WHO'S NEXT

While 'Tommy' may be the most recognizable album by The Who, this album has probably stood the test of time more than any other album by the band. Taking a break from recording bombastic rock operas, 'Who's Next' is a collection of great tracks from The Who that flow together smoothly, creating a great opus of 70's rock music. Although the album is not quite as consistent as I may have liked from a 'perfect' Who album and is not my favourite from the band, 'Who's Next' is excellent, and a classic from its era.

'Baba O'Reilly' kicks off the record on a very recognizable note, there is a strange yet utterly catchy keyboard texture that starts off, before the anthemic chords chime in to create a very triumphant, epic sound. Roger Daltrey's vocals have never sounded so great as they do on this album, and the songwriting is magnificent for the most part. 'Bargain' starts off sounding more like a symphonic prog rock song than anything by this band, but Townshend's signature chord strums kick in. There is not much beauty to the heavier songs, but instead there is a ballsy rock song, although The Who works in some very beautiful passages even into the harder hitting tracks. 'Bargain' features an acoustic ballad section and synthesizer melody in the middle of the song that gives off an incredible feeling. There's other really beautiful songs here like 'The Song Is Over' and 'Behind Blue Eyes' that are both incredible and full of feeling. Pete Townshend has always been an angry musician, but his expression has never been so poetic as it is here.

There are plenty of songs here that would not feel out of place on a masterpiece. 'Won't Get Fooled Again' is an epic closer to the album, and the aforementioned songs are all real winners. As for the rest of the songs on 'Who's Next', they feel significantly less powerful, even though they are quite good in general. 'Going Mobile' is not a song that rings any bell with me in particular, and 'My Wife'- while featuring some interesting horn and psychedelic sounds to it- isn't so memorable a song. It is these less outstanding tracks that rob 'Who's Next' of being considered a masterpiece in my opinion. Due to the fact that the album is more a collection of songs rather than a running piece of music, even a few lesser songs can drag the album down, if even only a bit.

That being said, 'Who's Next' is an excellent piece of work. It really shows the band maturing their sound, and at a time when rock music was finally coming onto its own as a legitimate form of artistic expression, the music world did well to have an album like this come around.

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