ESSENTIAL ALBUMS (#38): The Who - "Who's Next" (1971)

“Who’s Next” should have been a paradigm, a watershed, a groundbreaking extravaganza bursting through the bounds of what rock could, and had, ever achieved before. It ended as nine-track LP picturing four men in an industrial wilderness, on an ashen slagheap, pissing against a slab of concrete. lt sure put the Who in hubris.

It is The Who's best-selling album—and, in main man Pete Townshend's view, the finest. But it was born out of a crisis: Lifehouse, the follow-up to The Who's conceptual hit Tommy, had faltered after months of preparation because no one understood it. The cover photo was shot by Ethan Russell; it made reference to the monolith in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as it featured group members standing by a concrete piling protruding from a slag heap in Easington Colliery, County Durham, but served equally well as a comment on the band's own more grandiose ambitions (a rejected cover idea featured Keith Moon in a corset, with a riding crop).

Humiliated, Townshend was persuaded to put the best songs on an album that told no story. Some were hard, such as "Bargain"; some were singalongs, such as "Getting in Tune"; and one - bassist John Entwistle's droll "My Wife" - was nothing to do with Lifehouse at all (the woman in question, said Entwistle, took it well: she did not come after him - her lawyers did).

Towering above all the rest were a trio of the finest hard rock anthems that ever erupted. "Baba O'Riley" - its name a conflation of Townshend’s guru Meher Baba and avant-garde composer Terry Riley—is a sublime blend of synthesizer and slashing guitar. "Behind Blue Eyes" is poetry with an attitude. And "Won't Get Fooled Again" is simply a monster.

The Who recorded Who's Next with assistance from recording engineer Glyn Johns. After producing the song "Won't Get Fooled Again" in the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, they relocated to Olympic Studios to record and mix most of the album's remaining songs. They made prominent use of synthesizers on the album, particularly on "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley", which were both released as singles.

The album was an immediate success when it was released on 14 August 1971. It has since been viewed by many critics as the Who's best album and one of the greatest albums of all time.

Side one
1. "Baba O'Riley"          5:08
2. "Bargain"                  5:34
3. "Love Ain't for Keeping"          2:10
4. "My Wife"                          3:41
5. "The Song Is Over"          6:14
Side two
1. "Getting in Tune"                 4:50
2. "Going Mobile"                  3:42
3. "Behind Blue Eyes"                  3:42
4. "Won't Get Fooled Again"        8:32