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The Who - Who Are You (1978)

Track listing:
  1. New Song 4:13
  2. Had Enough 4:30
  3. 905 4:02
  4. Sister Disco 4:22
  5. Music Must Change 4:38
  6. Trick of the Light 4:47
  7. Guitar and Pen 5:58
  8. Love Is Coming Down 4:06
  9. Who Are You 6:21

Notes

On the band's final album with Moon, their trademark honest power started to get diluted by fatigue and a sense that the group's collective vision was beginning to fade. As instrumentalists, their skills were intact. More problematic was the erratic quality of the material, which seemed torn between blustery attempts at contemporary relevance ("Sister Disco," "New Song," "Music Must Change") and bittersweet insecurity ("Love Is Coming Down"). Most problematic of all were the arrangements, heavy on the symphonic synthesizers and strings, which make the record sound cluttered and over-anxious. Daltrey's operatic tough-guy braggadocio in particular was beginning to sound annoying on several cuts. Yet Townshend's better tunes — "Music Must Change," "Love Is Coming Down," and the anthemic title track — continued to explore the contradictions of aging rockers in interesting, effective ways. Whether due to Moon's death or not, it was the last reasonably interesting Who record. The 1996 CD reissue adds five previously unreleased alternate takes and demos.