The Who Who Are You (Super Deluxe Edition)
Released Oct 31, 2025 UMC (Universal Music Catalogue)
Consensus forming 4 professional reviews Updated Sep 4, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Consensus is still forming across 4 professional reviews. The Who's Who Are You (Super Deluxe Edition) recontexualizes the band's late-era restlessness, putting the title track front and center as both clinging victory and elegiac statement.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
Who Are You
1 critic mention
“it houses in the unassailable title track possibly their last truly great song” — Classic Rock Magazine
New Song
1 critic mention
“directly addressed in New Song .” — Classic Rock Magazine
Music Must Change
1 critic mention
“the flagging Moon couldn’t get his head around the odd time signature of Music Must Change” — Classic Rock Magazine
Full critic consensus
The Who's Who Are You (Super Deluxe Edition) recontexualizes the band's late-era restlessness, putting the title track front and center as both clinging victory and elegiac statement. Across four professional reviews the set earned a 78.75/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to the deluxe package's mixes, rehearsal tapes and rarities as the clearest way to hear how the songs came together.
Reviewers praise “Who Are You” as the record's defining moment, a centrepiece born of improvisation and on-stage excess, while “New Song” and “Music Must Change” reveal the group's flirtation with experimentation and their uneasy response to punk. Critics note recurring themes of transition and studio curios, with several commentators calling the extras essential for understanding the album's legacy rather than elevating every track to classic status. The tone across professional reviews is admiring but measured: the Super Deluxe Edition illuminates creative fractures and ambition even as it exposes moments of boredom and unevenness.
For readers seeking the best songs on Who Are You or wondering what critics say about this expanded reissue, the consensus suggests a valuable archival package that deepens appreciation more than it revises the original record's standing. The collection works as a document of a band in flux and a useful companion to The Who's catalogue.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
New Song
Had Enough
905
Sister Disco
Music Must Change
Trick Of The Light
Guitar And Pen
Love Is Coming Down
Who Are You
New Song - Glyn Johns Mix
Had Enough - Glyn Johns Mix
905 - Glyn Johns Mix
Sister Disco - Glyn Johns Mix
Trick Of The Light - Glyn Johns Mix
Guitar And Pen - Glyn Johns Mix
Who Are You - Glyn Johns Mix
Trick Of The Light - Single Edit / Glyn Johns Mix
Guitar And Pen - Glyn Johns Alternative Mix
Who Are You - Glyn Johns Single Edit
New Song - Pete Vocal Version
Sister Disco - Lost Guitar Mix
Had Enough - No Orchestra
Guitar And Pen - Pete Townshend Guide Vocal
Love Is Coming Down - No Orchestra
Who Are You - Early Run Through / Pete Townshend Vocal
Who Are You - Lost Verse Mix
Guitar And Pen - Olympic '78 Mix
Love Is Coming Down - Work-In-Progress Mix
Empty Glass - Group Version
No Road Romance - 1996 Who Are You Version
Trick Of The Light - Unused Olympic Edit
Who Are You - Edit
905 - John Entwistle Demo
Had Enough - John Entwistle Demo
Back On The Road - John Entwistle Demo
Wild Horses - John Entwistle Demo
Trick Of The Light - John Entwistle Demo
Good Time Coming - John Entwistle Demo
Who Are You - John & Cyrano Mix
Who Are You - Live with Keith In 1976 / Toronto Bootleg
The Kids Are Alright - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Run Run Run - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Spoonful / Smokestack Lightning - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
I Saw Her Standing There - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Jam - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Knocking It Into Shape 1 - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Knocking It Into Shape 2 - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Baba O’Riley - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Shaking All Over - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
Bell Boy - Shepperton Tour Rehearsal / 1978
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 4 critics who reviewed this album
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Critic's Take
The Who sound prickly and restless on Who Are You (Super Deluxe Edition), and Pat Carty singles out the title cut as the centrepiece. He frames “Who Are You” as possibly their last truly great song, born of on-stage improvisation and late-night excess, while tracks like “New Song” and “Music Must Change” show the band grappling with boredom and experiment. The deluxe set's Glyn Johns mixes, rehearsal tapes and rarities make this edition essential for those wanting the best tracks on Who Are You, because the extras illuminate how and why the album's highs still land. Carty's tone is admiring but measured, treating the package as an important document rather than a flawless classic.
Key Points
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The title track “Who Are You” is singled out as the album's standout and possibly the band's last great song.
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The deluxe edition's mixes, rehearsals and rarities reveal an experimental, transitional Who still pushing themselves.
Themes