Name a better rock album than "Who's Next" by The Who

[headhawg]

Originally Posted by highnote

Half the songs on Boston were not as good as My Wife and Love Ain't For Keeping. Even though Boston was well-produced and a solid debut album it did not exceed Who's Next.

Your Who bias is showing. My Wife and Love Ain't are filler, really mediocre as songs. As I mentioned earlier the only filler song on Boston's debut is Take Me Home Tonight. I think that the strongest tracks on Who's Next are better than those on Boston's record, but you hold those filler tracks from The Who way too high.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by headhawg

Your Who bias is showing. My Wife and Love Ain't are filler, really mediocre as songs. As I mentioned earlier the only filler song on Boston's debut is Take Me Home Tonight. I think that the strongest tracks on Who's Next are better than those on Boston's record, but you hold those filler tracks from The Who way too high.

Fair enough. I agree that if I played Who's Next on an endless loop on a CD in my car for a week straight My Wife and Love Ain't are probably ones that I would start skipping over first. After a while even Won't Get Fooled Again gets hard to sit through for 7 or 8 minutes.

On the other hand, I don't think I would ever have Boston playing on a CD in my car for a week.

I have Let It Be (Naked) in my car nowadays. It's been in there for over a year because I never play CDs anymore. But I do listen to it a lot still. I almost always skip over the George Harrison songs, but I jump right to I've Got a Feeling and One After 909 all the time, not because they're great songs, but because I like the performances. Beatles live were great and those two songs are as close as I will ever get to hearing them play live together.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by tucker6

I love Queen. They were always trying new things unlike most bands who use similar formulas time after time.

I just liked those leotard jump suits Freddie wore.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by HalvOnHorseracing

I went to see The Who not too long ago. The music was great, but both Daltrey and Townsend had voices that sounded like somebody sandpapered their vocal cords. As soon as they approached a high note it seemed like their voices might have dropped an octave.

Townsend could certainly play guitar, but he might have been seen as better than he was because of the "windmill." John Entwistle was a good base player. Roger Daltery had a very recognizable voice and in his prime could hit all the notes with no squeaking, but for my money the epicenter of the band was Keith Moon. Often when I listen to a Who song, that's who I focus on. Moon was as much one of the instruments and not simply backbeat and rhythm. He was really the first drummer that I remember to sound like that. Most of the drummers in that era were more like Ringo than Moon.

Quadraphenia had too many songs to like every one, but it was still great. Keith Moon does some of the vocals in Bell Boy - the cockney parts in particular

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_8j5lGcvKE

I saw the who live around 1980 without Moon. Kenny Jones. I probably expected too much. They didn't seem to have the fire. Plus, they didn't play very loudly. I expected the sound to be deafening. ROCK AND ROLL! But they were actually pretty quiet.

I spent many hours as a teenager listening to Quadrophenia in my room marveling out how Townshend played guitar on The Real Me.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by Prytanis

Deep Purple. In Rock

Deep Purple got a couple of mentions in this thread. They were part of the Holy Untrinity of Heavy Metal along with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

The only one I ever listened to was Zeppelin, but I have a lot of metal-head friends who love Purple and Sabbath.

One of my friends still plays bass in metal bands. He's almost 60 years old, has hair down to his shoulders, and is still rocking every weekend.

He toured a year ago in a Metallica tribute band and played at local joint not far from me. I went to see them. They were awesome!

There was even a husband and wife there who literally had to be in their 80s dancing at the front of the stage. They didn't need ear plugs. It was probably just the right volume for them.

That's the power of rock and roll. It keeps you young!

[OntheRail]

Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here

Is a Great Album from first track to last. The progression and flow is prefect. You can put it on loop and let it ride.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by OntheRail

Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here

Is a Great Album from first track to last. The progression and flow is prefect. You can put it on loop and let it ride.

There is a great list of albums in this thread. Now that I have looked back on them, many of them came from the same ethereal place. There is a sort of kinship between Dark Side of the Moon, Physical Graffiti, Who's Next, etc. I don't know how to describe it, but I can understand on a gut feeling level.

Maybe that's why they're all such great records?

[highnote]

Who's Next started out as a rock opera to be called "Lifehouse" and the song "Pure and Easy" was to be the centerpiece. It's a great song.

Townshend plays it on piano in this short documentary about the making of Who's next. (I just noticed it is spelled Who's next on the record with a lower case "n" in next.)

Anyway, if you are interested it is a terrific explanation of the inspiration behind Who's next. I always felt there was a thread running through the songs but I didn't know what it was until I watched this doc:

YouTube

[woodtoo]

Originally Posted by highnote

Deep Purple got a couple of mentions in this thread. They were part of the Holy Untrinity of Heavy Metal along with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

The only one I ever listened to was Zeppelin, but I have a lot of metal-head friends who love Purple and Sabbath.

One of my friends still plays bass in metal bands. He's almost 60 years old, has hair down to his shoulders, and is still rocking every weekend.

He toured a year ago in a Metallica tribute band and played at local joint not far from me. I went to see them. They were awesome!

There was even a husband and wife there who literally had to be in their 80s dancing at the front of the stage. They didn't need ear plugs. It was probably just the right volume for them.

That's the power of rock and roll. It keeps you young!

Too old to rock and roll, too young to die.

Best live concert I saw, in the 80's I think. Jethro Tull.

[MutuelClerk]

Tull in the 70's and 80's were excellent live. In the 90's and after. Not so much.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by woodtoo

Too old to rock and roll, too young to die.

Reminds me of a line from the song "Dreaming" on Who By Numbers.

"The girls that I pass just ain't impressed. I'm too old to get 'em. I'm to young to rest."

[MargieRose]

Originally Posted by highnote

I just liked those leotard jump suits Freddie wore.

Ooh, me too! He looked especially good in those tight jeans that he wore, as well. But, of course, he had the build for it...wasn't a fatso trying to look hot, like some others I've seen.

[Marshall Bennett]

Originally Posted by MutuelClerk

Tull in the 70's and 80's were excellent live. In the 90's and after. Not so much.

I wore out "Thick as a Brick". One of the best composed albums ever.

[GaryG]

The two that I wore out in the mid-late 60s were the Doors first album and this one. No commercial potential, so it won't appear on any lists. Especially Martha and Rejoyce. By the way, it is only 47 days to Bloomsday.

YouTube

[headhawg]

Originally Posted by Marshall Bennett

I wore out "Thick as a Brick". One of the best composed albums ever.

Indeed. Tull is an acquired taste kind of band but they have a lot of great stuff including Brick. I have it on vinyl and the "newspaper" liner notes are incredible. Living in the Past was one of the first albums I ever owned. I got it for Christmas in '72.