''Who's Last'' is the second live album by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

rock band

the Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

, recorded in 1982 during what was then billed as the band's "

farewell tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

". Thus, this album, released in 1984, was to be the band's last album.

Background

Most of ''Who's Last'' album was taken from the band's 14 December 1982 show at

Richfield Coliseum Richfield Coliseum, also known as the Coliseum at Richfield, was an indoor arena located in Richfield Township, between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. It opened in 1974 as a replacement for the Cleveland Arena, and had a seating capacity of 20,27 ...

outside of

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, which was their "last concert in the USA" (as

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

can be heard saying after "

Won't Get Fooled Again "Won't Get Fooled Again" is a song by the English rock band the Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. It was released as a single in June 1971, reaching the top 10 in the UK, while the full eight-and-a-half-minute ver ...

") this time around. Four songs come from different sources (verified by meticulous comparison with soundboard and audience recordings and videos from that tour). "

Behind Blue Eyes "Behind Blue Eyes" is a song by the English rock band the Who. It is the second single from the band's fifth album, ''Who's Next'' (1971), and was originally written by Pete Townshend for his '' Lifehouse'' project. The song is one of the Who's b ...

" is from the 10 October show at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford; "

Magic Bus Magic Bus may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Magic Bus" (song), a 1968 song by the Who * '' Magic Bus: The Who on Tour'', a 1968 album by the Who * "Magic Bus (Intro)", a 2002 song by Kottonmouth Kings from ''Rollin' Stoned'' * Magic Bus (stu ...

" and "

Summertime Blues "Summertime Blues" is a song co-written and recorded by the American rock artist Eddie Cochran. It was written by Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart. Originally a single B-side, it was released in August 1958 and peaked at number 8 on th ...

" are from the 20 October show at the

Kingdome The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District, Seattle, Industrial District (later SoDo, Seattle, SoDo) neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. O ...

in Seattle; and " Substitute" is from the 27 October show at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Notable by their absence from this recording, released by MCA two years after the tour, are songs from the band's two then recent

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

albums, ''

Face Dances ''Face Dances'' is the ninth studio album by the English rock band the Who. It was released in 1981 by Warner Bros. in the United States (the band's first release on that label) and on Polydor in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Who stud ...

'' and '' It's Hard'', although they played " The Quiet One" (from ''Face Dances'') and several songs from ''It's Hard'' every night on the tour. Five songs from this tour were released as bonus tracks to the 1997 editions of ''Face Dances'' ("The Quiet One" from the

Shea Stadium William A. Shea Municipal Stadium ( ), typically shortened to Shea Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City.Live from Toronto''. While that album is from the same tour, it does not contain any of the performances on ''Who's Last''.

Critical reception

Reviewing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

wrote of the album "it's a damn long way from ''

Live at Leeds ''Live at Leeds'' is the first live album by the English rock music, rock band the Who, recorded at the University of Leeds Refectory on 14 February 1970 and released on 11 May 1970, by Decca Records, Decca and MCA Records, MCA in the United St ...

'' to ''Who's Last'', and the distance between the two extremes is nothing short of stunning. ''Who's Last'' is so lifeless and lackluster that it's hard to believe the same band released both records. It may not be a graceful way to end the Who's career, but it's hard to imagine a better testament to why it was time for the band to come to an end." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' called the album a "pointless...contractually obligated release from a tired, directionless band on its half-hearted farewell tour."

Track listing

All songs written by

, except where noted.

Personnel

;The Who *

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

– lead guitar, vocals *

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band the Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, vocals *

Kenney Jones Kenneth Thomas Jones (born 16 September 1948) is an English drummer best known for his work in the groups Small Faces, Faces and the Who. Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces/Faces. Biograp ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

;Additional musicians *

Tim Gorman Tim Gorman was an American pianist, composer, arranger and record producer. Gorman studied music composition at the University of Portland in Oregon, under Philippe De La Mare, himself a former student of Nadia Boulanger. Biography Gorman graduat ...

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, keyboards,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, backing vocals ;Production *Dave "Cyrano" Langston – production,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, mixing *Bill Smith – cover design *Gavin Cochrane – photography *

Neal Preston Neal Preston (born 1952) is an American photographer, based in Los Angeles, California. Preston is known primarily for his photographs of rock musicians. He has worked closely with artists including Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Who, Bruce Spring ...

– photography

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control The Who live albums 1984 live albums MCA Records live albums