I got this for a bargain, and it’s the best I’ve ever had.

The all-time greatest rock album of the 1970s to me was the 1971 release WHO’S NEXT. You could argue that Bruce Springsteen or Led Zeppelin did better instead, and I could somewhat agree with you. But this album is a flawless hodgepodge of musical themes, and can dish out equal doses of sharp humor, alienated anger therapy, and us-against-the-world urgency in the span of one LP. Not only that: the four musicians of The Who, vocalist Roger Daltrey, drummer Keith Moon, bassist John Entwistle, and guitarist/keyboardist Pete Townshend, had gotten themselves to a fever pitch of instrumental furor developed from several years of being a Maximum R&B band.

Now it’s 2003, and even though I can look with happiness at The Who’s music, which has dominated FM radio like Michael Jackson to the media circuit, times seem a tad unfortunate for the band. It’s only recently that the great Pete Townshend was cleared of a horrendous charge of child pornography, and that bassist John “Thunderfingers” Entwistle joined Keith Moon in old Rock & Roll Heaven. But the band has put on some impressive shows having been reunited, and as the most legendary act on MCA Records, they have been entitled so far to three “Deluxe Edition” releases. It began with LIVE AT LEEDS, the legendary 1970 concert album which has successfully displayed the agility of The Who as a live band unlike any compilation so far (BBC SESSIONS is a close call, though). Then came the long-overdue American reissue of MY GENERATION, the legendary first album which contained their earliest James Brown incantations and anthemic hits. Now, after anticipation set in, we get the Deluxe Edition of the band’s finest studio album, WHO’S NEXT.

Like all previous releases, this fold-out package contains a nicely assembled booklet of photos, liner notes, and credits. The album cover still stands out even today, as the band found this Sheffield concrete monument which looked like an outhouse. So the band left their p*ss stains on it. The original 1995 re-release contained a couple of essays, written by Pete Townshend and John Atkins, which are faithfully re-printed here with the updates required to flesh out the additional material since then. The remastered album also contained a total of seven additional bonus tracks, including a couple live performances from an April 26, 1971 performance at the Young Vic, as well as abandoned takes from the Record Plant sessions in NY. Now, the album retains its remastered quality and is also packed with many more bonus tracks from those two sessions.

All this tied into, as avid music fans all know, the failed “Lifehouse” project. In 1971, the plan was to have “Lifehouse” become a rock milestone. Having already inventing the rock opera or concept album with 1969’s landmark TOMMY, “Lifehouse” was the concept album about a future where rock and roll music was the key to spiritual and physical uplift, and the central character a “mystic-cum-roadie” named Bobby. The plan was a double album, which would become the basis for a motion picture, theatre event, song cycle and concert performance piece. It was a project of mammoth undertaking, and unfortunate Pete Townshend, who was drunk and wrecked out of his mind, so much to the point that he couldn’t help get “Lifehouse” off the ground. Glyn Johns, associate producer, thought that a single LP of non-conceptual songs would be a better thing, and “Lifehouse” became WHO’S NEXT.

In time, Pete Townshend’s ideas would become more fleshed out in subsequent album releases, which proved “Lifehouse” was a diamond in the rough. Demos and alternate takes and unreleased songs surfaced on The Who’s re-releases of ODDS & SODS and WHO‘S NEXT, but more importantly, on Pete’s solo records: from the three-part SCOOP trilogy (and subsequent compilation SCOOPED), to the PSYCHODERELICT album, and in a 6-CD boxed set called THE LIFEHOUSE CHRONICLES, exclusively released on Townshend’s Eel Pie Records.

And Pete Townshend, around 1971, had spent £14,000 on VCS3 and ARP synthesizers. Produced by The Who, this album gave Townsend a chance to display some neat skills with these instruments, thus introducing the synthesizer as an actual rock instrument, texturing and layering sounds that could be given more electric force from the more conventional instruments. But the band had all their skills down, and the performances they give on this album are nothing short of dynamic. Even without the pretensions of “Lifehouse,” these songs have a lot going for them as undefeated classic rock heavyweights.

WHO’S NEXT would peak at #4 in the U.S., and go to the top of the U.K. charts as well. It also unleashed a top 10 single in Britain, Won’t Get Fooled Again, which peaked at #15 in the U.S. and became a staple at their live concerts. A further American hit, Behind Blue Eyes, came out afterwards. And songs such as Bargain, My Wife and Baba O’Riley became essentials. Even so, this album seems to hardly falter.

