Classic Rock,Metal,Oldies 101: The Who : Who's Next/ Lifehouse (Box Set)

Sunday, August 2, 2026

The Who : Who's Next/ Lifehouse (Box Set)

THERE ONCE WAS

A NOTE

PURE AND EASY

Lifehouse

is an unfinished

science fiction

rock opera

by the English

rock band

The Who

intended as

a follow-up to

Tommy.

It was abandoned

as a rock opera

in favour of creating

the traditional

rock album

Who's Next,

though its songs would appear

on various albums

and singles by

the Who,

as well as

Pete Townshend's

solo albums.

In 1978,

aspects of

the Lifehouse project

were revisited by

the Who

Who Are You.

In 2000,

Townshend revived

the Lifehouse concept

with his set

Lifehouse Chronicles

and the sampler

Lifehouse Elements.

On May 1st 2007,

he released an

online software called

The Lifehouse Method

in which any

"sitter"

could create a musical

"portrait".

The site is now defunct.

The artwork

and design

of the box set

was undertaken by

designer

Laurence Sutherland.

In 2023,

an 10-CD box set

of recordings

intended or recorded

around the time

of the

lighthouse project

was released under

the name

Who's Next/Lifehouse.

A graphic novel

detailing a version

of the story

was released in

the boxset also.

Original concept

Lifehouse's story was inspired

by Pete Townshend's

experiences on

the Tommy Tour:

"I've seen moments in

Who gigs where the vibrations

were becoming so pure

that I thought the whole world

was just going to stop,

the whole thing was just

becoming so unified."

He believed that the

vibrations could become

so pure that

the audience would

"dance themselves into oblivion".

Their souls would leave

their bodies and they

would be in a type

of heaven;

a permanent state of ecstasy.

The only reason this

did not happen at

Who gigs was because

there was a knowledge

in the listener's mind

that the show would end

and everyone

would wake up

and go to work

the next morning.

These ideas were

directly linked to

the writing of

philosopher

Inayat Khan,

a Sufi musician

who had written about

the connection of

vibration and sound

with the human spirit.

Another source

of inspiration

for Townshend was

Meher Baba,

who claimed to be

an avatar of

Brahman.

What Townshend was

aiming to achieve in

Lifehouse

was to write music

that could be adapted to

reflect the personalities

of the audience

To do this he wanted to

adapt his newly

acquired hardware,

VCS3 and ARP synthesisers

and a four-channel

quadraphonic PA system,

to create a machine capable of

generating and combining

personal music themes

written from computerised

biographical data.

Ultimately,

these thematic components

would merge to form a

"universal chord".

To help this process,

the Who would encourage

individuals to emerge

from the audience

and find a role in

the music

The front cover

of the album is a

photograph,

taken on

July 4th 1971

on the way from

Sheffield to Leicester,

of the band apparently

having just collectively urinated

on a large concrete pillar

protruding from

a slag heap

The idea to shoot

the picture came from

Entwistle and Moon

discussing

Stanley Kubrick

and the film

2001: A Space Odyssey

According to photographer

Ethan Russell,

only Townshend

actually urinated

against the pillar,

so rainwater was tipped

from an empty film canister

to achieve the desired effect.

Most of the height of

pillar has now been buried,

and the area converted

to farmland.

It is marked on

Google Maps

as Who’s Next Monolith

and

The pillar is

“a drain built into the spoil heap

from Bond’s Main colliery

to help prevent landslips”.

The sky in the background

was added later by

John Kosh,

who was the art director,

to give the image what

Russell called

"this other worldly quality".

The rear cover

shows the band

backstage at

De Montfort Hall, Leicester,

amid a cluttered

mess of furniture.

In 2003,

the television channel

VH1 named the cover of

Who's Next

one of the greatest

album covers of all time.

Other suggestions

for the cover

included the group

urinating against a

Marshall Stack

and an overweight

nude woman with

the Who's faces

in place of her genitalia

An alternative cover

featuring Moon dressed

in black lingerie

and a brown wig

and holding a whip

was later used as part

of the inside art

of the 1995

and

2003 CD releases

of the album.

Some of the photographs

taken during these sessions

were also used as part of

Decca's United States

promotion of the album

NOTES :

I ALSO ADDED

MORE TRACKS

THAN WHAT'S IN THE

BOX SET !!!!

CHECK THIS OUT !!!!

