The Who were such a great band!!! And this CD is a great collection of their songs.

I've been a fan of theirs since the mid 60's and always felt their earlier recordings to be the most exuberant, spontaneous and whimsically creative. After their peak with Who's Next (1971), they took themselves way too seriously with Quadrophenia and then after that they sounded angry and lost their youthful innocence, which was so charmingly foppish to begin with. To me, the first CD is the best, it features early quirky gems like: The Kids Are Allright, Happy Jack, Boris The Spider, I'm a Boy, Pictures of Lilly, I Can See For Miles, Substitute, I Can't Explain and others through the Tommy opera and parts of Who's next. CD 2 picks up with some of Who's Next then finishes through Quadrophenia, By Numbers, and Who Are You. I hardly listen to CD 2. For me, early Who is the best. Keith Moon was a very original drummer. I could never understand however, why they would destroy their instruments. If someone put a smudge on my guitar, I couldn't sleep at night. Yet, Townsend would smash his Les Paul or Strat to bits for effect. Maybe back then, it was for rebellious shock value, but today it looks stupid, senseless, violent and wasteful. The music is still very cool however. In my opinion, the three Who CDs to own are this one, The Who Sell Out (1968) and Who's Next (1971). Live at Leeds (1970) is also highly recommened if you'd like to catch their live jamming at their peak too. This collection however is ESSENTIAL for any rock fan or historian.

This has to be the greatest collection of songs from The Who , a lot of classic's like who are you and the rest of your favorites , great collection , highly recommended.

Recently, what's left of The Who (Daltrey and Townshend) showed that they could still produce interesting music, with their "Endless Wire." A great album? No, but a solid one. And this collection of 35 cuts in all provides a terrific introduction to The Who's oeuvre. There can be questions about why certain cuts were included and others were excluded, but this is not one of those flawed compendia with idiosyncratic selections. The 2 CD set begins with "I Can't Explain" and ends with "Eminence Front," with a lot of music in between.

A sampler:

"My Generation." An anthem of the 60s generation for many. A certain poignancy in this phrase:

"Talkin' bout my generation,
Hope I die before I get old."

Two of The Who did die before their time (Keith Moon and John Entwistle). The instrumental work is raw and pulsating. Roger Daltrey's vocal work is an exemplar of rock and roll. One of their earliest hits--and it still sounds good today!

"Boris the Spider." Come on, how could I leave this quirky song off this brief description of my reaction to a few cuts! An odd little number (one of the few not written by Townshend--in this case Entwistle did the job). The focus is on Boris the Spider, "crawling up the wall." Nice guitar work and cool singing.

Then, "Pinball Wizard." This is from the rock opera, "Tommy." What a toe tapper! Daltrey's singing is excellent; he shows a lot of growth as a singer from the early days of the group. This is about a character who "sure plays a mean pinball." Didn't Elton John later have a hit with a cover of this song? I recall his version being fine, but this is the real deal.

"Baba O'Riley." I used to think that the name of this song was "Teenage Wasteland," for references to that phrase in the latter part of this 5 minute piece of great music. The sound shows a maturing of The Who as a group. The keyboard in this song adds a delicious element t5o the music. The guitar work is neat, Moon's drumming is great, and Daltrey's singing measures up. Again, a great 5 minutes of rock and roll.

And on it goes. . . . "Won't Get Fooled Again," "The Kids Are Alright," "Happy Jack," "I Can See for Miles," "Summertime Blues," "Long Live Rock," "Squeeze Box," "You Better You Bet," "Who Are You?," and so on.

Who could resist such a plenitude of The Who?

All the big hits and some lesser known tunes as well. A must for devotees of the British Invasion era.

I was recommended this collection as the best compilation of The Who hits. And indeed, the selection of songs is great.

But what does that matter when the listening experience is dull and flat. If you turn it up, everything is getting loud and tiresome with no impact. If you turn it down there is still no impact, and it is still tiresome and dull. I simply can not listen to this. It may work as background noise when you are cleaning your house, but for an enjoyable listening experience, go digging for original, non-remastered releases.

True musical enjoyment is impossible with this release.

I have to say, I'm laying somewhere in the middle of these extremists, I know I'm not the only one. The Battle between classic music and contemporary will wage to the ends of the Earth. Note, I'm listening to Hooligans on vinyl as I'm writing this. Seems to be necessary to point this out, because this is the reason to buy this album.

