Klondike Bar Choco Taco and the Who

#5 The Who: Who's Next?

The Choco Taco.  Its ice cream, its chocolate, its a taco.  How do you improve that?  Easy, crossbreed it with a Klondike Bar.  Its Saturday night in the marathon Memorial Day weekend. Today has consisted of golf, napping, a neighborhood cookout and Outback steakhouse.  Golf went well for my first outing of the season. Its easy to have high expectations at the start of golf season, especially before you've taken a swing.  However, when the first round begins you start to realize those expectations need to be reigned in a little.  With high expectations followed by sudden disappointment on the brain, lets get to today's album.

The Who's "Who's Next?" was born from a failed rock opera called Lifehouse that Pete Townsend had been working on for quite a while. After suffering a nervous breakdown he finally just said 'screw it' and released everything he had to that point on one record.  "Who's Next" is a strong collection of songs, but they also hang together very well, a reminder of how they came to be and a great representation of the album format.

Kicking off side one is a straight up rocker "Baba O'Reily."  It makes you want to grab a guitar, turn it to 11, and hit an A chord while screaming until your voice goes out. Next up is "Bargain", another strong rock song with similar aesthetics to Baba. The next couple songs follow suit, then the side ends with "The Song is Over," a nice conclusion for a side. From its rock opera roots, this song signals the end of Act 1.

Side two starts off with "Getting in Tune."  The song title doesn't lie, they're just warming up and the better songs lie ahead. "Going Mobile" could be called "Getting in Tune Part 2", though its not a bad song.  It continues the theme of the album, however it is a little lacking due to the absence of Roger Daltrey on vocals. Now that we're in tune, its time to close in grand fashion. First its "Behind Blue Eyes."  For anyone who is a sound nut like me, this is reason enough to buy the album on vinyl. The acoustic guitar sounds as if its being played right in front of you and when the bass kicks in, you truly understand why analog is the purest representation of sound. They close the album in similar fashion to the start, rockin' out.  "Won't Get Fooled Again" rocks with power chords and synthesizer and creates a very strong climax and immediate conclusion to the somewhat story boarded album. After reading the gist of the 'Lifehouse' story, this song suddenly becomes very Matrix like...everyone lives in a collapsed society and the only experience you have is through controlled test tube experiments.  At the time people probably thought Townsend was nuts for pursuing this story...now Keanu is counting his money.

Much like "Who's Next", my golf game became a pleasant surprise born out of a near breakdown.  I four putted the first and second holes today, but recovered to have one of my most consistent rounds. So remember, when life gives you lemons, buy a Klondike Bar Choco Taco, put on the Who, and everything will be just fine.


Strongest Song: Behind Blue Eyes
Weakest Song: Getting in Tune
Song You Know: Half the Album
Why You Might Hate It: You hate rock and roll, FM radio, and power chords.
Buy It?  On Vinyl...fantastic production quality and hangs together like that rug in the dude's apartment.