The Who - Who's Greatest Hits (1983)

A seemingly random "greatest" compilation released by MCA following the band's first farewell tour in 1982. The selection doesn't really seemed aimed at US buyers - the group's highest charting US hit didn't make the cut - maybe we weren't the target audience? As allmusic states, "it should not be seen as a definitive collection or even as a good introduction -- it's just an entertaining sampler." But it went double platinum so what the hell do I know?

Chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200 chart: #94
• CashBox album chart: #88

Tracks:

Song	Year	US	UK
Substitute	1966		5
The Seeker	1970	44	19
Magic Bus	1968	25	26
My Generation	1965	74	2
Pinball Wizard	1969	19	4
Happy Jack	1966	24	3
Won't Get Fooled Again	1971	15	9
My Wife	1971
Squeeze Box	1975	16	10
The Relay	1972	39	21
5:15	1973	45	20
Love Reign O'er Me	1973	76
Who Are You	1978	14	18

Missing US Top 40 hits: I Can See For Miles (#9, 1967), Call Me Lightning (#40, 1968), I'm Free (#37, 1969), Summertime Blues (#27, 1970), See Me Feel Me (#12, 1970), Behind Blue Eyes (#34, 1971), Join Together (#17, 1972), You Better You Bet (#18, 1981), and Athena (#28, 1982). Throw in a little Baba O'Riley plus the above tracks and you've got a helluva second CD.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My good friend Richard was a big Who fan having seen them in concert at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago in the late '60s. He was also an early adopter of compact disc technology in the mid-'80s. As a result, this was one of the first CDs he purchased, so quite likely one of the first CDs I ever heard. In 2021, the world lost Richard to Wegener's disease and he is greatly missed. And I'll be honest with you, getting through this CD proved much more difficult than I thought it might be.

Your humble blogger & Richard, December 1987
There's a good chance we may have listened to this compilation that very night.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Millennium Collection (1999)
The Who's Tommy - Original Cast Recording (1993)
Face Dances (1981)