as much as it should be.
The Who also gets bluesy a little bit with the trio of songs
Baby Don’t You Do It,
Naked Eye and
Water.
Baby Don’t You Do It Intros with a very good drum beat by Moon. Usually in blues the guitar is the best part in blues songs, though it is great in this song, Keith’s very loved and ecstatic drums are the best quality in this song.
The Naked Eye, although it isn’t the best song, it is more than adequate. The best quality in this bumping song is Townsend’s guitar. Also Daltrey’s voice is, once again, stunning.
Water sounds like an older type blues/soul song. The main message of the song is about (I think) the 1930s down in the dustbowls during the great depression and lack of water and trying to farm. It’s a struggling song that I enjoy every time I listen to it. This also has a spectacular and stunning bassline just pouring out of Entwistle’s bass. The ending is dazzling and it is just an enjoyable tune.
Out of all of these great tracks there is one that sticks out like a sour thumb.
Behind Blue Eyes is this song. This is one of the best rock songs ever in fact. It starts out with an arpeggio of a couple chords and some great backing vocals and even better lead singing. After that session a breakout point comes out with all of the rock n’ roll elements. This is the best point on the album. The bassline is driving the guitar vocals and drums are incredible but the most impressive part is the lyrics.
‘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’. Those lyrics are just ground breaking and it makes the song.
‘If I swallow anything evil put your finger down my throat if I shiver, please give me a blanket keep me warm, let me wear your coat’
This is similar to those other lyrics. This song Is basically about hospitality and being welcoming. I better stop right now so I don’t write down the whole song. Many have tried to cover this but they aren’t nearly as good as the original.
This album was one of the many ground breaking ones in rock history. This certainly is a great pickup. If you get this that I do believe that you are buying one of 1971’s top ten albums.
Pros:
Daltrey’s voice
The blues songs
Behind Blue Eyes
Cons:
The country songs
Individual tracks:
Baba O’Riley 5/5
Bargain 4.5/5
Love Ain’t For Keeping 4/5
My Wife 4/5
The Song Is Over 4/5
Getting in Tune 4/5
Going Mobile 4/5
Behind Blue Eyes 5/5
Won’t Get Fooled Again 5/5
Pure And Easy 3.5/5
Baby Don’t You Do It 4.5/5
Naked Eye 3.5/5
Water 4.5/5
Too Much Of Anything 2.5/5
I Don’t Even Know Myself 3.9/5
4.5/5
This Message Edited On 10.24.06
