Listened to Who's Next last night for the first time...
Baba O'Riley
Love Ain't For Keeping
My Wife
(Hilarious! Gotta love their humor!) (first listen)
The Song Is Over
(first listen)
Going Mobile
(first listen)
Behind Blue Eyes
Won't Get Fooled Again
Possibly the greatest rock song ever!
I think the above are all 5 stars worthy. Bargain is good but doesn't quite cut it, in my opinion. And Getting In Tune seems kinda lightweight. The whole album is so cohesive!
I guess it's about leaving the past behind and embracing new beginnings. I think the album deserves all the hype and legendary status it has earned over the years! It's simply put, epic! Can't believe I waited this long to get it. I think I was put off by radio overplay of Bargain a few years back and so never bothered to get it.
Anyway, I'm really really happy I got it now!
I've also spent some time with the album since yesterday, seeing if I was wrong about any of the tracks. I honestly don't believe I was, but a few tracks sounded even better than I remembered:
Baba O Riley (5/5): Well, duh. One of the most epic, brilliantly-structured, and
moving songs I've ever heard by anyone, ever. Enough said.
Bargain (4.5/5): Zoots underrated this one. The lyrics are a picture of longing and desperation, and this song proves to be one of the most romantic the band ever wrote. There's a whole lot of power in the music as well. Overplayed? Yeah. But that doesn't diminish the quality of a great song.
Love Ain't For Keeping (5/5): Underrated by everyone. This entire album feels restless, but here, the band is as peaceful as they've ever been. Great melody, and I love the imagery here.
My Wife (4/5): Hilarious, yes, but for some reason this track sort of slides off my back. I do really enjoy the horns in the "she's coming" bit, and the lyrics push the rating up a bit. But it's definitely lightweight.
The Song Is Over (4.5/5): The only thing that drops this song's rating down even slightly is the fact that, in my opinion, there isn't enough song here to justify the nearly 6.5 minute runtime. The band starts to repeat themselves a bit towards the end. However, everything they repeat is basically perfect, so I have no issue with that.
Getting In Tune (3.5/5): Eh. I find the first verse cringeworthy, but it builds towards something enjoyable enough. I wouldn't call the song lightweight, just not chill-inducing like so many of the others.
Going Mobile (3.5/5): Now this one is certainly lightweight. More fun than Getting In Tune, but the lyrics let this one down. That, and Townshend sounds like he's having more fun than the rest of us.
Behind Blue Eyes (4/5): Great, yeah. But, in a way, this is the One of their catalogue; you can't argue that it's anything less than quality, but it doesn't move me like it should. I don't care for Roger's vocal performance here either. I would have preferred Townshend for a song like this.
Won't Get Fooled Again (5/5): Fucking epic stuff right here. Like Baba, its musical structure is superb, and the lyrics are just...wow. Sly's
There's A Riot Goin' is supposed to be THE world-weary "how could we be so naive" record of 1971, but it turns out that
Who's Next matches it beat-for-beat. YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
the album is a bit too long I think. Maybe it grows on repeated listens? But there were definitely highlights every now and then including ...Shaky Hand, ...Miles and Sunrise. Loved all the ads and the Radio London bits though! I think many of the actual songs haven't made a big impression on me yet.
The other 10 are bonus tracks.
It's not that I hate the album or anything, it's just 3rd instead of undisputed 1st. An "A-" instead of an "A+++++++++++++++".
