What's your favorite The Who album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by zambon12, Apr 7, 2017.

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  1. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    Possibly not, Tommy would be my second choice but I just find The Who Sell Out a bit more enjoyable. Nothing on Tommy is as perfect as I Can See For Miles either.

    Sell Out is the last Who album before the pretentiousness really sets in. I'm not putting Tommy down though, I absolutely love it all!
     
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  2. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Live at Leeds. The original release. Not the subsequent versions padded out with Tommy and other superfluous stuff.

    Since that and Meaty Beaty weren't choices, and Who's Next is so overplayed, I went with Who Are You.

    And I am not sure why folks are debating which is the best when the question is which is your favorite.
     
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  3. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    I like the original release most too. There's a lot to be said for being concise. I like the 1995 expanded single CD, but the 2CD deluxe is too long for regular play and the Tommy stuff on disc two sounds terrible. I never play it.

    I'm not dismissing your opinion on it at all, as everyone responds to music differently, but why Who Are You? I really don't understand why this album is rated so highly. I want to like it, I have two copies and it's The Who!
     
  4. onlyconnect

    onlyconnect The prose and the passion

    Location:
    Winchester, UK
    It is quite intense. Old-school rock band struggling to come to terms with New Wave. Not forgetting that Who Are You is based on a real incident. "I woke up in a Soho doorway, a policeman knew my name."

    Tim
     
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  5. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    No coherent difference between the two (since aesthetic value is subjective).
     
  6. Thoughtships

    Thoughtships Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon, UK
    For me it's Quadrophenia then Tommy. I just like concept albums and Prog lots so those two really do it for me. Who's Next is who's next. ;)
     
  7. Dave Thompson

    Dave Thompson Forum Resident

    Quad, Sell Out and Meaty Beaty...

    Who's Next is difficult for me - Baba and WGFA are such powerful opening/closing statements that everything in between feels weak
     
  8. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    For me there is. I would say Who's Next is by far their best non-compilation studio album, but I have heard every track so much that I would never play it by choice and never even bothered buying it again once cds came out.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2017
  9. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    I am in no way saying it is their best. It came out when I was 12 or 13, was the first brand new Who LP I bought, it blew me away at the time and apart from the title cut (which I feel is one of their strongest) has not received very much airplay or live play so it still sounds fresh to me.

    Also enjoy about all the songs and prefer albums of songs to albums trying to make some big narrative statement which I feel generally lose the thread amd become hard to follow somewhere through because great rockers are rarely great novelists.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2017
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  10. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    Haha--it's not up to you as an individual whether there's a coherent conceptual difference between the two.
     
  11. Who's Next. Keith Moon's finest hour, at least in the studio.
     
  12. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    True it is a feature of the English language that asking what's best is asking subjective people to attempt to make an objective determination while asking what is your favorite is asking for a purely subjective determination. As I just explained that subjective determination can take into account factors like the context in which one was exposed to it and the amount one has been subjected to it on classic rock radio, television shows, concerts and commercials.
     
  13. izgoblin

    izgoblin Forum Resident

    Quadrophenia - Not only my favorite album by The Who, but it may be my favorite album by anyone.
     
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  14. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    How are songs performed at the actual show superfluous? I understand liking the original tracklist of the first LP because its the one you've loved for years, but having more of this historic show available is something I view as a good thing, and certainly not "padding." Its not like they tacked on tracks from another venue.
     
  15. SonicBob

    SonicBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    Who's Next is my top favorite, followed by Live at Leeds, Quadrophenia and Sell Out. I like Tommy, but it has its own space, obviously. A masterpiece? I still haven't decided on that one, but there's no doubt as to its importance in terms of Townshend's songwriting/composing talents.

    I love the remaster/expanded version of Who's Next with the Vic performances. Excellent inclusions of "Time is Passing", "Water", "I Don't Even Know Myself" and "Pure and Easy".

    I like the expanded Leeds disc('95 edition) and feel that it fleshes out the original album nicely. I also like the 2 disc reissue of Sell Out, it's nice to own for the mono and stereo mixes as well as the bonus cuts and outtakes; it also made me appreciate it more than the first time hearing it as a result.

    Quadrophenia is definitely my second favorite studio album within their catalog. It's easier accessible than Tommy in terms of the story line and musically is rawer, but also richer in context. I'm not saying it's better than Tommy, just more accessible.
     
  16. NothingBrightAboutIt

    NothingBrightAboutIt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    The Who Sell Out

    It's just a fun album, all the songs from "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand" to "Silas Stingy" make you smile. It's not too over the top, the commercials segue well between the songs, and Townshend's lyrics are on point ("Tattoo" really is a clever song).

    It's not their best album, but it was a sign of things to come, with a glimpse into the future ("Rael").
     
  17. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    I would view it as a good thing if they kept the original release intact on a disc and included bonus discs with the added material or even put the whole show on those (meaning the stuff on the first release was there twice).

    It is a bad thing if a release of the album does not enable one to have the experience of listening to the original edit, which most experienced as a classic album and not as a concert.

    Just like I don't want a rerelease of Sgt Pepper to edit Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields to surround When I'm 64, even though those three tracks were recorded contemporaneously, though I am fine with them being on a bonus disc.

    What made the original release so powerful was the selection and editing of IMO almost all of the most powerful songs from the concert. Having those mixed with other songs, some of which are performed in a less compelling number that night, dilutes the impact.
     
  18. PIGGIES

    PIGGIES Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    This is a toughie, but as much as I love Who By Numbers & Who's Next & Who Are You, it's gotta be Sell Out - I really hope there's a super deluxe edition of this in the pipeline, but I guess the well's pretty much run dry on material from this era
     
  19. Mountain Cowboy

    Mountain Cowboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Quad, hands down. It's in my top 15 favorite albums of all time!
     
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