TRACKLIST

CD 1

(Who's Next Remastered)

Baba O'Riley

(Remastered 2022)

Bargain

(Remastered 2022)

Love Ain't For Keeping

(Remastered 2022)

My Wife

(Remastered 2022)

The Song Is Over

(Remastered 2022)

Getting In Tune

(Remastered 2022)

Going Mobile

(Remastered 2022)

Behind Blue Eyes

(Remastered 2022)

Won't Get Fooled Again

(Remastered 2022)

CD 2

Teenage Wasteland

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Remastered 2022)

Too Much

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Going Mobile

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

There's A Fortune In Those Hills

(Demo / Remastered 2022)

Love Ain't For Keeping

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Bargain

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Greyhound Girl

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Mary

(Alternative Mix / Remastered 2022)

Behind Blue Eyes

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Time Is Passing

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Finally Over

(Demo / Remastered 2022)

Baba O'Riley

(Original Demo / Remastered 2022)

CD 3

Pure And Easy

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Home Studio Mix / Remastered 2022)

Getting In Tune

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Alternative Mix / Remastered 2022)

Nothing Is Everything

(Let's See Action)

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Won't Get Fooled Again

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Baba O'Riley

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Demo / Remastered 2022)

The Song Is Over

(Lifehouse Chronicles / 2021 Remix / Remastered 2022)

Pure And Easy

(Olympic Studio Mix / Demo / Remastered 2022)

(Pete Townshend)

Mary

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Original Mix / Demo / Remastered 2022)

Baba O'Riley

(First Editing Demo / Remastered 2022)

The Song Is Over

(Lifehouse Chronicles / Original Demo / Remastered 2022)

Pinball Wizard

(Long Remix) [*]

CD 4

Baby Don't You Do It

(New York Record Plant Sessions / 1971 / Take 2 / Unedited / Remastered 2022)

Won't Get Fooled Again

(New York Record Plant Sessions / 1971 / Take 13 / Remastered 2022)

Behind Blue Eyes

(New York Record Plant Sessions / 1971 / Version 1 / Take 15 / Remastered 2022)

Love Ain't For Keeping

(New York Record Plant Sessions / 1971 / Take 14 / Remastered 2022)

The Note

(aka Pure And Easy)

(New York Record Plant Sessions / 1971 / Take 21 / Remastered 2022)

I’m In Tune

(aka Getting In Tune)

(New York Record Plant Sessions / 1971 / Take 6 / Remastered 2022)

Behind Blue Eyes

(New York Record Plant Sessions / 1971 / Version 2 / Take 10 / Remastered 2022)

Getting In Tune

(New York Record Plant Session 2003 Remix) [*]

Pure And Easy

(New York Record Plant Session 2003 Remix) [*]

One Note

[Prologue]

(Pete Townshend) [*]

Baba O'Riley

[Orchestral Version] [*]

CD 5

Pure And Easy

(New Unedited Remix)

I Don't Even Know Myself

(Original Mix With Count In)

Time Is Passing

(Original Mix / Stereo)

Too Much Of Anything

(Original Mix With Count In And Original Vocal)

Naked Eye

(Remake Version)

Bargain

(Early Mix With Single-Tracked Vocal)

Love Ain't For Keeping

(Unedited Remix)

My Wife

(Unedited Remix)

Getting In Tune

(Warm-Up Jam / Take 1)

Going Mobile

(Early Alternate Mix)

The Song Is Over

(w/ Nicky Hopkins)

(Basic Track)

When I Was A Boy

(Remix)

Let's See Action

(Unedited Remix)

Relay

(Unedited Remix With Alternate Vocal)

Put The Money Down

(Remix With Alternate Vocal)

Join Together

(Unedited Remix)

CD 6

The Seeker

(Original Single A-Side Mix)

Here For More

(Original Single B-Side Mix)

Heaven And Hell

(Stereo Remix)

Water

(Unedited Remix / Twickenham Sessions / 1970)

I Don't Even Know Myself

(Unedited Remix / Twickenham Sessions / 1970)

Naked Eye

(Unedited Remix / Twickenham Sessions / 1970)

Postcard

(Original Mix / Twickenham Sessions / 1970)

Now I'm A Farmer

(New Remix / Twickenham Sessions / 1970)

The Seeker

(Unedited Version / Full-Length Remix)

Water

(Re-Make / Take 8)

I Don't Even Know Myself

(Re-Make / Take 16)

Let's See Action

(Original Single A-Side Mix)

When I Was A Boy

(Original Single B-Side Mix)

Join Together

(Original Single A-Side Mix)

Relay

(Original Single A-Side Mix)

Waspman

(Original Single B-Side Mix)

Long Live Rock

(Original Olympic Mix)

Behind Blue Eyes

(Just Vocals) [*]

CD 7

Love Ain't For Keeping

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Pure And Easy

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Young Man Blues

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Time Is Passing

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Behind Blue Eyes

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

I Don’t Even Know Myself

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Too Much Of Anything

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Getting In Tune

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Bargain

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

CD 8

Pinball Wizard

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

See Me, Feel Me

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Baby Don’t You Do It

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Water

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

My Generation

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

(I’m A) Road Runner

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Naked Eye

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Bony Moronie

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

Won’t Get Fooled Again

(Live At Young Vic Theatre, London, UK / 1971 / Remastered 2022)

CD 9

Introduction