Who's Better, Who's Best-The Who

The cover of Who's Better, Who's Best features four calm, pretty sedate-looking guys, which is in fact a far cry from the onstage musical persona of The Who. Early on in the career of the band, The Who acquired a well-earned reputation for wild, explosive live performances--it was hard not to earn that label when Keith Moon was literally playing the drums with all the energy he could muster and Pete Townshend was windmilling his guitar while leaping about the stage. Roger Daltry did his share to generate excitement, and it seemed that the only thing that kept The Who from flying off into space was the solid, anchor-like presence of bass guitarist John Entwhistle. An added bonus of any concert by The Who was the systematic destruction of their guitars and amplifiers at the conclusion of the performance--these sometimes pyrotechnic displays only served to add to the legend that The Who ultimately became.

After the untimely death of drummer Keith Moon in 1978, the remaining members of The Who attempted to carry on, but it just wasn't the same. Kenney Jones was Moon's replacement, and his drumming skills were excellent, but without Moon, The Who seemed to lack the chemistry that had made them famous. Towards the end of 1982, The Who played their farewell concert in Toronto, and then officially disbanded. The group has reformed a few times over the years for special concerts, like Live Aid in 1985, but for the most part the members have pursued individual projects, or done little or nothing at all.

Who's Better, Whose Best is a pretty comprehensive collection of the best music of The Who--as far as I can tell, all of the songs except You Better, You Bet are taken from the albums of The Who during the Keith Moon era. This collection has a total of nineteen tracks, spanning the time period from 1964 to 1981. To compile a "greatest hits" collection from a body of work as extensive as that of The Who is probably a pretty daunting task, but this album certainly hits the highlights of the music of this band.