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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A decent sampler, but there are better Who CD's, June 11, 2001
By A Customer
They got it right the first time they released a Who compilation in 1970, when they collected all their UK hits and singles on to "Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy," but since then the Who has released more compilations, and each time it gets a bit worse. This latest compilation (and the only one in-print in the US) has the most music, packing in 79 minutes that covers their entire career with Keith Moon as well "You Better You Bet," a hit recorded after Moon's passing.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.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Once Passable But Now Outdated Who Collection, August 12, 2005
In my opinion, The Who are the greatest rock and roll band ever. With some of the most talented musicians in rock history (John Enthwistle is the greatest bassist ever) and a barrage of classic rock anthems. However, their legacy is slow being eaten away by a barrage of greatest hits collections that feature the same songs being released over and over again. There have been about nine Who greatest hits/best-of's/definitive collections/ultimate/box sets released over the years.
In 1996, the compilation "My Generation: The Very Best Of The Who" was released. This comoilation contains 20 of the band's biggest hits in both Britain and America. Nine years later, does this collection still hold up? Here are the positives and the negatives.
Positives:
-This collection includes almost all the hits the casual Who fan would want. "My Generation", "I Can See For Miles", "Pinall Wizard", "Baba O'Reilly", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Who Are You", "You Better You Bet" and many other classics are on here.
-Underrated gems like "I'm A Boy", "Pictures Of Lily", "The Seeker" and "Let's See Action" are all included.
-It's affordable. That's good news for casual fans who only want one Who cd in this collection.
Negatives:
-Only one track from each from "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia"? These are easily The Who's best albums and yet we only get "Pinball Wizard" and "5:15". Those songs definitely deserve to be here, but where's "I'm Free", "Tommy Can You Hear Me", "We're Not Gonna Take It/See Me, Feel Me", "The Real Me" (Enthwistle's best bass work is on here), "Drowned" and especially the epic masterpiece "Love, Reign, O'Er Me"?
-Where's is "Behind Blue Eyes"? This track is very popular. Let me explain how popular this track is. It is the Who equivalent to leaving "Stairway To Heaven" of a Led Zeppelin best of. That is how popular that song is.
-For that matter, where's "The Kids Are Alright", "Pure And Easy", "Goin' Mobile", "Sister Disco" and "Eminence Front"?
-"Who Are You" is edited from 6:20 down to 4:51. Arrgh! I hate it when they do that.
-The sound isn't all that great.
If you're just beginning to get into The Who, then you should skip this and get the two cd "The Ultimate Collection", or if you really must have evryhting they did, then get the expensive box set "Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B". If you're on a budget, then I suggest the more recent single disc collection "Then & Now". That collection, while not as good as the other two, have "Real Good Looking Boy" and "Old Red Wine", the band's first studio recording in nearly 15 years. Whatever it is, this collection, while good, is not needed anymore.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
No Substitute for Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy, December 6, 1999
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.
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is one of The Who's 
