The Who have officially announced that they will release their new studio album, WHO, Nov. 22 via Interscope Records, marking their first new record in 13 years, and the legendary UK rockers have shared a preview of the effort with the first single, “Ball & Chain.”

The band confirmed the release during Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey’s appearance at the opening for New York’s Pace Gallery on Thursday evening where, as Brooklyn Vegan reports, the duo and some of their bandmates performed acoustic versions of classic tunes like “Pinball Wizard,” “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

WHO was recorded in London and Los Angeles earlier this year with a band featuring Townshend, Daltrey, touring drummer Zak Starkey and bassist Pino Palladino, plus guests like Simon Townshend, Benmont Tench, Carla Azar, Joey Waronker and Gordon Giltrap.

“I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia in 1973,” Daltrey says in a press release. “Pete hasn’t lost it, he’s still a fabulous songwriter, and he’s still got that cutting edge.”

Townshend adds, “This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice. Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today. I made new home studio demos of all these songs in the summer of 2018 using a wide collection of instruments old and new. We started recording as The Who in March 2019, and have finished now in late August just in time to make some vinyl………maybe even some cassettes……ready for release in November.”

Listen to “Ball & Chain” and watch a couple Instagram clips from The Who’s Pace Gallery appearance below, and pre-order WHO here. The group continues their Moving On! tour dates this evening with a show at Boston’s Fenway Park before moving to Long Island on Sunday. See their full schedule here.


WHO Tracklist:

1.All This Music Must Fade
2. Ball & Chain
3. I Don’t Wanna Get Wise
4. Detour
5. Beads On One String*
6. Hero Ground Zero
7. Street Song
8. I’ll Be Back
9. Break The News**
10. Rockin’ In Rage
11. She Rocked My World