DVD Review: Classic Albums Series - The Who: Who's Next

When you get right down to it, the story told on this one hour DVD documentary about the making of the Who's classic Who's Next is not so much about the album they eventually released in 1972, as it is about the one they didn't.

In 1971, the question for Pete Townshend was how do you follow up a record like Tommy?

At a time when rock bands were competing madly to top one another's artistic triumphs, Tommy represented The Who's breakthrough both artistically and commercially. As the first rock opera, Tommy, at least to this point, was The Who's answer to records like The Beatles Sgt. Pepper and the Beach Boys Pet Sounds.

In an era where rock bands were constantly trying to one-up each other artistically, Tommy was the record that signaled The Who were for real. So the question for Pete Townshend and The Who was, how do you follow a record like that? In other words, it was not so much "Who" as "What's Next?"

For Pete Townshend and The Who, the answer was to be the band's most ambitious undertaking to date. Described by Pete Townshend himself on this DVD as "the one that got away," Lifehouse was initially envisioned as a multi-media event that would encompass not only an album, but everything from a film to a massive live event.

The best parts of this massive undertaking — songs like "Wont Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O' Riley" — eventually made it to Who's Next, a record most will agree was a classic in its own right.

And that is what this DVD is largely about. In often painstaking detail, the story is told here of how Townshend's rather massive vision for Lifehouse was eventually pared down to the record which finally became Who's Next.

Recounted in often fascinating detail by everyone from journalists like Dave Marsh, to manager Kit Lambert, to producer Glyn Johns, the story is a fascinating one. Surviving members Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and the late John Entwhistle also add their recollections of the album that eventually became Who's Next.

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Article Author: Glen Boyd

You'll find Blogcritics assistant music editor Glen Boyd sharing his Thoughtmares on his personal blogs The World Wide Glen, and The Rockologist. In a previous life, Glen was a music professional and journalist whose work has appeared in The Rocket, SPIN, Pulse!, and The Source. …

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Article comments

  • 1 - Vern Halen

    Oct 07, 2006 at 12:32 pm

    Who's Next - undoubtedly one of the 10 greatest rock albums of all time - arguably one of the top 5. Maybe pared down from the ambitious Lifehouse project, but I prefer to think of it as a distillation of all that was good about the WH0> at that point in time.

  • 2 - Glen Boyd

    Oct 07, 2006 at 5:16 pm

    Thanx Vern. Although my own tastes in Who music run more to the sprawling epics like Tommy and Quadrophenia, Who's Next turned out to be one tight little piece of work that I can't imagine being improved on.

    Thanx again for the comment,

    -Glen

  • 3 - Connie Phillips

    Oct 09, 2006 at 9:36 pm

    This article has been placed at the Advance.net websites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.

    One such site is here.

  • 4 - Glen Boyd

    Oct 09, 2006 at 9:44 pm

    Wow! thanx Connie! I seem to be having just a banner today --when it rains, it pours. Many, many thanx!

    -Glen

  • 5 - Glen Boyd

    Oct 09, 2006 at 9:45 pm

    "banner day" today meant to say. I'm typing faster than I can think today...LOL...

    -Glen

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