Features
Tuesday, November 29 2011
The Past Is Calling: Reconsidering The Who’s 'Quadrophenia'
Everything Pete Townshend did up until 1973 set the stage for Quadrophenia. It’s all in there: the pre-teen angst, the teenage agonies and the post-teen despondency.
Monday, May 23 2011
The 25 Best Progressive Rock Songs of All Time
Put as simply -- and starkly -- as possible, many beautiful babies were thrown out with the bath water by hidebound critics who were content to sniffingly dismiss the more ambitious (pretentious!) works that certain bands were putting out as a matter of course in the early-to-mid-‘70s.
Friday, December 17 2010
The Best Live Albums of 2010
Successful live albums are challenging things, judged by their ability to adequately portray the power of a performance. 2010 proved that even a strong crop of carefully staged and recorded recent shows could still be overshadowed by legendary sets of the past.
Friday, December 18 2009
The Best Re-Issues of 2009
PopMatters presents our 20 best re-issues of 2009, highlighted by the long overdue remastering of the Beatles oeuvre, a number of '80s and '90s classics, and one of the most storied catalogues in electronic music.
Monday, July 28 2008
Part One: The Icons
With DETOURS, the PopMatters staff is celebrating the strange, bizarre, lovely, and funny albums that have emerged from an artist’s desire to try something different. Some of these detours have lead to modern-day classics. Some have lead to laugh-inducing commercial disasters. And others... others are just plain weird.
Columns
Tuesday, July 18 2006
The Who Know Who They Are and From Whence They Came
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Warner revisits the Live at Leeds legacy courtesy of the Who.
Reviews
Thursday, December 15 2011
Ride: Nowhere (20th Anniversary Edition)
Alan Moulder's mix reveals, in these Rhino remasters, a grittier coating over the hazy smear.
Tuesday, November 1 2011
Roger Daltrey Performs The Who's 'Tommy' - 14 October 2011, Kansas City
Daltrey’s complete rendition of Tommy (1969) from start to finish was most probably a once in a lifetime experience for many; the crowd was certainly fortunate to witness such a genuine cultural happening.
Friday, August 28 2009
The Who: The Who Sell Out (Deluxe Edition)
Long before the Who could be heard on nearly every television and movie soundtrack, they lampooned their "sell out" status on this '67 classic, now remastered and re-released.
Monday, December 1 2008
The Who at Kilburn: 1977
Though the cynic might wonder how many live versions of '69-'70 Who sets one needs, this film provides a fascinating look at the band at a particular moment in time.
Tuesday, January 2 2007
The Who: The Who: Who's Next [DVD]
The DVD falls far short in providing sufficient insights and accurate historical perspective into the album's legacy and ongoing artistic and commercial appeal.
Blogs
Thursday, October 13 2011
Roger Daltrey Offers the Whole Version of 'Tommy'
Tommy is not only one of the most acclaimed and defining works of the rock era, it is an enduring work that resonates on radio to this day where it has found multi-generational appeal.
Friday, May 13 2011
Counterbalance No. 33: The Who’s 'Who’s Next'
In this edition of Counterbalance, Mendelsohn and Klinger play the tape machine, make the toast and tea, and enjoy a spirited debate about the Who’s 1971 tour de force. They’re all wasted!
Tuesday, September 7 2010
Go to the Mirror, Boy! - 'Tommy' : Blu-ray
Bursting with imagination and aided by the power in Pete Townshend's iconoclastic tunes, Tommy transcends the typical musical ideals to become a piece of pure pop art poetry.
Thursday, August 19 2010
Hey Gibson, Let’s Talk Guitar Albums: An Alternative Top 10
When it comes to matters of taste and ranking (a particularly combustible combination), there is no pleasing everyone. In fact, there is no pleasing anyone, since the list makers themselves are invariably disappointed or frustrated. And yet...
Saturday, May 23 2009
See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me…Sell Me
Pete Townshend is selling (his soul), but who's buying? Not I.
