Editing Who's Next (section)

==Recording and production==
[[File:Olympic Studios, London.jpg|thumb|Most of ''Who's Next'' was recorded at [[Olympic Studios]] in [[Barnes, London|Barnes]] with [[Glyn Johns]].]]

The first session for what became ''Who's Next'' was at [[Mick Jagger]]'s house, [[Stargroves]], at the start of April 1971, using the Rolling Stones Mobile. The backing track of "[[Won't Get Fooled Again]]" was recorded there{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=280}} before the band decided to relocate recording to Olympic at Johns' suggestion;{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=381}} the first session there was on 9 April, attempting a basic take of "[[Bargain (song)|Bargain]]".{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=281}} The bulk of the sessions occurred during May, when the group recorded "Time Is Passing", "[[Pure and Easy]]", "[[Love Ain't for Keeping]]" (which had been reworked from a rock track into an acoustic arrangement), "[[Behind Blue Eyes]]", "[[The Song Is Over]]", "[[Let's See Action]]" and "[[Baba O'Riley]]". [[Nicky Hopkins]] guested on piano, while [[Dave Arbus]] was invited by Moon to play violin on "Baba O'Riley". [[John Entwistle]]'s "My Wife" was added to the album very late in the sessions, having been originally intended for a solo album.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=282}}

In contrast to the Record Plant and Young Vic sessions, recording with Johns went well, as he was primarily concerned with creating a good sound, whereas Lambert had always been more preoccupied with the group's image; Townshend recalled: "we were just getting astounded at the sounds Glyn was producing".{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=282}} Townshend used early synthesizers and modified keyboard sounds in several modes, including as a [[drone (music)|drone]] effect on several songs, notably "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again",{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=382}} but also "Bargain", "[[Going Mobile]]", and "The Song Is Over". The synthesizer was used as an integral part of the sound, as opposed to providing gloss, as was the case on other artists' albums up to that point.{{sfn|Atkins|2003|p=18}} Moon's drumming has a distinctly different style from earlier albums, being more formal and less reliant on long drum fills—partly owing to the synthesizer backing, but also due to the no-nonsense production techniques of Johns, who insisted on a good recording performance that used flamboyance only when truly necessary.{{sfn|Fletcher|1998|p=286}} Johns was instrumental in convincing the Who that they should simply put a single-disc studio album out, believing the songs to be excellent. The group gave him free rein to assemble an album of whatever songs he wanted, in any order.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=382}} Despite Johns' key contributions, he only received an "associate producer" credit on the finished album,{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=282}} though he maintained he acted mainly in an engineering capacity and based most of the arrangements on Townshend's original demos.{{sfn|Unterberger|2011|p=105}}

[[File:ARP 2500.jpg|thumb|left|An [[ARP Instruments|ARP]] synthesizer similar to the one used on ''Who's Next'']]

The album opened with "Baba O'Riley", featuring piano and synthesizer-processed [[Lowrey organ]] by Townshend. The song's title pays homage to Townshend's guru, [[Meher Baba]], and [[minimalism|minimalist]] composer [[Terry Riley]], and it is informally known as "Teenage Wasteland", in reference to a line in the lyrics.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=275}} The organ track came from a longer demo by Townshend, portions of which were later included on a Baba tribute album ''I Am'',{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=386}} that was edited down for the final recording. Townshend later said this part had "two or three thousand edits to it".{{sfn|Unterberger|2011|p=108}} The opening lyrics to the next track, "Bargain" ("I'd gladly lose me to find you") came from a phrase used by Baba.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=275}} Entwistle wrote "My Wife" after having an argument with his wife, exaggerating the conflict in the lyrics. The track features several overdubbed brass instruments recorded in a single half-hour session.{{sfn|Unterberger|2011|p=113}} "Pure and Easy", a key track from ''Lifehouse'', did not make the final track selection, but the opening line was included as a coda to "The Song Is Over".{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=275}}

"Behind Blue Eyes" featured three-part harmony by Daltrey, Townshend, and Entwistle and was written for the main antagonist in ''Lifehouse'', Jumbo. Moon, uncharacteristically, did not appear on the first half of the track, which was later described by Who biographer [[Dave Marsh]] as "the longest time Keith Moon was still in his entire life."{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=386}} The closing track, "Won't Get Fooled Again", was critical of revolutions. Townshend explained: "a revolution is only a revolution in the long run and a lot of people are going to get hurt".{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=275}} The song features the Lowrey organ fed through an [[ARP Instruments|ARP]] synthesizer, which came from Townshend's original demo and was re-used for the finished track.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=381}}