Six tracks from the album's original but abandoned New York sessions flesh out the familiar material, with previously unreleased outtakes of "Getting in Tune" and a revealing, early arrangement of "Won't Get Fooled Again" warranting special note. The second disc documents one of Lifehouse's most quixotic elements with the first-time release of one of the series of concerts staged at London's Young Vic theatre during the project's gestation--events during which band and audience would somehow mystically become one. Core tracks from the project are interspersed with typical hard-rocking Who fare of the time, resulting in a show whose focus and dynamics belied something very different from the arena-rock clichés that would eventually overwhelm them. --Jerry McCulley

Description
Though Pete Townshend was originally unhappy with WHO'S NEXT, it was quickly welcomed by critics and fans, becoming oneof the most celebrated titles in their enduring catalogue. His frustrations boiled down to the album being a compromised version of a larger work he'd envisioned, LIFEHOUSE, whichproved too unwieldy to be realised. Expanded to a two-disc set with essays by both Townshend and John Atkins, the original nine-song album is expanded with six additional studio tracks.
These include earlier versions of the album's songs and a cover of Holland-Dozier-Holland's "Baby Don't You DoIt". Recorded in New York during the spring of 1971 in the midst of a fraying relationship with producer Kit Lambert, the early cuts clearly don't have the sonic breadth and wallop of what the Who achieved back in England later in the year, but are fascinating nonetheless. The second disc was recorded live before an invited audience, and was originally partof the album's grand plan. Mixing new material with covers ("Road Runner;" Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues") and original tunes from their past (the anthem "My Generation"), the band plays with a palpable urgency and fire. This was the Whoat the peak of its powers, a status the group would retain as a live act through the '70s.