The Who: Album by Album: Listening To You

Explore The Who's groundbreaking albums, tracing their evolution from 1960s pioneers to rock legends.

One of the British Invasion bands of the mid 1960s, The Who would soon go on to help revolutionise rock music, evolving from a pop band into the first generation of stadium rock giants. During their golden period, they would undergo changes in style and become one of the key protagonists in the transformation of popular guitar-based music from a casual singles market to a serious artform defined by the LP.

Although The Who’s album output was not as vast as some of their contemporaries, they would break new ground with a series of iconic releases that advanced the notion of what a rock album could be, and still stand the test of time today.

In this book, we will look back at each of The Who’s studio albums, exploring the historical context surrounding them, as well as looking into the recording process itself. Tackling each album song by song and examining the composition, production and the stories behind them, this book aims to give a detailed overview of The Who’s albums from the 1960s up to their most recent and possibly final album, 2019’s Who.

This book contains notes on subsequent re-releases and remixes, comparing the key the differences and offering a concise, yet in depth respective, featuring both factual and critical analysis that will be valuable reading to all those interested in The Who and the history of classic rock albums.