The VCS3 synthesizer was the basis for Baba O’Riley, which started off as a nine-minute demo on the ARP synthesizer. What he did was program elements of himself and Meher Baba into a computer hooked into the synthesizer, and then used it as a backing track and opening piece. The song has two chords that ring progressively on piano and guitar, and the beat is kept by Keith Moon’s rickety, adroit drumming and John Entwistle’s deep bass. When the song kicks in, the electric guitar milks the chords for all the intensity they have, and strums out an intro to a solo near the end, before Dave Arbus joins in on the violin (subsequent versions had Roger Daltrey on the harmonica). The pace is frenetic and f*ck all, with lyrics equally emotional. Townshend’s words are of the disillusion and the need to reach satisfaction fast. It’s a “teenage wasteland” in the eyes of its character, given considerable fire by Daltrey, and song is keenly aware of it.

“Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals/I get my back into my living
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right/I don't need to be forgiven
Don't cry, don't raise your eye/It's only teenage wasteland
Sally, take my hand, we’ll travel south cross land
Put out the fire and don't look past my shoulder
The exodus is here, the happy ones are near
Let's get together before we get much older
Teenage wasteland, it's only teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland oh yeah, teenage wasteland
They're all wasted!”

Daltrey offers another sharp lead vocal on Bargain, another big-time rocker which shows The Who the breadth of the band’s instrumental delivery. When Keith Moon goes crazy, it seems as if every nanosecond is filled with some sort of drum beat, whereas The Ox offers a sly bass riff underneath all the instruments. Pete Townshend uses his synthesizer more subtly and controlled here, providing a rich and soft texture to the sounds throughout. There’s also traces of acoustic guitar and of Pete’s heart-tugging lead vocals (which sound , which pop up later. When the song starts to bow out, the band only gets hotter and they leave no stone unturned. As featured in a narrative, it’s about personality vs. conformity, but here it’s a desperate argument against being alone and looking for one love by any means:

“I'd gladly lose me to find you, I'd gladly give up all I had
To find you I'd suffer anything and be glad
I'd pay any price just to get you, I'd work all my life and I will
To win you I'd stand naked, stoned and stabbed
I'd call that a bargain, the best I ever had/The best I ever had
I'd gladly lose me to find you, I'd gladly give up all I got
To catch you I'm gonna run and never stop
I'd pay any price just to win you, surrender my good life for bad
To find you I'm gonna drown an unsung man
I'd call that a bargain, the best I ever had/The best I ever had
I sit looking 'round, I look at my face in the mirror
I know I'm worth nothing without you
And like one and one don't make two, one and one make one
And I'm looking for that free ride to me, I'm looking for you.”

Love Ain’t For Keeping is the most restrained track on the album, a 2:10 ballad bereft of any serious dynamic or synth-doodles. Instead, the flavor is more of acoustic country and vocal simplicity. Recorded originally as a hard rocker, it also works good here. Townshend strums and bends out a melody as Entwistle and Moon tone down their usual bombast to keep the tempo balanced. Harmony vocals pop up in the second verse, and the acoustic solo retains a nice touch as well. The lyrics are also easy, without a lot of narrative standpoints to get in the way:

Layin' on my back in the newly mown grass
Rain is coming down but I know the clouds will pass
You bring me tea, say the babe's a-sleepin’
Lay down beside me, love ain't for keeping
Black ash from the foundry hangs like a hood
But the air is perfumed by the burning firewood
The seeds are bursting, the spring is seeping
Lay down beside me, love ain't for keeping
Lay down beside me, love ain't for keeping.”

The tone picks up with a really great number called My Wife, the lone John Entwistle composition. The drums, bass and guitar pick up steam for a nice hard-edged speed blues rocker overdubbed by a rolling piano and some brass shouts courtesy of expert trumpet man Entwistle. It bodes hardly any relation to the theme of “Lifehouse” and such, but instead we get an upbeat rocker with plenty of humor. This song’s simply about getting drunk off your rocker, getting the police on your case, and then catching the wrathful attention of your wife, something the narrator is overtly frightened of, and wants to take any and every precaution necessary to avoid conflict:

“My life's in jeopardy, murdered in cold blood is what I'm gonna be
I ain't been home since Friday night and now my wife is coming after me
Give me police protection, gonna buy a gun so I can look after number one
Give me a bodyguard, a back belt Judo expert with a machine gun
Gonna buy a tank and an aeroplane
When she catches up with me won't be no time to explain
She thinks I've been with another woman and that's enough to send her half insane
Gonna buy a fast car, put on my lead boots and take a long, long drive
I may end up spending all my money, but I'll still be alive
All I did was have a bit too much to drink and I picked the wrong precinct
Got picked up by the law and now I ain't got time to think…
And I'm oh so tired of running, gonna lay down on the floor
I gotta rest some time so I can get to run some more, yeah
She's comin'! She's comin'!”

