The Who - Who's Next

Baba O'Riley - 4
Bargain - 3
Love Ain't For Keeping - 4
My Wife - 3
The Song Is Over - 3
Getting In Tune - 4
Going Mobile - 3
Behind Blue Eyes - 4
Won't Get Fooled Again - 4
Total - 32 stars / 9 tracks = 3.56 stars

*Bonus Tracks*

Pure And Easy - 3
Baby Don't You Do It - 3
Naked Eye - 4
Water - 3
Too Much Of Anything - 4
I Don't Even Know Myself - 4
Behind Blue Eyes - 4
Total - 57 stars / 16 tracks = 3.56 stars

.. Weird. Did you see that? How either with or without the bonus tracks, it all came to the same average? I guess it's fate... or it just means that the bonus tracks are of comparable quality to the rest of the album. I prefer to think it's the former, because it helps me get over the nervousness of tackling this album.

I haven't been this worried about "getting it wrong" since I first started this blog and tried to cover Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. There's something about this kind of respected classic rock that makes me worry that I'm not appreciating it enough, like there's some kind of intangible incredibleness that I've missed out on.

That being said, I really did enjoy much of this album. Sometimes it was for the instrumentals ("Baba O'Riley"), and other times it was more from melodic attraction ("Behind Blue Eyes"), and other times it was because I was just having fun ("Getting In Tune"). Regardless, there is certainly a greatness present here, without the pretentiousness that would alienate a relatively virginal critic like me.