The Who My Generation (Vinyl, Brunswick Records, 1965) *** The Who A Quick One (Vinyl, Reaction Records, 1966) ****
The Who The Who Sell Out (Vinyl, Track Records, 1967) *****
The Who Tommy (CD, Track Records, 1969) ***
The Who Who's Next (Vinyl and CD, Polydor Records, 1971) *****
The Who Quadrophenia (Vinyl, Track Records, 1973) ****
The Who The Who by Numbers (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1975) ***
The Who Who Are You (Vinyl and CD, MCA Records, 1978) **
The Who Face Dances (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1981) ***
The Who Wire & Glass (CD, Polydor Records, 2006) ***
Genre: Pop, rock
Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records, Marbecks Records, Chaldon Books and Records (The Who by Numbers).
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: We Don't Get Fooled Again (Who's Next)
Gear costume: Bargain (Who's Next), 5:15 (Quadrophenia)
They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7
Active compensatory factors: The Who!! Full of great characters and one of the best and biggest bands of all time. The names are all iconic - Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, John Entwistle, and Pete Townshend. I'll split my collection of The Who into three posts. First up - the studio albums, many of which are a crucial part of rock's history, starting with My Generation in 1965.
The thing is, in hindsight, it's a really weird album. Apart from My Generation, The Kids Are Alright and Legal Matter, Roger/Keith/John and Pete don't really sound like what The Who would become. Instead, they sound like a feral punk band. This pure youthful energy approach is similar to The Kinks debut.
The Who seemed to have a parallel career at this point - as a singles band and as an album band. While other acts like The Beatles also had singles that didn't appear on albums, the parallel careers weren't as schizophrenic as The Who's was (is - they are still going as far as I'm aware).
A Quick One is a strange album, as all band members contribute songs (Keith's instrumental is suitably quirky). Entwistle's Boris the Spider is a classic, of course, and The Who sound like The Who on this second album. Pete's A Quick One While He's Away is a great suite of songs joined together, which works a treat!
Third album, The Who Sell Out, continued in an experimental psychedelic vein, which was all very 1967 (a.k.a. the year of Sgt. Pepper). The album's songs are interspersed with fake commercials and public service announcements which gives it a fun aspect. I Can See For Miles was the powerful hit that is also included on The Who Sell Out.
The rest of the album is glorious Who music as well, with a noticeably heavier rock sound. That plus the lovely vocal harmonies and Roger Daltrey's voice are what makes the album stand out from the rest of the 1967 albums. For some critics, this is the best studio album by The Who. It's definitely in my top 2.
Tommy was next and it's been acknowledged as a landmark album for The Who for many years now. I'm not a huge fan. Some of the songs almost sound like demos and there is a really dark side to the rock opera (Fiddle About is very disturbing). I've also always struggled to listen to the whole thing at one sitting.
That said, there is no denying the power of songs like I'm Free, Pinball Wizard and the ten-minute instrumental called Underture.
Who's Next is a five-star classic from my nominated year for the best in music ever - 1971. Every song is brilliant and it all sounds so fresh every time I hear it. The versions of the songs are the best too. My CD copy has some bonus songs from a New York session, and it pales in comparison to the finished product (although Baby Don't You Do It is a standout from those sessions).
The package also has a live concert from The Young Vic which is dynamite from start to finish. I particularly like the way they all tear into these songs. All four are in top form!
The brilliant streak continued with 1973's next Pete Townshend rock opera - Quadrophenia. Only the band's sixth studio album. It's one I love a lot more than Tommy, even though I have no direct experience of English '60's gang culture that is the album's subject matter.
Although the story line gets a bit muddled at times (i.e. the quadrophenia idea re the personalities of the four members of The Who), there are plenty of great songs throughout the album and the atmospheric use of sound effects works well.
Highlights are plenty - The Real Me, The Punk Meets the Godfather, I'm One, Bell Boy, Love, Reign o'er Me and the utterly brilliant 5:15.
The Who by Numbers is a bit unloved, by everyone! Perversely, I quite like it. It doesn't have too many pretensions - instead it's a bunch of songs, mainly about Pete Townshend's various hang ups and problems, but when the Who perform them they become vaguely angry Who songs!
The hit song from the album was the weirdly crude joke song - Squeeze Box, which, again, I really like! BTW the original UK press had a unique number on the cover (like The Beatles album of 1968) - my copy is # 91002.
Who Are You (no question mark, so, I guess it's making a statement along the lines of: we, as in - the audience, are The Who) is the last album to include the self-destructive Keith Moon. Sadly, it's not his finest hour as a drummer with a muted performance, outside of the title track.
That song was the big hit which propelled the album to commercial success (it's still a song that turns up on classic rock playlists in 2026). Overall, the extensive use of synths make it an album I struggle with - hence the 2 stars.
Face Dances was the first album after Moon, with former Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones filling the vacant drum stool having been awarded the poisoned chalice- how can you ever replace Moon?
The songs and instrumentation were much better than the Who Are You album and they sound like they mean it again.
I skipped their last album with The Ox and Jones (It's Hard from 1982) as it got poor reviews and I'm not a completist for the band. I also didn't grab a copy of Pete and Roger's Endless Wire from 2006 or Who (2019).
The final studio effort on my list is Wire & Glass - a six song EP released from Endless Wire. It's okay, but it didn't prompt me to shell out for the album.
Where do they all belong? It's a curious body of work - some outstanding albums along the way but also some albums that are tough to listen to in 2026. I have Pete and Roger's autobiographies and a few live DVDs, but I have no plans to add to my vinyl/CD collection at this point.
Next up: the live albums.
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