Who Are You - THE WHO***

New Song/Had Enough/905/Sister Disco/Music Must Change/Trick Of The Light/Guitar & Pen/Love Is Coming Down/Who Are You

Who Are You was a disappointing sub par last album from the original line-up of The Who after the sad demise of Keith Moon. The title track was a top 20 hit in both the US and UK. (US:2 UK:6)

“This album is a lame duck, and makes a sad epitaph for Keith Moon, as this was his last album with the group before moving on to the great gig in the sky. The title track aside, this album is pretty much a dismal failure.”

“What a miserable album. The closing title track remains powerful, but it's the only thing on here that even comes close to the power of the band's best work. The title track salvages the end, in part because it actually has some dynamic range, but overall, this is a sad coda to the original quartet's long run together.”

“This album is inconsistent, the playing is completely unremarkable, Daltrey's singing is becoming a hoarse self-caricature, and worst of all the songwriting is just mediocre. I can still enjoy most of this but the characteristics that made The Who's prime output so special are pretty much gone. What you have left are some decent tunes and lyrics performed by a mostly competent band.”

“In one respect this album is a forerunner of the eighties. Unfortunately, The Who demonstrate that they had gone from being pioneers in the best possible sense to breaking ground in the worst possible way. They should have had the sense to know better that broad sweeps of synths was a misguided attempt to enliven hopelessly uninteresting numbers.”

“The prominent synthesisers are immediately apparent on opener New Song, chirping along tackily and overshadowing all the other instrumentation. Of course, it'd be wrong to blame the failure entirely on the synths, they just make an already poor song even worse.”

“Unfortunately the music on Who Are You is as tired as the men playing it. None of the songs rate among their best and to be fair none are particularly bad either. But the performances sound phoned in, and the mix and arrangements are simultaneously weak and overblown. There is an overabundance of synthesizers that sap the energy right out of almost every track.”