Rank The Who's Albums

A Gordon Lightfoot album

 

Who's Next
the record that should have been the second disk of Who's Next a/k/a Lifehouse

 

Without any compilations or Endless Wire...

1. Who's Next
2. Quadrophenia
3, Live at Leeds
4. Who By Numbers
5. Tommy
6. Who Sell Out
7. Who Are You
8. Face Dances
8. My Generation
9. It's Hard
10. A Quick One/Happy Jack

 

Not including live albums, comps, reissues or Endless Wire:

Quadrophenia
The Who Sell Out
Who's Next
Live At Leeds (OK, I lied about not including a live album)
Odds And Sods (and I also lied about not including a comp)
Tommy
A Quick One
The Who By Numbers
Who Are You
My Generation
It's Hard
Face Dances

The first two are hot swap-able for first place, depending on my mood. Quadrophenia is a great adolescent rage-and-sulk album and personal time-capsule, while Sell Out never fails to cheer me up. The last two - it's close, but I prefer It's Hard. Face Dances always seemed to be trying far too hard to not be The Who.

 

The Who Sell Out
A Quick One
Quadrophenia
Who's Next
Tommy
The Who By Numbers
Who Are You
My Generation
Face Dances
It's Hard

(Meaty and Leeds would easily fit within the top 3)

 

I like the way you think
And I’m delighted not to see Who’s Next and Quadrophenia on the list.

 

1. The Who Sell Out
2. Live at Leeds
3. Tommy
4. Who's Next
5. Quadrophenia
6. A Quick One
7. Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy
8. Odds and Sods
9. My Generation
10. Magic Bus: The Who on Tour
11. Who Are You
12. It's Hard
13. The Who by Numbers
14. Face Dances
15. Who's Last

 

1. Quadrophenia (11/10)
2. Who's Next (10/10)
3. The Who By Numbers (7/10)
4. Who Are You (6/10)
5. The Who Sell Out (4/10)
6. My Generation (4/10)
7. A Quick One (4/10)
8. Tommy (4/10)

I haven't heard the other three, but I dislike "You Better You Bet" and "Eminence Front" so I don't think they'd rank particularly high.

I used to be obsessed with this band a few years ago, but looking back, I'm having a hard time finding what I saw in them, especially the earlier stuff. Out of the bottom four albums, there are only about ten songs I actually like anymore. Who Are You and By Numbers are both mixed bags - some gems ("How Many Friends", "905", "Trick Of The Light") and some utter crap ("Guitar And Pen", "In A Hand Or A Face", "Had Enough").

Who's Next I may have just overdosed on. It's still a nearly-perfect album - I only dislike the lyrics to the bridge of "Bargain" - but I never find myself wanting to listen to it. But Quadrophenia still gets better every single time I listen to it. Definitely my one desert-island album, overall my second-favorite that I've ever heard and at times it's fought tooth and nail for number one.

Oh, and Live At Leeds... well, I omitted that because, quite frankly, I enjoyed the live gig that I saw this summer (2017) much more than the album.

 

Including Live and the "outtakes" compilations...

01. Who’s Next
02. Quadrophenia
03. Live At Leeds
04. Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy
05. Odds & Sods
06. Sell Out
07. By Numbers
08. Tommy
09. My Generation
10. Rarities I & II
11. Live At The Isle Of Wight
12. BBC Sessions
13. Who’s Missing
14. Live At The Royal Albert Hall
15. Who Are You
16. A Quick One
17. Two’s Missing
18. View From A Backstage Pass
19. Blues To The Bush
20. Live At Hull
21. It’s Hard
22. Face Dances
23. Greatest Hits Live
24. Quadrophenia Live In London
25. Join Together
26. Endless Wire
27. Live In Hyde Park
28. Who’s Last
29. Live From Toronto

 

My Generation is #1.

 

1. The Who Sell Out - their masterpiece
2. Live At Leeds - many people consider this the greatest live rock album of all time. I'm not particularly inclined to disagree.
3. Quadrophenia - their strongest album statement.
4. Tommy - a little sloppy in places. still can't forgive them for the bad math. how can Tommy be born before 1921 but still be a youth leader in the late 60s?
5. Who's Next - love the opening and closing tracks. much of the stuff in the middle is less engaging. especially 'Going Mobile' and 'My Wife.' ugh.
6. A Quick One - mostly for the title track. the rest is just good fun. we need a proper mono Deluxe edition STAT.
7. My Generation - a nice start, but their attention was clearly on the singles.
8. Odds & Sods - meh.

That's all - I tapped out with 'By Numbers'

 

1. Quadrophenia
2. Live at Leeds
3. Who's Next
4. The Who Sell Out
5. Tommy
6. The Who By Numbers
7. Odds & Sods
8. My Generation
9. A Quick One
10. Who Are You
11. It's Hard
12. Face Dances
13. Endless Wire

 

Who's Next
Sell Out
Tommy
A Quick One
My Generation
Quadrophenia

for comps, love :

Rarities Vols' 1 & 2
Who's Missing/Two's Missing

 

My favorite band ...A Quick One/Happy Jack is generally being rated way higher than I would have expected.

