YOUNGER BROTHER AS SELECTOR

I still remember when my brother brought home the Who's Who's Next LP. The only reference my brothers and I had was hearing "Won't Get Fooled Again", the single version, blasting out of tinny AM radios. FM radio was probably playing it, but I don't recall hearing a powerful mix, one that wasn't tinny, full of static and completely devoid of low end. Ah, but with the vinyl and maybe not the best stereo but one that at least had separate bass and treble knobs, it was a whole different ball game. My brother put it on. The intro to the first song "Baba O'Riley" played. What the fuck is this? It was our first exposure to the sound of a synthesizer.

All these years later it still sort of bugs me. Why put in all those squiggles? Hell, given the bombasticness of the song once it got kicking, an acoustic guitar would have sufficed. It sounded gimmicky. Next thing you know, here comes Kraftwerk. "Eff you, you rock poseurs, non-committers! We're going to go robot on your ass." And they did, On all our asses. In a blink of an eye it's Depeche Mode.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Who's Next? Awesome album, beginning to end. That intro to "Baba O'Riley" is just a fart. As a whole, consider it essential, one of the first few Who records you should own. There really aren't any songs on the LP that don't still hold up. The ones below are all from it, what I managed to find.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Who - Baba O'Riley mp3 at ATumblr (?)
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again mp3 at Chewing Water
The Who - My Wife mp3 at Crearefnet (?)
The Who - This Song Is Over mp3 at Hollywood Elsewhere
The Who - Going Mobile mp3 at ATumblr (?)