The synthesizer comes back for the power ballad, The Song Is Over, intended as a concluding piece. A delicate piano helps support the synth chords, as does shots of distinct guitar. The verses are sung by Townshend in a reflective, earnest tone, looking back at the past lives and leaving them behind. Instead, he’ll sing his song loud and clear, and that‘s when Roger Daltrey takes over for the chorus, which picks up some additional drum and bass support along the way, belting out the lines with gut-twisting intensity. The song picks up in the bridge, with a guitar solo, and around the second chorus, with a dramatic shift and additional instrumentation, before leaving one more tender moment alone to bow out the song. The end even features the first line from another key “Lifehouse” track which shows up later (you figure it out).

“The song is over, it's all behind me
I should have known it, she tried to find me
Our love is over, they're all ahead now
I've got to learn it, I've got to sing out
I'll sing my song to the wide open spaces
I'll sing my heart out to the infinite sea
I'll sing my visions to the sky high mountains
I'll sing my song to the free, to the free
I'll sing my song to the wide open spaces
I'll sing my heart out to the infinite sea
I'll sing my visions to the sky high mountains
I'll sing my song to the free, to the free
When I walked in through the door, thought it was me I was looking for
She was the first song I ever sang, but it stopped as soon as it began.”

Getting In Tune brings Nicky Hopkins back on piano, punching out another really great melody to allow Entwistle to provide a fluid bass beat and for Roger Daltrey to wrap his more painted vocal delivery around. The real dynamic kicks in with the chorus (“And I’m gonna tune, RIGHT IN ON YOU”), and there’s neat vocal interplay in the bridge (“Getting in tune through the straight and arrow”), which contains some neat acoustic touches and a two-chord piano line. By the end of the song, the rave-up kicks in, as Keith Moon and Nicky Hopkins bring their respective instruments to double time, and Townshend kicks out some neat licks.

“I'm singing this note 'cause it fits in well with the chords I'm playing
I can't pretend there's any meaning here or in the things I'm saying
But I'm in tune, right in tune, I'm in tune
And I'm gonna tune right in on you
Right in on you, right in on you
I get a little tired of having to say "Do you come here often?"
But when I look in your eyes and see the harmonies and the heartaches soften
I'm getting in tune, right in tune, I'm in tune
And I'm gonna tune right in on you…”

Going Mobile is the only song on the album that feels like a true throwaway track. Even with the dynamics of all the performances, from the always superb rhythm section, wah wah guitar solo and acoustic guitar throughout, the song is so overtly cheeky that it seems like a song better suited for a solo album. Townshend’s vocals offer a lot of wacky adlibs from, “whoo-hoo” shouts to “beep beep” and “hee-hee,” and the lyrics concerning the life in a trailer car seem a tad heavy-handed. A nice try anyway.

“I'm goin' home and when I wanna go home, I'm goin' mobile
Well, I'm gonna find a home on wheels, see how it feels goin' mobile…
Out in the woods or in the city, it's all the same to me
When I'm drivin' free, the world's my home, when I'm mobile
Play the tape machine, make the toast and tea when I'm mobile
Well I can lay in bed with only highway ahead when I'm mobile
Keep me movin'…
I don't care about pollution, I'm an air-conditioned gypsy, that's my solution
Watch the police and the tax man miss me, I'm mobile.”

The acoustic guitar part of Behind Blue Eyes is something of grand delicacy and mournfulness. The harmonies are so damn good here, as are Roger Daltrey’s vocals. Like other songs, this one tied into the plot of “Lifehouse” (as from the side of the villain here), but stood out on its own with different emotional value. Daltrey captures it, a pot of frailty and restrained rage that doesn’t get the lead out until the gentle bass/acoustic guitar verses drive into a fiery instrumental rage as brought on by Townshend’s electric twanging, The Ox’s roaring bass and Keith Moon’s drum fills. Here, the bile gets spewed, and the music is right behind him. Lyrically, this is one of Pete’s best on the album.

