The Who: Pete Townshend (vocals, guitar); Roger Daltrey (vocals); John Entwistle (bass); Keith Moon, Kenney Jones (drums).

Recorded between 1964 & 1991. Includes 64-page booklet.

The compilers of MAXIMUM R&B deserve credit for squeezing the collected works of the Who onto these four CDs. The Who's transition from singles band to something more ambitious is well chronicled on disc one. It contains early singles like "Zoot Suit" and "I'm the Face," classics like "My Generation" and "I Can't Explain," near-classics like "I'm a Boy" and early rarities like their take on the Stones' "The Last Time." The second disc charts the band's transition toward conceptual rock and opera, beginning with a selection from THE WHO SELL OUT and moving into their seminal rock opera "TOMMY." The band is also captured at their blistering best in cuts from legendary LIVE AT LEEDS.

Disc three covers the early '70s, when the band was at a creative peak, turning out state-of-the-art rock with QUADROPHENIA and WHO'S NEXT. Songs like "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" still explode like Thor's hammer. The final disc has a little of everything, rare live versions, radio-only oddities, and the best of their late-'70s and early-'80s output. The later works demonstrate that the Who continued make great music even in the twilight of their career.

Rolling Stone (9/8/94, p.76) - 5 Stars - Classic - "...Townsend's songwriting shines throughout....[he] elevates the the rite of rock & roll passage into a spiritual quest for freedom, self-knowledge and eventually salvation....rock was never more live--or better..."

Entertainment Weekly (7/8/94, p.53) - "...the strong arm with which Townshend once sweetly mixed mod sentiments with Beach Boy harmonies...still deliver a jolt of maximum pleasure..." - Rating: A-

Q (8/94, p.121) - 5 Stars - Indispensable - "...In the final analysis, the music does its own fighting....No swanning about. No flouncing. 30 YEARS OF MAXIMUM R&B is the best box set ever..."

NME (Magazine) (12/24/94, p.23) - Ranked #4 in NME's list of the 10 best compilation albums of 1994.

NME (Magazine) (7/2/94, p.44) - 6 - Good - "...This then should stand as The Who's flawed memorial: enthralling, madly ambitious, hampered by limping last chapters..."