Thoughts on "Who Are You" (the album) by The Who?

What's the conensus around here on "Who Are You" by The Who?

I must admit that as someone who likes mainly their mid 60s mod Era the best, listening to it for the first time (outside of hearing the title track on the radio)....It's different...What are you guys' opinions on it?

 

I really liked it at the time, but it sounds a bit more dated to me now than other Who albums. Just my opinion though.

 

I've always wished I could get access to the master tapes and do my own mix. In most cases, the synths would go down or eliminated altogether.

 

It was the most commercial of all their records. I like it because it was the last record to include Keith Moon. Unfortunately, was played to death by classic radio stations. It is at the bottom of my favorite Who albums.

 

It has it's good points, but I agree it was more commercial than their other albums.

 

When this came out, I thought Moon sounded "tired" on this record. But the songs, and the way the rest of the band play, are stellar. And Entwistle still gives us a classic like he did every Who album.

 

Good not great.

 

I was just a kid (13) when this came out. At the time, I only knew them from the radio. It was my first Who album. I LOVED it. I had no "history" of the band. It has always been a favorite of mine. However, I am NOT a fan of the remixed cd.

 

If you're a Who fan, it's an important album just for the fact that it's the last one with Keith Moon. Besides that, neither Moon's playing or the songwriting is anything astounding. It has it's shining moments-most of all in the title track-but most of the rest of it sounds somehow forced to me. I have every Who album between Sell Out and Who Are You as well as My Generation..as far as WAR, I think their best days were behind them.

 

A weird album that has never resonated with me. To me it sounds like The Who trying to turn into Foreigner/Journey/Styx/Toto.

 

This was the album where Pete gave into his indulgence for showtunes. Really the end of a great run as the best rock songwriter of the era. My opinion of course!

 

It's no The Who By Numbers.

 

I couldn't agree more; the best example of the showtune "thing" is Guitar and Pen. Everything about it screams modern day Broadway show not least of all Roger's very script-like vocal delivery.

 

Two of my favorite Who songs are on it, Trick of the Light and of course 905.

 

I liked it on release and still like it a lot. Every song has something I like about it.

 

Yeah, it doesn't sound like The Who to me to be honest. It sounds like early 80s Rush or Yes or something like that.

 

Tired drumming.

 

I like it. Not love it. For me, the dud is "Love is Coming Down". You want a ballad on the album? Should have been a version of (the submitted by rejected by the band) "Like it the Way it Is".

 

Well I love it and always have. Is it the best Who record? Of course not.

But I love 'Had Enough,' '905,' 'Trick of the Light,' and the title track. And don't dislike any of the rest.

 

It is my third favorite after Leeds (original setlist, not expanded) and Who's Next.

But I might like listening to it most at this point as the other two have been played out by over exposure.

 

I had trouble with it at the beginning, it just sounded thin, bright, and un-Who-like. But now, a zillion years later, I appreciate it for having a sound that forsaw the sound of the 80's.

 

"NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY"

 

Serious answer: I like it better than the Kinks late 70's output but not as much as "Some Girls" or even... urgh.... "Back To The Egg" (even though "London Town" would be the corresponding Paul album) And obviously not as much as "Who's Next" or "Who By Numbers".

The drumming is shocking. Goes to show what you can do to yourself. But all in all it's decent album. The second half of the 70's wasn't an easy time for that generation. On that level "Who By Numbers" is hard to beat, still one of the best documents of feeling old/ out of place in a once familiar scene.

 

Beginning of the end for me. Up until it, I was knocked out by everything the Who put out. I think the substances took over, obviously Moon, who was soon "taken away," and the others, too. The group magic was gone for me.

 

One of my favorite Who-albums. I love songs like Sister Disco, Guitar And Pen etc. Great stuff, wish they'd do more of it live. I think they did Sister Disco a couple of years ago - but ofcourse not the shows I saw.