The Who: Who Are You  4-LP Deluxe Vinyl Edition

Who Are You occupies a somber place in the discography and history of The Who, as the final album with the rock quartet’s original drummer—the irreplaceable Keith Moon. Within a month of its original release in August of 1978, the timekeeper had succumbed to an overdose of an alcohol-detox drug. An ill-fated attempt at sobriety leading to his passing, maybe the ultimate irony in the life of Moon the Loon.

Who Are You, though, contained some eternal light. The title track is both immortal and brilliantly of its contemporary moment—with its percolating synth and drunken, profane retort to the tidal wave of British punk. “Sister Disco,” too, offers a timely eulogy to its own fab fad. Beyond that pair, there are a few glints of Pete Townshend’s insightful songwriting; the deliciously brazen trolling on “New Song,” a winner. Yet it’s bassist John Entwistle, possibly predicting our AI-infected present on “905,” who, this round, one-ups Pete for impressive prognostication. Overall, it’s solid album, if not the wholly representative swan song of Moon’s greatness.

Perhaps ironically too, while this 4-LP edition (as well, the 7-CD edition does contain a full complement of bonus material with Moon) marks Moon’s final statement with this nicely remastered reissue, it softens the loss and forges ahead; three of its four records showcase live performances from 1979, highlighted by the band’s new backbeat, Kenney Jones. 

Too much of the responsibility for The Who’s first retirement- famously following a 1982 “farewell” tour—centered around the notion that Jones was never quite the right fit. Granted, Jones’ in-the-pocket style was much different from Moon’s. Not to mention the two studio albums he recorded with the group—Face Dances and It’s Hard– being less than stunners on the charts or with fans, lending to the dissonance. Add in, over the decades since, singer Roger Daltrey’s public comments and memoir account divulging his dissatisfaction with Jones, and it’s almost confounding to imagine 75% of this box is live artifacts from the “Jones era.”

Here’s the answer: They’re undeniably that good. And exactly why the self-contained Live USA 1979 trio of vinyl- culled from three concerts on a fall ’79 U.S. tour- is crucial to this collection’s high value. Jones is Formula-One perfect from start to finish- accelerating tempos, locked-in to the hairpin bass runs of Entwistle, meeting Townshend’s electric ferocity, and holding firm beneath Daltrey’s full-throated command. Anyone who thought The Who was lost or less-than after Moon’s demise needs to listen to this. If ever there was a time to re-evaluate who are The Who after the Moon went dark, it is now, with this undeniably resilient, robust rock-and-roll reinvention.