Originally released in 1971, and the result of some creative 'salvaging' by the band and producer Glyn Johns following the collapse of the ambitious 'Lifehouse' project, 'Who's Next' today stands as a cornerstone album in rock.
Its brilliance is laid out in the opening track 'Baba O'Riley'. With a hypnotic synthesiser refrain circling around them, The Who deliver an incredible display of their dynamics. First, a piano enters, then the drums and bass, then Daltrey's voice and then, finally, the slashing guitar. But this is no mere exercise in bombast. When the song halts and Townshend sings the memorable lines, "Don't cry/Don't raise your eye/It's only teenage wasteland" it's as powerful as any sonic assault.
Every song works on a musical and lyrical level - the exchange of spirituality in 'Bargain', Entwistle's hilarious 'My Wife', the poignant 'The Song Is Over' and the carefree jettisoning of normal life in 'Going Mobile'.
There's little that can be said about the band's power that hasn't been said before - Daltrey's vocals are magnificent, Moon's drumming as dynamic as ever, Entwistle's bass is thunderous, while Townshend delivers revelations on both guitar and keyboards.
The closing two songs from the original album, 'Behind Blue Eyes' and 'Won't Get Fooled Again', are both shining beacons of the parallel sides of The Who story. On the one hand, there's the acoustic melancholy of the former, which explodes at the end in a shower of guitar and drums.
Then the latter track smashes into the speaker with a single chord bleeding into another killer synthesiser riff. There are so many highpoints in this song the chorus, Daltrey's scream, and the beautifully ironic kiss-off "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss".
If that wasn't enough, this reissue features seven bonus tracks, including early versions of some of the album tracks plus songs that were originally slated for release as an EP but eventually surfaced as B-sides.
by Simon P Ward