THE WHO Who ’ s Next | Life House Super Deluxe Edition ( UMe )
Many Who fans will likely already have a well-worn copy of Who ’ s Next . Devotees will also have some awareness of Lifehouse , the ambitious concept album and multimedia project intended by Pete Townshend as the follow-up to 1969 ’ s Tommy . The project became too unwieldy to complete in 1971 , but its potent ideas seeped into numerous Townshend and Who projects over the ensuing years . Lifehouse concepts continued to appear on Who albums , including Who Are You and Endless Wire , and on Townshend projects , including Psychoderelict and novella The Boy Who Heard Music . 2000 saw the release of Townshend ’ s revealing The Lifehouse Chronicles box set , and for a time , there was an interactive Lifehouse Method website . Despite all of these related projects , fans have never been able to ingest as complete a picture of the original intention for Lifehouse as the one gathered in this deluxe package . Who ’ s Next | Life House ( now rendered as two words ) rivals Pink Floyd ’ s Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary as this year ’ s most substantial and significant rock box set . The Who ’ s Next | Life House includes 155 tracks . More than half are previously unreleased , and 57 previously released tracks are freshly remixed . Lifehouse is a science fiction fable and spiritual allegory that was originally set in 1971 ’ s near future when music has been outlawed , and the environment has become toxic . An increasingly authoritarian government controls the populace by placing them in “ experience suits ” and connecting them to “ the Grid .” Townshend thereby forecast substantial elements of the internet , virtual reality , and pandemic-style lockdown . Rebels conspire to create a musical and spiritual event that will draw all participants into harmonic convergence . The storyline reaches enlightenment but is anchored by the quintessential Who song “ Won ’ t Get Fooled Again ,” which expresses Townshend ’ s post-Woodstock wariness about the ability of revolution to effect positive change . “ Meet the new boss , same as the old boss ,” sings Roger Daltrey cynically
after delivering rock ’ s greatest recorded scream . Lifehouse was originally envisioned as a film comprising scripted segments and interactive concert footage from London ’ s Young Vic Theatre . We don ’ t have the movie , but this Super Deluxe edition contains what amounts to a storyboard set for a much higher-budget production . Writer / artist James Harvey , writer David Hine , and artist Max Prentis have developed a vivid 172-page LP-sized graphic novel rooted in Townshend ’ s original concept and script . Characters like Sally from “ Baba O ’ Riley ,” “ the one-note ” from “ Pure and Easy ,” and situations like the gathering in “ Join Together ” or brewing revolution in “ Relay ” have a familiar presence in lyrics from Who ’ s Next and other albums . These elements carry a narrative impact as their threads to the Lifehouse story become more clearly revealed . The conclusion of the story was meant to be represented by the Who shows to be filmed at the Young Vic . The music would translate personal details from attendees into themes ( the synthesizer intro to “ Baba O ’ Riley ” was an interpretation of details about Townshend ’ s spiritual leader Meher Baba – a sound that Townshend says “ felt like a miracle ” when he first found it ). As the concert unfolds at the story ’ s Life House , the music is fed back into the Grid . Ultimately , the One Note would sound , leading attendees and Grid participants to vanish into a puff of nirvana while their government and military oppressors continue to battle each other . A 100-page , LP-sized hardback book is loaded with photos , liner notes , and essays beginning with Townshend ’ s own foreword . Details from 1971 press clippings give a sense of the public and band ’ s reaction to Who ’ s Next as brand-new material . Now considered an emblematic Who staple , Townshend reveals his initial insecurity about “ Behind Blue Eyes .” “ It was going to be the single , but we thought it was too much out of character ,” he says . Further intrigue appears in Townshend ’ s retrospective track-by-track notes for his Life House demos , reacting to them from a distance of 50 years . The songwriter describes “ Pure and Easy ” as the backbone of the Life House story , with personal details that informed the lyrics and technical choices that informed the music . For “ Nothing is Everything ( Let ’ s See Action ),” Townshend writes , “ I ’ m trying to be Jerry Lee Lewis on piano and coming close here and there .” The shimmering “ Greyhound Girl ” is explained as the wak-
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