The Who – Who's Next | The Who Live At The Civic Auditorium, San Francisco 1971

How many weeks have The Who spent at #1 on the British album charts since their first appearance there in December 1965? The very surprising answer is: one. In the September 18, 1971 chart, Pete, Roger, John and Keith reached the top with the mighty "Who's Next."

The album had debuted in second place the week before, behind Simon & Garfunkel's long-running "Bridge Over Troubled Water." In its second week, "Who's Next" moved into the top spot before being unseated a week later by Deep Purple's "Fireball."

Three more Who studio albums went to No. 2 in the U.K. (Tommy, Quadrophenia and Face Dances), and they also reached No. 2 with the 1976 compilation The Story Of The Who. But they never returned to #1. "Who's Next" was their fifth LP to make it into the British Top Ten, a feat they would repeat another ten times, including with 2006's "Endless Wire." In July 2015, the "Who Hits 50" compilation came very close to extending that streak when it returned to #11 during the band's 50th anniversary tour.

Who's Next, produced by the band with associate producer Glyn Johns, would become their most successful release stateside in terms of RIAA certification. It was certified triple platinum and reached No. 4 in a 41-week chart run, repeating the peak of the Tommy album that preceded it; while Quadrophenia went to No. 2 in 1973, it is certified single platinum only.

Who's Next is considered by many to be the band's finest hour, coming off the great albums Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again. It also includes such familiar Who classics as "Bargain," "Behind Blue Eyes" and the majestic "The Song Is Over."

When "Who's Next" was released on August 14, rock writer Dave Marsh declared in Creem magazine that the band's new album "is to The Who what The White Album must have been to The Beatles." He meant to say that in both cases it was the studio follow-up to brilliant concept LPs, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" for one and Tommy for the other.

Following recent super deluxe editions and multi-format releases of Who classics "The Who Sell Out," "My Generation," "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia," comes "Who's Next," considered by many to be the band's best album. The album was a groundbreaking musical achievement that raised the bar for other artists and continues to inspire today.

At the dawn of a new decade, The Who, and especially their most important songwriter Pete Townshend, faced an unenviable dilemma. How to follow up an international sensation called "Tommy"?

The answer was an ambitious, futuristic, but prescient project called "Life House."

The ideas contained in "Life House" predicted a dystopian world that seems all too familiar to us today. Issues like environmental change, all-too-powerful corporations, and technologies like the Internet that the public knew nothing about at the time.

Discover the remastered "Who's Next" album featuring the acclaimed and remixed San Francisco 1971 show, pressed on black 180g vinyl, in a 12x12" box, with exclusive notes by Andy Neil.