“ No one knows what it's like to be the bad man
To be the sad man, behind blue eyes
No one knows what it's like to be hated
To be fated to telling only lies
But my dreams, they aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance that's never free
No one knows what it's like
To feel these feelings like I do, and I blame you
No one bites back as hard on their anger
None of my pain and woe can show through
But my dreams, they aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance that's never free
When my fist clenches, crack it open
Before I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool
And if I swallow anything evil
Put your finger down my throat
And if I shiver, please give me a blanket
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat
No one knows what it's like to be the bad man
To be the sad man, behind blue eyes.”

The closing number on the original album is the best song of this set, the 8:33 firecracker Won’t Get Fooled Again. With a dark synthesizer opening track (another great pioneering touch), the song then bursts into a flat-out rocker charged with raucous tom-tom attacks, thundering bass, and Pete Townshend kicking in plenty of guitar fire and keyboard textures. The bridge is a hand-clapping shift that allows Pete Townshend to punch out his guitar notes amidst a flurry of synthesizers, bass and drum fills. Daltrey kicks his patended scream in mid-song, before the third verse kicks in. The ferocious tempo builds up to what feels like a conclusion, with the synthesizer once again the lone instrument. Instead, the synthesizers build up to allow Keith Moon to relentlessly assault his drums once again, and then the music kicks back in, and Daltrey lets out a sonic boom wail, and only after he gets his last line in (“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”) and the instruments riff out one more time before it kicks itself out.

Townshend penned this as an ode to authority, and how for every new leader that takes over, there is no significant changes, no revolution if and when it should happen. The only power to change anything doesn’t come from those who feed us bad ideas or misguided thoughts, but perhaps from ourselves instead.

“We'll be fighting in the streets with our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution, take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray…we don't get fooled again
The change, it had to come, we knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same and history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war…
I'll move myself and my family aside, if we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
There's nothing in the streets looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight.”

The bonus tracks begin with six songs from the New York Record Plant Sessions. First is a Marvin Gaye cover called Baby Don’t You Do It. The song is a raucous rocker with guest lead guitar by Leslie West, and Roger Daltrey doing a wild twist on his old vocal delivery. The instrumentation is tight here, and this is also an extended version of a bonus track from the first WHO’S NEXT reissue.

“My biggest mistake was loving you too much, and letting you know
Well now you got me where you want me baby, you gonna let me go
Well, I tried to do my best, I tried to do my best
Baby don’t you do it…don’t you break my heart.”

Next is an unreleased take of Getting In Tune. It sounds nearly the same as the album version, with some harmony vocals not there, as well as an extended coda with additional guitar and vocals. The piano also gets more jubilant near the end, providing a neat backdrop to end the song with. Following that is a more upbeat, alternate cut of Pure And Easy originally released on the 1995 reissue. The instrumentation is less dramatic and more charged, fitting into the dynamics of the album songs if not setting a ballad tone that would help solidify the version released on ODDS & SODS.

The next bonus track is an electric alternate version of Love Ain’t For Keeping, sung by Townshend and featuring an extended guitar solo and jam sequence that keeps what should be a 1:45 track going up to 4:03. This isn’t unreleased, as it previously came out on the reissued ODDS AND SODS release in 1998, but it’s a great bonus track to include for this particular group of extras. The alternate take on Behind Blue Eyes seems a more wistful arrangement, lacking Daltrey’s angry styling in the finished version and being given bursts of electric guitar before the arrangement actually gets hot.

Finally, the first disc ends with an unreleased session take on Won’t Get Fooled Again. The synthesizer arrangement is different, and features some additional guitar texture. Also, the backing vocals are non-existent, so Roger is the lone singer here (and he blows a line at one time). This feels kind of like a demo version, or second demo next to Pete’s original demo. The last line of the original song also pops up before the synthesizer break kicks in, which isn’t as long as the one on the album version, and also features Keith Moon jumping in earlier than before. For the rest of the song, it’s a simple Who jam, with Roger wailing as the band go AWOL behind him.

The second disc of the deluxe edition is strictly live material. When the band had decided to premiere live material based upon songs from “Lifehouse,” they went to the Young Vic Theatre before a specially invited audience on the night of April 26, 1971. This was the only recorded remnant of the band’s stint at that South London venue, and the 14 tracks featured here in remixed form stem from that night. Only two of the 12 songs were previously released (Water and Naked Eye respectively on the 1995 reissue and the boxed set release THIRTY YEARS OF MAXIMUM R&B).

