The Who – Who Are You

My copy of this Ultradisc release (full match for all data) came with the Ultradisc II OBI.

As a 1987 pressing this should have W. in the mould. The two variants with just are from 1989 at the earliest, probably later.

The reference pressing of The Who’s last hurrah with Moon! 👌

this was my go to copy The Who - Who Are You until i came across this classic copy. beats it hands down across the board - sounds monsterous.

WHO ARE YOU just doesn't have the energy or spark of the Who at their best, although "Trick Of The Light" and the title track are very good, as is John Entwistle's "905" . This Gloversville pressing sounds okay, but not great. High end is a bit muffled, and the drums often sound flat. My copy plays nice and clean, with no surface noise of note.

Pressing is good, flat and quiet, but the album was poorly recorded / mixed in the first place.
Keith Moon sounds mostly OK, but John Entwistle is basically buried in the mix, and Roger Daltrey's voice is thin, harsh and piercing, not to mention Pete Townsend's guitar... The sound doesn't breathe, especially when the mix is dense the whole picture becomes very confused. Who Are You is the less disappointing track, but still a bit harsh and muffled. This is typical of 1970's recordings, where progressively miniaturized, bad sounding electronic components were used along the audio signal path.
Sound quality regarding, it gets totally destroyed by albums like Blow By Blow, Abraxas, The Wall, Dire Straits 1st, Getz / Gilberto, Hot Rats, early Carpenters...

Good album (“Who Are You” is must-have Who), but anemic pressing for most of the disc. Not nearly the full sound of Quadrophenia or an OG Who’s Next.

https://discogs.pelisguay.com/release/5465890-The-Who-Who-Are-You

Has the same stamper. Quite excited to listen to this.

It’s incredible!!!!!!

Recently purchased used. Ident to runout variant 7 except JEFF COBB is etched on both sides between the catalog number and the Pinkneyville logo. Given no references, I wonder if a previous owner etched it in?

My copy has some pressing defects such as little bumps that cause it to skip or repeat. Also, the label is offcenter. The music is not great and I only care about the hit single Who Are You which is the last track on Side B, which was a terrible decision for this less than mediocre album.