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. Michael Rose

    Michael Rose Forum Resident

    Location:
    Davie,Fl
    I would imagine based on Pete's 1971 documented mindset for 'Lifehouse'; it would've been considered a commercial and critical failure. Only to be heralded as a masterpiece years later.
     
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  2. John Harchar

    John Harchar Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Part of the confusion is not only did Lifehouse not get finished, but they had the other projects that also didn't get done around this time. You had the "Postcard" EP from 1970 which may have had Naked Eye, Water and I Don't Even Know Myself, then Rock Is Dead-Long Live Rock from 1972. If Pete had just scribbled a track listing down, this'd be so much easier! (Then again, when something was scribbled down for Hendrix's First Rays, that didn't really solve anything either ;)) Using just those songs, you have 12 completed songs that were definitely for Lifehouse, three really good sides worth. All they needed to do was the Pure and Easy EP in 1972:

    Side One

    Pure and Easy
    Time Is Passing

    Side Two

    Let's See Action
    Too Much of Anything

    But things are always more complicated than "If only they just..."
     
  3. ohnothimagen

    ohnothimagen "Live music is better!"

    Location:
    Canada
    I hedged my bets and said "about the same as Who's Next" instead of "better". But I also agree with the poster who said that if they'd done Lifehouse chances are we wouldn't have gotten Quadrophenia (or probably most of what followed); I think The Who's career -at least as far as Townshend's songwriting goes- would have been very different had they done Lifehouse to Pete's satisfaction. That said, Who's Next is what it is, a classic album and arguably The Who's masterpiece in spite of the project's flaws.
     
  4. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Perhaps, but the songs were too good to be considered a critical failure. The "Who's Next"/"Lifehouse" material is among Townsend's greatest work. Songs such as "Bargain," "Baba O'Riley," "Behind Blue Eyes," and "Won't Get Fooled Again" would have been viewed as masterful regardless of the context in which they were released.
     
  5. Michael Rose

    Michael Rose Forum Resident

    Location:
    Davie,Fl
    I'd agree, If Pete would've allowed for singles to be released. I'm trying to recall if PT's original hope was for the project to be taken in as a whole and not release singles.
     
  6. Runicen

    Runicen Forum Resident

    I have a hard time imagining it being anything other than worse.

    I say this as a fan of inscrutable concept albums, but it still doesn't seem like Pete knows what the hell Lifehouse is actually about and I doubt he had a clear concept when he originally cooked it up. I thought I understood and then I listened to the radio play and got a totally separate story from the one I thought he was looking to tell. If he's that bad in the 21st century, I can't imagine he would have been able to craft a coherent musical narrative in '71 or '72, good as the songs are. His autobiography, from what I recall, seemed to back up this general "slipperiness" of the concept as he perceived it. It seems like an interesting idea he never bothered to fully outline before he started writing for and talking about it.

    Sure, he may have accidentally made something that would have blown us all away, but I think post-mortem reconstructions of what may have been underplay exactly how brittle Pete was and exactly how nebulous the concept was even in his mind. Lest we forget, the real reason it never happened wasn't that he was stonewalled. It's that he hit an impasse on realizing the project and didn't have a collaborator who got it enough to help him put the pieces together.
     
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  7. John Harchar

    John Harchar Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I think this would've been a case where the music would overwhelm the flaws in the "story". I've been reading about Lifehouse for 30 years, have the Pete box from 2000 where he does the whole story and I still really don't have an idea what the heck it's about. But I put the songs together in a way that sort of tells a story and it's a great listen.
     
  8. Mainline461

    Mainline461 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tamiami Trail
    IMO looking at this list of songs the right decision was made to release Who's Next. Cherry picking the best and adding My Wife was the way to go ... as history has proved. And minus any worries of whether the pubic was going to buy into/understand the concept.
     
