My Generation: The Very Best of the Who

For people who aren't big fans of the Who but like some of their biggest, most famous hits, this CD will do just fine, and for people who are want to start exploring the Who, this is a nice place to start. However, keep in mind this is really just a sampler. It covers almost all of their biggest hits, but it doesn't leave a complete picture of the band. For one thing, you can't boil down their career on to just one disc; their career goes through such a huge change that something like "Happy Jack" seems totally out of place with "Who Are You." There's also too much good material that has to be left off. Important early singles like "The Kids Are Alright" and "A Legal Matter" are essential, and while I'd prefer their inclusion over "Squeeze Box" and "You Better, You Bet," those two songs were still big hits, so you know someone would carp if they were missing.

So, if you're looking to get a better idea of what the Who was about, you could start here, though I'd suggest starting out with "Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy," Whatever you buy, you will want to supplement it with "Who's Next" (their best and a greatest hits album in its own way since every track is an FM classic), "Tommy," and if you want to go further, "Live At Leeds" and the flawed but still interesting "Quadrophenia."

One final word about the sound: for some reason, they put some of these tracks in fake stereo. You don't have to be an audiophile to know how bad fake stereo is; it totally ruins the sound. Just listen to Pictures of Lily on this disc, then compare it to the true mono version on the box set (which doesn't even sound that great to begin with). The box set version is so much better. My Generation, I Can't Explain, Boris The Spider, Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere...fake stereo. The rest sound just fine, with some actually remixed, including Won't Get Fooled Again, which is featured in a great-sounding, faithful remix (the recent Who's Next reissue does not have it remixed). I imagine some you don't care, but some of you would probably be steamed if you bought this without knowing that.


Okay for Who newbies (Whobies?)   November 17, 1999
12 out of 15 found this review helpful

Given the limitations inherent in a single-CD "best of" (you can cram just so much music into one CD), I wasn't expecting an overly deep song selection. But I was expecting a more attractive overall package than this. Unlike the original album reissues, this CD has no liner notes, something that any "definitive" compilation should have, if only for the sake of those unfamiliar with the band who want a little bit of history behind the music they're being introduced to. And that hideous cover; surely they could've done better? (How about the alternate version of the WHO'S NEXT cover, for instance, or the cover from the now-out-of-print MEATY BEATY BIG AND BOUNCY compilation?)

The music itself is great, of course, although I would've sacrificed "Squeeze Box" and "You Better You Bet" for a couple more early cuts. As for the sound quality, the Shel Talmy-produced material (comprising the first eight cuts on the disc) has not been remixed and has been taken from second- or maybe even third-generation masters; Talmy is involved in a long-standing legal dispute with the Who and won't allow the band to use his original master tapes. "Magic Bus" wasn't remixed for some reason, athough the multi-track tapes are available; presumably the compilers thought the original single mix had more of that "punch" the reviewers below were talking about. All of the other material from "See For Miles" through "You Better..." has been remixed--a fact which will probably delight and infuriate equal numbers of fans.

All in all, this is an okay "starter kit" for Who neophytes and for those who only want the Top 40 radio hits. I'd recommend that others avoid it, but then this is currently the only Who CD that includes the original single version of the all-time classic "Substitute." Aaaaargh!


It's The Who - with reservations...   August 29, 2002
Lonnie E. Holder (Sullivan, Illinois United States)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

The difficulty with being a rock group that has been around since the 1960s and has been influential as well is that you get collected a lot. The Who has the distinction of having more collections and compilations than original released albums. This CD is just one more collection in a long list of collections.

So, you are left with a difficulty. Is this collection any better or worse than any other. Depends on your point of view. This collection does miss important Who songs. As one reviewer pointed out, this collection should really have been two CDs in order to really call this collection "The Very Best of The Who". Point noted, and it is a darn good point, but...

I still give this CD 5 stars. I love The Who's music, but I don't have any of the other compilations, so for me this CD works. Fortunately I have the original CDs to fill in the gaps, like "See Me, Feel Me", "Behind Blue Eyes", "Slip Kid", and more and more and more...Another way of saying it is that the true greatest hits or very best of for The Who are their albums. But, sometimes you want to listen to a certain combination of music from The Who, and this is one of those combinations.

Okay, if you are a serious Who fan, you may as well pass this CD by. You'll gain nothing, probably get upset that someone dares call this the very best when it's not, and occasionally mumble that you should have been consulted, or at least someone that really cared about The Who.

I like the CD. You get 76+ minutes of music, which for an often chintzy music industry is pretty decent use of CD space. Every track is a decent representation of The Who at various stages in their career. I'm not an audiophile, so I can't comment on the quality of various recordings, but to a casual fan they sound pretty good.

The Who had songs that, like many other groups, weren't all that good, but they had others that were breakthrough at the time they were written and released, and are just excellent music as well. If you are a casual fan, and you've liked what you've hear by The Who, this CD is a good place to start. However, if you like what you hear, move on to the original releases. This group led rock, and was emulated by a multitude of others. Often their music was criticized by the then mainstream of the time, but today we look back on their contributions to rock with admiration and respect.

This CD may not be what it could have been, but it gives us another combination of Who songs to listen to depending on our mood. Buy it for what is has, and if what it has doesn't do it for you, buy one of the other compilations or the original recordings.


No Substitute for Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy   December 7, 1999
Brian O'Marra (Little Rock, AR USA)
10 out of 14 found this review helpful

This was supposed to be the one definitive greatest hits package on The Who replacing all the ones that had gone before (MBB&B, Who's Greatest, Who's Better Who's Best, Hooligans). Though it is a pretty decent sampler it just misses being the definitive package it was intended to be.

Originally Jon Astley planned for it to contain most but not all of the well known singles. The Kids Are Alright had long been planned to be included. Then the original multitracks of Won't Get Fooled Again were found and the long version was used on this disc. This used up eight minutes of disc space that could have been used for additional singles.

While most of the songs deserve to be on this (it's great to have the original Substitute), Baba O'Riley's inclusion is debatable. It is certainly a classic track off of Who's Next, and its presence isn't a detractor, but we have that already available on the Who Next reissue. What we don't have is the complete single The Relay remastered.

It is only found on the box set in a crossfade with Join Together. That means that the fade of Join Together obscures the intro of The Relay. Fans who want this song in hot house isolation remastered can't find it. Also one has to invest in the box to get the full version of The Kids Are Alright. This should have been included as well.

And speaking of deleting previous anthologies, why is Who's Greatest still in print, while Meaty Beaty is not?

Superb remastering make this a nice sampler, but not a definitive best-of. Oh, and the other reviewers are right to complain about the ugly cover. Why not use the imaginative MBB&B cover with the Who and their children look-a-likes.