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

Ok, so if Lifehouse was intended to be a concept album but the project was subsequently scrapped... that means that the remaining songs on Who's Next are still a part of that concept overall, right?

Ok, so do the songs on Who's Next, in the order they appear, still tell his story they way he originally intended, or did the song sequence not even matter at that point?

 

If it had mattered, I think The Song Is Over would have been the last song on the album. I think Pete let Glyn do what he thought was necessary to make the best Who album they could with the songs they had. That meant an Entwistle song, which seems to hold up well on the album, and foregoing some other songs that might have seemed redundant in their content or theme.

 

That's probably what happened. I only asked because I thought about the opening and closing tunes ("Teenage Wastland" and Won't Get Fooled Again) and wondered if that might have been the beginning and ending of this concept of his -- and also if the songs in between were kept in any particular order to keep this concept intact (time restraints notwithstanding).

I guess one could always look at the proposed Lifehouse project and see where the songs on the Who's Next album are compared to on the album itself to see how close they got.

 

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

 

Well between the two albums, the songs on each side of the record were pretty much the same, but the order within was kinda here and there. "Going Mobile" was the only song that would have been on a different side of the record.

And, yes, you were right... "The Song Is Over" was intended to be the last song on Lifehouse. The next previous song was "Won't Get Fooled Again" which, by default, became the last song on Who's Next.

 

I believe we'll hear Lifehouse this summer starting in Vegas

 

...and check this out. I never bought Lifehouse Chronicles but here is a demo for Teenage Wasteland, the proposed opener for the album, and if you know anything about Pete's demos you know they are better than some people's finished work, but I love this... It gives an idea of the whole feel of the album/project that was scrapped and points to a real big step towards Quadrophenia and its complexity.

 

I like it. I like it a lot!

 

My Wife is a strong tune. When I Was A Boy though is another strong one of John's from that time with a great performance on drums from Keith.

Including Let's See Action on a double lp in 1971 may have been more likely than doing so on a single LP in mid to late 1972, since LSA was already released as a single in '71 before WN was released.

I have tried to eq and time up a section of Pete's more ambitious version of LSA with The Who version but have been largely unsuccessful in so doing. While The Who version is a reliably representative Single kind of version of Pete's longer and more expansive demo, it's also really just a 'shell' of Pete's more 'epic' demo. I have long hoped the missing reels 'Mr. Green' acquired included longer versions and, or different mixes of the band version of LSA, which is listed more than once on the tape sheet, but there is no aural or written evidence yet that the band recorded some longer takes of LSA and unfortunately, unlike the more fully realised versions of Pure and Easy and Gettin' In Tune performed at the Young Vic, LSA was not part of that set.

 

Yes, agreed, it's lovely. I've read the band combined Baba and TW to get to BOR, but absolutely agree Pete's TW is akin to Pure and Easy/Song Is Over but if only the band could have recorded it verbatim AND come up with BOR too as they did, perhaps 1 would always prevent the other, but again, agreed about TW, and the Sadler Wells/Lifehouse Concert version, iirc with the venue and name, fares nicely in its own context therein.

 

Here it is...

 

Rock Is Dead-Long Live Rock was the project that links Lifehouse and Quadrophenia,,,literally! Some tracks got retrofitted to LH and others landed on Quad. Supposedly they stopped working on it since it sounded like Who's Next. But if they'd decided that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, what could we make of the leftovers?

Side One

Pure and Easy-LH
Water-LH
Time Is Passing-LH
I Don't Even Know Myself-LH
Relay-LLR

Side Two

Let's See Action-LH
Too Much of Anything-LH
Join Together-LLR
Naked Eye-LH
Long Live Rock-LLR

Odds and Sods would've look really different if this had come out!

 

No love for Waspman.....

 

Wow, Jody Linscott (percussion) is still looking good! I saw her on tour with David Gilmour way back in '84 or '85 for his About Face album, but I first took notice of her in Pete Townsend's "Give Blood" video from the early 80's on MTV (which also featured drummer-extraordinaire, Simon Phillips). Super-duper hottie! (Jody, not Simon)

 

"Give Blood" w/ percussionist, Jody Linscott. If you blink and miss her at the four minute mark, you can catch her again at 4.23. lol

 

Well, John would have to get one too then, pick two to swap out

 

Y'know my Who brain thinks what a character or song title for The Ox to work up a 'real' song based on - perhaps if it was Sell Out or Tommy era! Otherwise, not really

 

Exactly.

 

"Lifehouse" would have been way, way better than "Who's Next." It would have been in the Top 10 all-time album lists like "The White Album" and "Exile On Main Street" and "Dark Side of the Moon" etc. Would have erased "Tommy" from everyone's minds.

 

Isn't Who's Next already on most of those Top 10 all-time lists?

I can't really say for sure if it would or wouldn't be better, however I can state with conviction that Odds & Sods would have been clearly inferior.

 

There’s a whole rock-history and rock-criticism book in large measure about this very topic, “Won’t Get Fooled Again: The Who from Lifehouse to Quadrophenia,” by Richie Unterberger. It puts together a lot of the information about the recordings and plans for Lifehouse, Who’s Next and Quadrophenia into a coherent pop history. It’s one of the better books about The Who, IMO, although it covers only a couple years of their career. For Who completists, it ought to be essential reading, although it’s pretty unnecessary for anyone else. On Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Wont-Get-Foo...1518403300&sr=8-7&keywords=richie+unterberger

 

I think of it this way. What if someone suggested removing 8 songs from "Quadrophenia?" I would tell them to jump in a lake!

I grew up with "Who's Next" and always enjoyed it but was left somewhat cold by it. When I found out about "Lifehouse" and listened to it with all the songs put back in, it all made sense and was so much more enjoyable.

 

I am a fan of early Who and never warmed up to the their post-Tommy music. That said, I think the film could have been a bizzaro mutant sci-fi cult classic, and I suppose that I would have appreciated the music more in the context. Who's Next, by contrast, comes off as just another boring 70s arena rock album.

 

The following list of songs were associated with "Lifehouse" circa 1970/1971, and the soundtrack likely would have been comprised of some combination of these songs (and perhaps Townshend had demos of additional contenders that have not surfaced). The stellar "Relay" and "Join Together" were not yet written, and as such, would not have been part of "Lifehouse" in its 1971 form (the same applies to "Put The Money Down"). The "Who's Next" tracklisting is well constructed and very enjoyable, but once one is familiar with the basic story/premise of "Lifehouse," the lyrical content of a number of songs makes more sense and is clarified. It is not difficult to understand why Townshend thought "Who's Next" was a major compromise because he did create quite an incredible narrative with the "Lifehouse" songs that was never properly presented.

Pure And Easy
Time Is Passing
Love Ain't For Keeping
Baba O'Riley
Going Mobile
Too Much Of Anything
Bargain
Getting In Tune
Behind Blue Eyes
Let's See Action
Won't Get Fooled Again
The Song Is Over
Naked Eye [unclear if it was going to be part of "Lifehouse" song cycle, but thematically it works]
Teenage Wasteland* [demo, was Baba O'Riley a pared-down replacement, or would both songs have survived?]
Mary* [demo, unclear if The Who ever recorded it prior to abandoning the project, but it was definitely part of "Lifehouse"]
Greyhound Girl* [demo, does not appear The Who recorded it prior to abandoning "Lifehouse"]

 

Worse than Who's Next. Although I would have loved to see "Pure And Easy" and "Naked Eye" on the album, in my opinion there aren't any other songs from the era that are up to the high standards of the final album. I think a full Lifehouse double album would have led to a lot of "Edit Lifehouse down to a great single album" threads on this board.