THE WHO (BUDGET COMPILATION)

Much like the better known 'My Generation' best-of compilation of The Who, the 'Budget Compilation' is a collection of tracks that focuses primarily on the band's early work in the 60s, back when they were playing two and three minute poppy hard rock tracks. For all intents and purposes, this is a good move on the compiler's part, due to the fact that the more progressive material is best experienced on a full album, but at the same time, with only a meager handful of tracks from the 70s and onward to represent the great material that The Who released during that time, it feels somewhat counter-intuitive. The songs taken from the '60s era are very well chosen, including great tracks like 'Happy Jack', 'I Can't Explain', 'My Generation' and 'I Can See For Miles'. But when it comes to the '70s and 80's tracks, 'Squeeze Box', 'Who Are You' and 'You Better You Bet' are chosen, leaving out any material from what I consider to be the best albums by The Who. Granted that this is a budget release for the casual listener, but it does feel like this best-of collection could have been a little more balanced in order to keep up with the other compilations out there.