More of the Music of The Who
- Both sides of this vintage UK import were giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
- The bigger your speakers and the louder you play them, the better this pressing will sound because that is the one true test of a rock record
- This British LP is guaranteed to blow your mind with its phenomenal sound — check out the big, bold, rock ’em, sock ’em bottom end energy
- These days the UK Track pressings seem to be the only ones that sound right to us – which means no British Polydors and no domestic Deccas (which we actually used to like) are very likely to be coming to the site
- Compare this to any Heavy Vinyl (or other) pressing and you will hear in a heartbeat why we think the Real Thing just cannot be beat
- 5 stars: “This is invigorating because it has. . . Townshend laying his soul bare in ways that are funny, painful, and utterly life-affirming. That is what the Who was about, not the rock operas, and that’s why Who’s Next is truer than Tommy or the abandoned Lifehouse. Those were art — this, even with its pretensions, is rock & roll.”
- If you’re a fan of the band, this title from 1971 is a Masterpiece that belongs in every right thinking audiophile’s collection
Recently we sat down for a massive shootout for Who’s Next, a true Glyn Johns Classic and undeniably one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
The sound of this British Track pressing is wonderful from start to finish. There’s no grain to speak of and dramatically less smearing and veiling than most of the copies we played it against. The presence is startling — turn it up good and loud and The Who will be right there thrashing around in your listening room! The bottom end, on both sides, has the kind of weight that’s absolutely essential to this music.
We’re talking BIG ROCK SOUND and quiet vinyl, a rare combination in our experience, our experience of course coming from dozens and dozens of British Tracks and Polydors, German Polydors, Decca originals, MCA reissues, a few imports from other countries (Japan, thin and bright), and last but far from least, The Classic 200 gram pressing. (Here is our overview.)
What the Best Sides of Who’s Next Have to Offer Is Not Hard to Hear
- The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
- The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in 1971
- Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
- Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
- Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space
No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.
Finding The Best Sound
The best copies had clarity and transparency that was impossible to beat. It’s a common trade-off with Who’s Next — the copies with the most going on down low often get a little murky in the midrange.
But who are we kidding? Most copies of the album are murky in the midrange, whether they have any low end or not. It’s a murky-sounding recording. Some copies clean up the murk — the Japanese pressings we’ve played come to mind — and that just ruins everything. What you want is the most transparency and clarity in the midrange coupled with the most low-end weight and energy; it’s a simple as that.
The best sides give you exactly that, the best of both worlds — all the whomp, all the clarity, and all the ENERGY. Wait until you hear this pressing. When we say it rocks we ain’t kidding. The louder you play it the better it sounds.
Focusing on the chorus on Behind Blue Eyes really helped us separate the best copies from the near-best. When all the voices are clear and full-bodied, as they are on only the best of the best, it’s amazing how good they sound.
What We’re Listening For on Who’s Next
- Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
- Then: presence and immediacy. The vocals aren’t “back there” somewhere, lost in the mix. They’re front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would put them.
- The Big Sound comes next — wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
- Then transient information — fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.
- Tight punchy bass — which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.
- Next: transparency — the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
A Must Own Rock Record
We consider this album a masterpiece. It’s a Demo Disc Quality recording should be part of any serious Rock Collection.
Others that belong in that category can be found here.
Side One
Baba O’riley
Bargain
Love Ain’t For Keeping
My Wife
The Song Is Over
Side Two
Getting In Tune
Going Mobile
Behind Blue Eyes
Won’t Get Fooled Again
AMG 5 Star Rave Review
Much of Who’s Next derives from Lifehouse, an ambitious sci-fi rock opera Pete Townshend abandoned after suffering a nervous breakdown, caused in part from working on the sequel to Tommy. There’s no discernable theme behind these songs, yet this album is stronger than Tommy, falling just behind Who Sell Out as the finest record the Who ever cut.
Townshend developed an infatuation with synthesizers during the recording of the album, and they’re all over this album, adding texture where needed and amplifying the force, which is already at a fever pitch. Apart from Live at Leeds, the Who have never sounded as LOUD and unhinged as they do here, yet that’s balanced by ballads, both lovely (“The Song Is Over”) and scathing (“Behind Blue Eyes”). That’s the key to Who’s Next — there’s anger and sorrow, humor and regret, passion and tumult, all wrapped up in a blistering package where the rage is as affecting as the heartbreak.
This is a retreat from the ’60s, as Townshend declares the “Song Is Over,” scorns the teenage wasteland, and bitterly declares that we “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” For all the sorrow and heartbreak that runs beneath the surface, this is an invigorating record, not just because Keith Moon runs rampant or because Roger Daltrey has never sung better or because John Entwistle spins out manic basslines that are as captivating as his “My Wife” is funny. This is invigorating because it has all of that, plus Townshend laying his soul bare in ways that are funny, painful, and utterly life-affirming. That is what the Who was about, not the rock operas, and that’s why Who’s Next is truer than Tommy or the abandoned Lifehouse. Those were art — this, even with its pretensions, is rock & roll.