LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I've never liked this record, and I've always had a problem with it, but after a listen through it today, I've decided that it's worse than I remember. 
It's quite clear from the get-go that the Who can do and has done better. The whole thing is a bloated ripoff of SF Sorrow (the streamlined and less irritating version of Tommy, as I consider it) with a strange and awkward story that no rock band deserves to be stuck with (come on, Townshend, you're a great writer; you could easily come up with something that at least has coherence
)
I could pick through all of its faults song by song, but that would be boring. I will say, however, that the album really starts to dip in quality after Christmas, or, more specifically, once the first "Tommy, can you hear me?" thing first pops up. Let me just say, that is one of the most annoying things I've ever heard in a rock song. It doesn't fit with the rest of Christmas, the singing is just barely in key, and what makes it worse is that they repeat it throughout the album (why, guys, why?
), along with the just as embarrassing see me, feel me 
.
Is the album all "suffering" defined? No. Not at all. Everything before Cousin Kevin is not only palatable, but really good. I LOVE Sparks and 1921, and the songs around it are just as good. Later on in the album are some other great standouts such as Sally Simpson, Welcome, and, yes, Pinball Wizard (musically, it's everything that's wonderful about the Who in one song, though, lyrically, it sucks hard
).
But, these fantastic moments just highlight how miserable the rest of it is, and cause many questions to arise such as:
1. Why couldn't the rest of it be this good?
2. Why does Underture have to be 10 minutes long without going anywhere at all?
3. Why is this version of I'm Free completely independent of gonadal regions while the Live At Leeds version is completely rocking and awesome?
4. Why the painful repetition?
And so on.
As for the other songs, I'd rather not say. We're Not Gonna Take It is the worst song here, with an atrocious chorus and little spark. It winds up being 3 minutes of song and 4 minutes of filler. This is partially the fault of the band's performance; the only member here who steps up beyond his standard abilities is Townshend, and Daltrey isn't given enough to do. Where are the classic Entwistle bass riffs and Moon drum fills? They're gone because they wasted too much time on saying the word Tommy over and over. 
I know this thread will be interpreted as me hating the Who, but that would be an idiotic and uninformed claim. Who Sell Out, Live At Leeds, Who's Next, and Quadrophenia all shred Tommy.
But this piece of garbage? Yeah, stick with SF Sorrow, The Wall, Quadrophenia, and other such rock operas.
It's quite clear from the get-go that the Who can do and has done better. The whole thing is a bloated ripoff of SF Sorrow (the streamlined and less irritating version of Tommy, as I consider it) with a strange and awkward story that no rock band deserves to be stuck with (come on, Townshend, you're a great writer; you could easily come up with something that at least has coherence
)I could pick through all of its faults song by song, but that would be boring. I will say, however, that the album really starts to dip in quality after Christmas, or, more specifically, once the first "Tommy, can you hear me?" thing first pops up. Let me just say, that is one of the most annoying things I've ever heard in a rock song. It doesn't fit with the rest of Christmas, the singing is just barely in key, and what makes it worse is that they repeat it throughout the album (why, guys, why?
), along with the just as embarrassing see me, feel me .Is the album all "suffering" defined? No. Not at all. Everything before Cousin Kevin is not only palatable, but really good. I LOVE Sparks and 1921, and the songs around it are just as good. Later on in the album are some other great standouts such as Sally Simpson, Welcome, and, yes, Pinball Wizard (musically, it's everything that's wonderful about the Who in one song, though, lyrically, it sucks hard
).But, these fantastic moments just highlight how miserable the rest of it is, and cause many questions to arise such as:
1. Why couldn't the rest of it be this good?
2. Why does Underture have to be 10 minutes long without going anywhere at all?
3. Why is this version of I'm Free completely independent of gonadal regions while the Live At Leeds version is completely rocking and awesome?
4. Why the painful repetition?
And so on.
As for the other songs, I'd rather not say. We're Not Gonna Take It is the worst song here, with an atrocious chorus and little spark. It winds up being 3 minutes of song and 4 minutes of filler. This is partially the fault of the band's performance; the only member here who steps up beyond his standard abilities is Townshend, and Daltrey isn't given enough to do. Where are the classic Entwistle bass riffs and Moon drum fills? They're gone because they wasted too much time on saying the word Tommy over and over.
I know this thread will be interpreted as me hating the Who, but that would be an idiotic and uninformed claim. Who Sell Out, Live At Leeds, Who's Next, and Quadrophenia all shred Tommy.
But this piece of garbage? Yeah, stick with SF Sorrow, The Wall, Quadrophenia, and other such rock operas.
" threads that usually get posted here and on other internet forums. 
, an incredible album but unfortunately not the 14 musical revolutions that many like to portray it as being (in my opinion, of course).
It certainly isn't their best work, but I think that, though musically it may be lacking, as a story, it's the best rock opera of all time, IMO. The way it coalesces is incredible.
Except for III, which no one can name a single song off of besides a certain tune involving vikings. 