I purchased this because I owned all of my Who albums on Vinyl and I was looking for something a little easy and portable and it did the trick, but I was a Who fan to begin with. If your looking to get into the Who, this is a good start, it is necessary to pick up Who's Next, Tommy, etc. And if your really curious about rock music history pick up some of their embarrassing albums like It's Hard. You'll get the true idea of a band, these guys were very talented (the surviving still are), and tried a lot, and were for the most part successful, some of their music doesn't translate well to today, nothing wrong with that, even the sacred Beatles made some missteps.

I just hope to help some people that want o see what the Who were all about, to decide if this is a worthwhile album, it is.

I just wanted to say a few things to the people warring on this review site. The Who are a great band, but they are not the end all of music, they had their influences (Buddy Holly, Muddy Waters), as well as influenced many others, Pete Townsend himself said that he feels that "Nevermind the Bollocks here's the Sex Pistols" was the best album ever made. Fact is, the Who influenced and they were in turn influenced themselves, they are an important cog in the ever moving machine that is modern music and art. This album is a decent introduction, by no means complete, but that's why it's an intoduction. Listen to it yourself and ignore all the hype of "best band ever" or "this sucks check out dire straits". These people just want attention. Check it out yourself and see if they appeal to you.

I know I've loved them for the better part of my life.

Good sampling of music from one of the all time greatest rock bands ever! It shows their versatility and abilities. Not all inclusive, but still a great sampling.

Make sure you have a great stero system and turn up the volume.
Sit back, grab a beer and take a trip down memory lane as you listen to one of the greatest rock bands. Timeless classics!

Great collection. The only problem that I can hear is that some of the songs don't sound like thier mastered right. Some of Pete Townsends guitars sound like it was recorded in a freeway underpass compared to the more recent remasters from the actual albums the songs originate from. But still, this is a definitive collection, you can't go wrong.

Disc one is great for the most part with the exception of "Happy Jack" and "Call Me Lightning". However, I was disappointed by disc two. The only really great songs on this disc are "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Behind Blue Eyes", and "Who Are You".

"Sister Disco", "Happy Jack", and "Eminence Front" should not have been included on this collection.

You know there is a problem with the sound on a disk when:

1. It sounds good in the car with the windows down.
2. It sounds kind of grating with headphones on a decent portable.
3. It is brittle, metallic, and painful to listen to when you play it on a studio setup with Focusrite 24bit/192khz DAC's!

I agree completely with the reviewers who criticised the sound quality. This disk is insanely overcompressed, there is no sense of space between the instruments, and the highs are tinny and brittle.

This worked as an intro to the band, but I'm going to replace it with "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" and the remastered "Quadrophenia", which are supposed to have great sound.

The Who: The Ultimate CollectionFor those who like the music of The Who, it's hard to beat this set. It covers almost all of the band's hits that you've heard on the radio during their time, and perhaps some you don't remember hearing, but for Who fans, it is one of the best anthologies available on CDs. Enjoy!

though looking through some of these reviews i see the hardcore who fans bashing the tracklisting and sound quality. the truth is this is a good retrospective with all the hits and will be enough for most fans. so if your in the market for one who or are looking for a good starting point either way i recommend this cd

This collection will give you a real taste of one of rock's best bands ever. The power, the swagger, the grit, the excellent song writing, the carefully chosen instrumentation, it's all here. Listen to the soaring vocals on "I'm Free", the speed-acoustic intro to "Pinball Wizard"and you'll understand why the Who had all of what classic rock embodies. As collections go, this one is pretty comprehensive. There are a few ommissions. "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" could have been better represented. But all the great AOR and earlier AM hits are here in earnest. This is a super collection by arguably one of rock's best bands.

After reading earlier reviews of this compilation, I was worried that some of the songs might sound "altered" by the remastering process. I was pleased to listen and find no discernible difference between these versions and the others that preceded them. I had lost my "Who'better..." CD somehow, but this is an upgrade, giving you some later material like "Eminence Front". Package it with "The Kids are Alright", and you have a great collection of one of rock's best. Long live Rock!

Definitely a great job on the collection and the booklet is worth a lot of the price as well.

"The Ultimate Collection" should be it.Perfect selection of classic songs(just check the track list),excellent sound quality,cool booklet featuring memorablia, informative liner notes and recording dates to every song included make this ready made for the casual fan who just the cream of the crop of this legendary band.

