Had The Who's "Lifehouse" been released, would it have been better or worse than "Who's Next"?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Dr. Robert, Feb 10, 2018.

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  1. soniclovenoize

    soniclovenoize Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minneapolis, MN
    Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I personally don't, haha. Which is why I revised it! imo the second one follows a more logical narrative structure, and flows better. But to each his own.

    But to answer the question, if those songs were fitted into that first version of Lifehouse I did, I guess I would stand by my interpretations of the two songs-- "Baby Don't You Do it" would be trad heard by Ray in his caravan, possibly broadcast by Bobby. Thus it should logically go at the end of Side A or beginning of Side B. "Naked Eye", imo is sung from the perspective of the populous hooked into The Grid, so it should probably used to articulate the setting of future London as the protagonists head there, somewhere at the end of Side B or beginning of Side C.
     
  2. Dr. Robert

    Dr. Robert Forum Reconstructor Thread Starter

    Location:
    Curitiba, Brazil
    Ooh, makes sense! Thanks a lot
     
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  3. Stephen J

    Stephen J Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, TX
    I voted 'worse', just because Who's Next is a perfect album, every single song is a classic "hit" whether it charted or not, one of the 10 best albums ever made, so it's hard to see how it could be bettered.
     
  4. Mainline461

    Mainline461 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tamiami Trail
    Forget Lifehouse, keep Who's Next just the way it is, then later release a album called Pure And Easy with the rest of the songs. By then you also put Join Together and Relay on it. That way no worries about how to tie it all together in a concept, just two albums with great songs.
     
  5. John Harchar

    John Harchar Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    That was exactly what I was just thinking reading the thread and mentioning a 1972 album. Take 8 Pete songs and toss in Heaven and Hell...gotta start working on a playlist...can we get a 4th option?
     
  6. The Big Guy

    The Big Guy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Torrance, CA.
    I've seen them mentioned as possible "Lifehouse" songs and they seem to fit in thematically so I listed them. Who knows what the actual final "Lifehouse" would have included. I've seen "Who Are You" and "New Song"
    mentioned in some places. I guess if it came out in 1971 instead of "Who's Next" it probably wouldn't have included any of these.
     
  7. The Big Guy

    The Big Guy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Torrance, CA.
    There may have been some talk about a "Who's Next 2" to include the large amount of songs Pete wrote for "Lifehouse" that went unused. But it was so long ago I can't remember for sure.
     
  8. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    I think if Lifehouse was released, the general consensus probably would have been a bunch of great songs tied to an incomprensible concept.
     
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  9. Ram4

    Ram4 Lookin' good

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    I voted just as good, but it would have been different in the way many of us love an expansive double album. We love the weaker tracks being part of the greater whole. Sure the White Album would have been stronger as a single album, but a lot of great songs would have been cut and some unusual ones that normally would never see the light of day made it onto that album. I do agree in theory that normally the more you cut from an album, the stronger tracks will be the survivors.

    If anything, the one song that represented Lifehouse the most (to me) should have been on Who's Next and that would be Pure And Easy. I am shocked a song of this caliber was not included on the final album.
     
  10. scocs

    scocs Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    This is like that David Bowie thread where a member proposed swapping out “It Ain’t Easy” for a different period song. I know LIFEHOUSE is more about adding songs than subtracting or swapping out, but still, the truth remains:

    Who’s Next = Top 10 album of All-Time

    Why you messin’ with perfection?
     
  11. scocs

    scocs Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    By the same token...The White Album would have been a better single album. Greatest album of all time if you can decide which 15 songs stay and which 15 go...
     
  12. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    The cult of Lifehouse is like the cult of SMiLE.....too many what-ifs, too much hype. If Lifehouse was destined to come out, it would have. It didn't....and now we live in a world where half-baked dreck like Smiley Smile is celebrated and fans seek out Canadian Who's Nexts.
     
  13. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    The bloat that would have constituted Lifehouse, the double album inevitability, would have diluted the classic that is Who’s Next. IMO, of course.
     
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  14. misteranderson

    misteranderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    englewood, nj
    I love the Who's Next deluxe CD edition, with the Record Plant/Leslie West sessions and the fantastic live @ The Young Vic material.

    A new SDE box would be welcome, expecially if a complete Young Vic gig was included.
     
  15. misteranderson

    misteranderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    englewood, nj
    So the consensus wouldn't have been much different from the consensus on every other good rock "concept" album. It's always about the songs first. The narrative comes second, and who really cares whether it's incomprehensible or not? Great songs can carry a story that's not entirely fleshed out.
     
  16. applebonkerz

    applebonkerz Senior Member

    Considering that My Wife is my favorite track on Who's Next, I voted worse.
     
  17. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    The Lifehouse concept sounded too esoteric to make for a good, intelligible storyline. I'm happy it never happened and that we have WN instead.
     
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  18. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    Agreed. While it would have had its' big share of fans to be sure, it wouldn't have the tight "punch" Who's Next has track for track.
     
  19. Ern

    Ern Senior Member

    Location:
    Portugal
    Wonder if The Who ever recorded Mary?
     
  20. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    I love Who's Next (although it's not my favorite Who album).

    I probably would have loved Lifehouse even more.
     
  21. Cheepnik

    Cheepnik Overfed long-haired leaping gnome

    Way worse. That had to catch their breath with a "regular" LP.
     
  22. wavethatflag

    wavethatflag God is love, but get it in writing.

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    If they did, I don't have it, and I have a lot. :D
     
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  23. Dr. Robert

    Dr. Robert Forum Reconstructor Thread Starter

    Location:
    Curitiba, Brazil
    If I'm not mistaken they did, but the tape got lost in between then and now. A shame, all we've got left is Pete's demo
     
  24. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    Any album that opened with Pure and Easy and ended with the Song is Over, with its coda, would have been a contender for the best of all time. Which is why, when Pure and Easy surfaced on Odds and Sods, I made a cassette grafting it and the other songs that had surfaced to Who's Next, constantly tweaking it. When Pete made the Lifehouse box available on his website, I got it and my head exploded. A Lifehouse album is Tommy without the filler and nonsense, IMO.
     
  25. 131east23

    131east23 Person of Interest

    Location:
    gone
    Albums That Never Were: The Who - Lifehouse (upgrade)

    Thanks for the recommendation.
     
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