First of all, we get a really great in-concert rendition of Love Ain’t For Keeping. The instrumentation is raw and driving, from Keith Moon to Entwistle and Townshend all giving ferocious performances, and Daltrey’s voice sounds strong and assured. Then we get Pure And Easy, which is also of the loose, upbeat feel, not unlike the Record Plant version. There’s also a third verse that didn’t show up on any studio recording so far, and appears before the coda of “There once was a note, listen” kicks in.

Next is the all-famous Who rendition of Young Man Blues. It sounds appropriately meaty and excellent, like the version heard on LIVE AT LEEDS, but contains some excellent rhythmic interplay between Entwistle and Moon at one point in the instrumental break. It sounds good even with these two fellas sadly deceased, R.I.P. Time Is Passing appeared on Townshend’s first solo record, and also on The Who’s 1998 upgrade of ODDS & SODS. Presented here in live form, it feels a tad disjointed at times, but nonetheless picks up tons of steam throughout.

Behind Blue Eyes is a faithful rendition of its earlier studio counterparts with a direct electric guitar sound in the opening and the addition of some stage dialogue from Pete discerning a dancing man in the crowd. The next piece is I Don’t Even Know Myself, whose original studio take was released on the 1995 reissue, but misses inclusion here, so it now appears only on the 1995 remastered version or the WHO’S MISSING compilation. Here, it bears familiarity to the version I heard from the 1970 Isle Of Wight concert album/DVD, but is a furiously-paced and edgy hard rocker in the Young Vic version. Also from the ODDS & SODS compilation and performed live here is the harmony-based Too Much Of Anything, a ballad in the vein of the album version of “Love Ain’t For Keeping.”

Getting In Tune was performed live at the Young Vic shows, but dropped off the set lists afterwards. It lacks the piano melody or the complexity of the studio version, opting for a more electric version with its whirling melody in the verses and wild guitar solos of feedback and bottom-of-the-fret notes. At the end of the song, the band finally bust out the backing vocals in a chant of “Getting in tune through the straight and arrow.” John Entwistle’s bass adds a few neat touches here, and Keith Moon is his usual self behind the drums. Proving more faithful is the live version of Bargain, which neatly substitutes harmony vocals in the place of the synthesizer. Roger blows the third verse, and covers up by repeating the first, whereas the instrumental break at the end allows a proper showcase for Moon the Loon’s trademark drumming.

Water was a concert favorite in 1970 and 1971, and holds up here, a wild blues piece with piercing guitar lines and a shambling rhythm section. The song is basically about what happens when you run out of water and get horny at the same time, and also is presented in a longer form than the original 1995 bonus track (8:19 as compared to the 6:25 version).

“The foreman over there hates the gang
The poor people on the farms get it so rough
The truck driver drives like a devil
The policemen they're acting so tough.
They need water, good water, we need water,
And I'm sure there isn't one of us here who'd say no to somebody's daughter.”

Next up is a brief 2:58 of the classic My Generation, where the guitars scream and mighty Thunderfingers looses the fret on his bass. Afterwards is another really loud and ferocious number, their reworking of Bo Dudley’s (I’m A) Roadrunner, which was used in “My Generation” jams onstage in the 1970s (see THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT and you’ll know what I mean). Pete Townshend does a usual good job of pushing his guitar over the edge here for 3:14 before segueing into Naked Eye with an excellent finger-plucked melody. The verses lead to moments of wild intensity throughout, and this version also extends the center of the song, with a complete third verse (even though a couple of lines are missed). A full minute longer than the version which first appeared on the boxed set.

“Take a little dope and walk out in the air
The stars are all connected to the brain.
Find me a woman and lay down on the ground,
her pleasure comes falling down like rain
Get myself a car, I feel power as I fly,
oh now I'm really in control
It all looks fine to the naked eye,
but it don't really happen that way at all,
don't happen that way at all.”

The closing number…Won’t Get Fooled Again! It sounds nearly faithful to the studio version, except the middle of the song lags somewhat and loses energy. The overall performances are strong, even if the song would take some more time to develop into a real show-stopper. Townshend lets his guitar ring around the second synthesizer solo, and traces of drum kick in early before hitting the finale, but it ends on a great note. This may not have been their best live performance, but it sure is honorable in how it fits into the legend of “Lifehouse.”

And in the end, it’s that accidental genius which helped spawn The Who’s seminal hard rock album, and perhaps the best rock LP of the 1970s. And this Deluxe Edition adds some more fire to the legacy. This album was $19.99 when I first purchased it...“I call that a bargain, the best I ever had.” If you can get it for a bargain too, I suggest you do.