I must admit that one of my greatest mistakes as a Rock music fan, was missing to follow the career of The Who until TOMMY was issued as a movie (1975). Since then, I found that The Who is such a great British Rock band and a landmark in the story of Rock music, in the same level of the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin or other magnificent British Rock packs (Yes, ELP, the Kinks, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, etc.).
I'm sure there are other Who compilations still available, who will satisfy classic Rock purists more than this "Ultimate". However, if you're just trying to increase your knowledge of how good British Rock became in the 1960s and 1970s, this The Who collection at no doubt will lead you to get later their entire album collection. Enjoy it!

This CD is The Who- 101 for any new Who fan that you would like to acclimate with the band...like your kids, for example. Great listening for old fans, as well.

This is a really great copulation. I Highly Recommend this for your collection. This gives a great overview of how the Who developed into what the Who was! Is?

I am a Who fan since 1991 and I was thrilled to purchased the 2-CD album. It has almost the Who's classic hits including my personal favorites "I Can't Explain" and "I Can See For Miles". For any fan of the pride of West London, this CD album is for you.

This CD has the greatest songs ever written by The Who. You cannot go wrong with this purchase. Although a greatest hits compilation does not substitute for the original album, this is the compilation to buy if you want a thorough collection of the Who's greatest.

For those of us who grew up in the 60's and 70's, this is great recap of the Who's most productive years. All of the major hits of that era are here and listening to them now brings you back to those halcyon days of youth when My Generation et al were hits. Even if you were only a minor fan of this band, this collection is well recommended.

ESSENTIAL FOR ALL ROCK FANS! It is amazing how much material these guys put out and how great it was! This is a great selection of their material except for the omission of "Athena" and "It's Hard," from the early 1980's album "It's Hard." For all but the Hard core fan, this is all you need! So buy both and be amazed.

Next to maybe the essential Clash and a few others I don't think there has ever been a compilation album i have listened to as much as this one. And what can I say? It's great! The Who is just one of those bands that has always seemed to me hard not to appreciate. And this particular compilation does an excellent job of covering the bands prime years from the 60's to the 80's. (They had more recent albums lately, but sadly I honestly can't say I have heard them.) I would strongly recommend this for anyone who is interested in getting into the Who. This is definitely a good start. LONG LIVE ROCK!!!!

This is the best 2 - CD set! I actually bought it for my 4-yr-old because he is wild about the Who! I didn't realize how much I loved them too until he started playing it over and over! Fantastic!!

I really enjoy listening to music that I heard in my friends' rooms during high school and college, and wax nostalgic for LPs I have but can no longer play. The Who was a band I heard at friends' homes and in the dorms, but never owned... so I'm really grateful to have been able to find it on Amazon! THanks.

There are a number of songs on this CD that are not of good recording quality, in my opinion, but there are many other GREAT song recordings on this same CD, which more than makes up for it!

Really rocks and not a dud in the bunch.

Outstanding collection by The Who. Several songs I didn't remember they even did!!

"The Who: The Ultimate Collection" is an accurate description. I highly recommend it AND get their new "Endless Wire" CD too.

FINALLY a compilation that has everything! I dont need to buy all the other albums since this is the best Compilation ever done for THE WHO. Recommended 110!!!!!

The unfortunate experience of being a music lover is that back in the 80's & early 90's you thought you bought that CD forever. Scratch that. When remasters are done of this quality, you need to buy it. This is a nice 2 cd set worth the cost. The remaster quality being the driving force. You will hear The Who as they were meant to be heard back in the day it was made- as close to the original reel to reel recordings as possible.

Look no further. If you want a greatest hits collection by the WHo, this is the one to own. Not only has it been richly remastered, but the songs are numbered in chronologically order, so you get a sense of the history and the development of the band. IMHO, their peak years were 1969-1971, and this era is well represented by "Pinball Wizard," "Behind Blue Eyes," "Won't Get Fooled Again," "Baba O'Reilly," and "Bargain."

The collection concludes with "Eminence Front," and while I love this song, it makes me miss Keith Moon on drums, not that the replacement drummer isn't solid (he is), but he doesn't play with the liveliness and spontaneity that Keith had.

There is no reason to spend your money on single disc compilations that will inevitably be missing some of the band's big songs. Get this two disc set now!