 

Just from the band's original run, for me. It's too depressing for me to think about Endless Wire or any of the latter-day live albums.

The Who Sell Out - best collection of songs they ever had, and it's a rare pop album that aims for humour and actually hits the mark.
Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy - Standing in for that awesome run of '60s singles, one of the best any band has ever achieved.
Who's Next - A phoenix from the ashes.
Tommy - Ropey concept, but too much great songwriting to ignore.
Odds & Sods - At this point of their career the band's studio floor scrapings yielded a half dozen songs better than most bands achieve in a career.
Quadrophenia - Kind of the opposite of Tommy: a mature, elegantly executed concept, but not as good a batch of raw songs.
My Generation - A patchy album, but when it works, it's on fire.
A Quick One - Likewise, but with added quirk (and, let's face it, less fire).
The Kids Are Alright - Let's call this one a patchwork, rather than patchy.
The Who By Numbers - Well done, I suppose, but I find way too much of this album tastefully boring.
Who Are You - But at least it was more consistent than this muddle.
Live at Leeds - Lead me to the firing squad, I don't care, but I just don't have much time for the bellowing bombast of these versions.
It's Hard - . . . to say anything nice about this album except that it runs rings around the embarrassing. . .
Face Dances - A bad album by any band's standards, but a travesty from one that was once great.
Who's Last - Who's Least. An album so forgettable that I think I'm the first person to even bother ranking it!

And let's not forget a number of fantastic tracks the band released during this period that didn't make any of those albums: Circles, Disguises, Dogs, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Don't Know Myself, Join Together, Relay. . .

 

Has there ever been talk of a Who's Next deluxe box set release, like what they've done for Tommy, Live At Leeds, and Quadrophenia?

 

1. Sell Out
2. My Generation
3. A Quick One
4. Who's Next
5. Live at Leeds
6. It's Hard
7. Who Are You
8. By Numbers
9. Face Dances
10. Quadrophenia
11. Endless Wire
12. Tommy

Sell Out is my favorite studio album by a British band not named the Beatles

 

I don't get the ennui toward Who Are You. Maybe it's because it came out when I first got into music, but for me it's a great record from a great era. I've posted this before, but the title track sounds fantastic coming out of car speakers.

 

The Who were my favorite band for a very long time. That has changed with their lack of releasing anything new for years and years (and of course with Keith then John going to that great gig in the sky), then releasing one of the worst albums I've ever heard (Endless Wire).

I am not going to include anything live and rank those, like Live at Leeds (which might be my fave live album ever) because there are a bunch of other live releases as well - like the dreadful Who's Last, or BBC Sessions/Live at the BBC, or View from a Backstage Pass, or Live at the Royal Albert Hall, or Blues to the Bush, or Quadrophenia Live in London, or Live in Hyde Park, or the hundreds of Encore Live shows, or - anything else I am overlooking!).

So Anywho these are my studio rankings for what it's worth - with additional disclaimer of not including the Wire & Glass mini-LP or collections with rarities like Odds & Sods, Who's Missing, Two's Missing, etc etc etc etc:

01. Quadrophenia (my favorite album by any band ever btw)
02. Who's Next
03. The Who By Numbers
04. Tommy
05. The Who Sell Out
06. Who Are You
07. A Quick One
08. Face Dances
09. My Generation
10. It's Hard
11. Endless Wire

 

There's not much difference between Leeds #3 and Hull #20. How do you justify the difference?

 

1. The Who Sell Out
2. Tommy
3. My Generation
4. Who's Next
5. Quadrophenia
6. A Quick One
7. The Who By Numbers
8. Who Are You
9. It's Hard
10. Odds and Sods

Those are the only ones I own.

 

I think you made an error here.

 

There's a fantastic compilation in the form of Rarities Vol. 1 (1966-1968) & Rarities Vol. 2 (1970-1973), which has all of those songs you mentioned...and much much more! All on one CD, or on 2 individual vinyl LPs. You probably knew of Rarities, but I thought I'd point it out to those unaware of its many virtues and pleasures

Also, I'm very glad you included The Kids Are Alright in your rankings. I think you were the first one to have even mentioned it. I completely spaced its existence when I was putting together my list, but had I remembered it, I'd have ranked it at #4, just ahead of Who's Next

 

Now THERE'S an unusual list!

 

1. The Who Sell Out
2. A Quick One
3. My Generation
4. Tommy
5. Who's Next
6. Live At Leeds
7. Quadrophenia
8. The Who By Numbers
9. Who Are You

Keeping in mind if I were to choose some collections that gather up the singles/EP tracks/rarities etc., those would be at the top of the list.