The Who's Masterpiece?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Scope J, Jan 12, 2020.

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  1. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Delighted, but surprised, to see so many agreed with my choice of Who's Next even though the conceptual works get so much more hype.

    2nd Place - Live At Leeds - original release without the lesser "bonus" tracks that have padded reissues.

    3rd Place - Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy

    4th Place - Who Are You
     
  2. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    Tommy the original album was my first exposure to The Who and I'll always have a soft spot for it. The recording is a bit thin-sounding in places and there are lots of repetitive musical moments. That said, I always enjoy it when I put it on and always will. I do find some of the themes problematic, but musically it's top notch.

    Quad has the conceptual bombast of something like Tommy crossed with the great recording and band firepower of something like Who's Next.
     
  3. jmxw

    jmxw Fab Forum Fan

    I was going to post something, but I just realized it was completely wrong... :doh:
     
  4. The Bishop

    The Bishop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dorset, England.
    I would say Who’s Next, but of course, they are all essential to any self respecting rock fan’s music collection.
     
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  5. ArpMoog

    ArpMoog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Quad for me My favorite WHO album with Sells Out being a close second.
     
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  6. samthesham

    samthesham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorhead MN
     
  7. Jon-A

    Jon-A Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Yeah, I was referencing that, but adjusting it to more accurately reflect the content of Live At Leeds. I did have a 'maximum' typo, however...
     
  8. Oliver

    Oliver Bourbon Infused

    The choices are all so good but totally different sounding in every way. That's one of the many reasons The Who are so awesome. I still can't decide...
     
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  9. Hiraeth

    Hiraeth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    The thing that always surprises me about The Who is how few studio albums they put out in their heyday. From my reckoning only 6 albums between 65 and 73, compared to 13 Rolling Stones albums. Wonder why they were so slow in releasing material?
     
  10. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    There's what? about 4 or 5 lps worth of non-album tracks though.
     
  11. Hiraeth

    Hiraeth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I'm just wondering about why they released so few studio albums in their heyday--My Generation to Quad. The gaps between albums are much longer than the Beatles or the Stones. I remember being very surprised when I found out Tommy was only their 4th record....
     
  12. Oliver

    Oliver Bourbon Infused

    Probably because there was so much conceptualization involved in most of their albums which included editing even larger ideas into more manageable material.
     
  13. lobo

    lobo Music has always been a matter of Energy to me...

    Location:
    Germany
    Quad speaks to me more than the other ones. Besides that, it's the one album of theirs where they captured Moon's drum sound right. Fantastic record!
     
  14. Diamond Star Halo

    Diamond Star Halo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Don’t forget The Who had 2 double albums.
     
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  15. Steve G

    Steve G Senior Member

    Location:
    los angeles
    1 the who sing my generation 2 the who by numbers. Then sell out and Tommy are masterpieces too.
     
  16. Herman Schultz

    Herman Schultz Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I voted for Quadrophenia, but the 1995 reissue of The Who Sell Out comes very close with all those stellar bonus tracks. But, really, these are all masterpieces. Plus Live at Leeds, or any live show from 1969/1970.
     
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  17. Jimbino

    Jimbino Goad Kicker, Music Lover

    Location:
    Northern CA, USA
    I was gonna go with that too, until I saw Who’s Next on the list.
     
  18. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    Had to vote "other." Side 1 of the The Who Sell Out is their masterpiece. The whole album could have been great, but things didn't work out that way.
     
  19. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Who's Next - IMO #1 album by anyone, much less The Who
     
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  20. Vritra

    Vritra Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cupertino, CA
    Best song - "The Real Me".

    Best album - "Who's Next".
     
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  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    To me the Who's Masterpiece (most fully realised, and executed) is Quadrophenia, but by definition they could all be seen as masterpieces.
    I think Quadrophenia captures the type of concept album thing that Pete had been going for, and is a little more focused. I think the songs are very strong, and I reckon it holds up well.
    Who Sell Out is probably my favourite of theirs, but it does have a certain kind of naivete or something, that would probably make it not the most fully realised album.
    Who's Next is obviously a great album, but I don't personally think it's their best album, even though it probably has a couple of the best songs.
    Tommy took me a long time to appreciate, I like it, but I just don't find it as good as the others.
     
  22. Bender Rodriguez

    Bender Rodriguez RIP Exene, best dog ever. 2005-2016

    Quadrophenia over Who's Next by a nose.

    [​IMG]
     
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  23. deekmon

    deekmon Amateur Audio Consumer

    It's really hard to choose.
    I ended up picking WHOS NEXT;
    but I really wanted to pick their 1972 album... you know, the one with:
    • Let's See Action
    • Pure And Easy
    • When I Was A Boy (Entwistle)
    • Relay
    • Who Cares (Entwistle)
    • Join Together
    • Ten Little Friends (Entwistle)
    • Is It In My Head
    • Love Reign O'er Me
    • Greyhound Girl
    • Long Live Rock
    • Put The Money Down
    What? Huh? That LP never happened??
    Ooops, I must have been dreaming again...
     
  24. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    I'm not sure that The Who ever did any album that qualifies as "masterpiece" in the sense of being above criticism, but I really enjoy Sell Out.

    The fake ads and radio station identifications make this album greater than the sum of its parts - and its parts are none too shabby.
     
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  25. MarkTWIC

    MarkTWIC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bradford
    The Who: Singles Band; Album Band; Live Band; Cult Band (twice both originally in the mid-60s and with the 1979 mods), Art Band (the target symbol for instance, Union Jack waistcoats anyone?), Masters of Hype (I mean this in a good way - even in recent months they managed to get stories written about them around their new album), late flourishing band (the WHO album is amazing for a band of their age).

    Added to which they led the real rock life style at various times. They did everything and many times wrote the rule book.

    I said "Whose Next" but it's tough as I primarily enjoy their singles and live performances - I also like Tommy pretty fine, I should probably listen to Quadrophenia more. Right now loving the album WHO (Deluxe edition) and maybe have listened to that more than the other albums, a case of right time right album.
     
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