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  9. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    I think "Lifehouse 1971" was a much different concept than "Lifehouse 1999." "Lifehouse 1971" was a weird sci-fi, spiritual, rock and roll fantasy tale that clearly must have seemed bizarre in the early 1970's to those who heard Townshend's pitch. Townshend has frequently stated that he was lost without Lambert's support and collaboration, and ability to help sell a concept to the rest of the band. Lambert's lack of commitment to both Pete and the concept was too much to overcome. I suspect the film would have been badly received had it been developed and produced (even with Lambert's involvement), and the negative sentiment and public perception may ultimately have had far-reaching consequences for the soundtrack album -- if the film was a bust, the album likely would have had serious commercial issues to overcome. Still, the songs were uniformly great, so even with the film's potential baggage, the soundtrack may have been held in higher regard strictly from a musical standpoint.
     
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  10. ATR

    ATR Senior Member

    Location:
    Baystate
    Well, maybe the 7th. See the movie Lambert and Stamp for numbers 5 and 6.
     
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  11. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    I agree that no one would have been able to make sense of an expanded song cycle having to strictly rely on liner notes by Townshend (considering he couldn't effectively explain the concept to his own band and to the press), particularly without a film to accompany the soundtrack. I think that was Glyn's position -- if there is no film, it doesn't make sense to produce a massive double LP to support it.
     
  12. Mitland

    Mitland Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    From what I remember, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp had backed away from day to day operations with the Who due to in fighting and increasing drug use by the time had come to get back in the studio in England and rescue what was left of the ashes of the Lighthouse idea.

    Don't know what movie you are referring to.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2018
  13. dee

    dee Senior Member

    Location:
    ft. lauderdale, fl
    Pure and Easy and Time Is Passing were already finished in early '71 as songs and performances at the Vic.

    Of course, one is as good as anything that ended up on WN and the other fits in a perfectly harmonious way into the kind of 'one note' concept of Time, Life, and Music that Pete was chasing, imo.
     
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  14. reb

    reb Money Beats Soul

    Location:
    Long Island
  15. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    Who gives a crap? The songs are wonderful. I've never once wondered what "Lifehouse" or "Quadrophenia" are about lyrically. The music carries it.
     
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  16. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    Though I wouldn't go quite as far as this--Pete's lyrics were always a crucial element of his songcraft--it does seem like people are getting a little too hung up on the narrative aspect here--and that goes for Townshend himself as well! Personally, I don't require a strictly mapped out plot-line when the material is this strong and the conceptual sci-fi elements work well enough as a loose thematic backdrop.
     
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  17. Rne

    Rne weltschmerz

    Location:
    Malaver
    It could have been a perfect double concept album.
    It ended being a perfect regular single album.

    (Having a Who version of "Mary" would have been so lovely).
     
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  18. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    I'm thinking "Mary" was never recorded or are the tapes missing?
     
  19. gilpdawg

    gilpdawg Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Paris, OH
    Since Quad is the best thing they’ve ever done, IMO, I’ll not give that up to have a fully imagined Lifehouse.
     
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  20. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    True, I do love Pete's lyrics but I never wonder what he's on about because I don't really care what a stranger is on about. :cool:
     
  21. JoshM

    JoshM Forum Resident

    I need to register a dissent here, because 1) Quadrophenia is my favorite Who album and 2) I always skip “My Wife” — it’s dead weight on an otherwise perfect album.
     
  22. 131east23

    131east23 Person of Interest

    Location:
    gone
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  23. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    I enjoy "My Wife" if only for that wonderful chord deviation in the last verse. :agree:
     
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  24. The Lone Cadaver

    The Lone Cadaver Bass & Keys Cadaver

    Location:
    Bronx
    I think we should piece together Entwistle's aborted science fiction album '905' instead.
     
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  25. The Lone Cadaver

    The Lone Cadaver Bass & Keys Cadaver

    Location:
    Bronx
    Feel free to dissent and skip. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. In my opinion, My Wife makes the album complete. Terrific rocker - they used to really tear it up in concert. Entwistle did too in his solo shows.
     
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