(Book). From mid-1970 to early 1974, The Who undertook an amazing and peculiar journey in which they struggled to follow up Tommy with a yet bigger and better rock opera. One of those projects, Lifehouse , was never completed, though many of its songs formed the bulk of the classic 1971 album Who"s Next . The other, Quadrophenia , was as down-to-earth as the multimedia Lifehouse was futuristic; issued as a double album in 1973, it eventually became esteemed as one of The Who"s finest achievements, despite initial unfavorable comparisons to Tommy . Along the way, the group"s visionary songwriter, Pete Townshend, battled conflicts within the band and their management, as well as struggling against the limits of the era"s technology as a pioneering synthesizer user and a conceptualist trying to combine rock with film and theatre. The results included some of rock"s most ambitious failures, and some of its most spectacular triumphs. In Won"t Get Fooled Again , noted rock writer and historian Richie Unterberger documents this intriguing period in detail, drawing on many new interviews; obscure rare archive sources and recordings; and a vast knowledge of the music of the times. The result is a comprehensive, articulate history that sheds new light on the band"s innovations and Pete Townshend"s massive ambitions, some of which still seem ahead of their time in the early 21st century.