That's a fact. Who Are You was sub-par at best, and the two eighties albums just don't have substance.

you heard the man, bold it

I love Endless Wire. I think it's on a par with By Numbers in quality.

A Quick One (and maybe Endless Wire) will get bolds when we add the Orange tier to this tier.

What will get the orange? Any of the albums from Tommy to Quadrophenia (including Leeds) could be rightfully oranged, but that's an awful lot

I've already said it should be Tommy, Live at Leeds, Who's Next and Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. I know that's a lot, but how would you justify non-orange for any of them? Tommy and Who's Next go without saying, but Meaty represents The Who's sixties singles which many consider the best music The Who ever made, while Live at Leeds is frequently lauded as the greatest live rock album of all-time.

Then there's Quadrophenia, which is many a Who fans favorite (including my own), but we have to draw the line somewhere. Still, it kind of kills me to not have Quadrophenia as top-tier. I almost think we're better off with only two levels of bold instead of three.

quadrophenia owns my soul <3

Certainly a debacle. I agree completely about Tommy, Live at Leeds, and Who's Next, for sure. They represent three very different aspects of the band and are almost certainly the three most important recordings they made (I said most important, not best).

However, I think that Quadrophenia deserves to be top tier. Any Who fan will include it as being among their favorite albums, it's overcome Tommy in terms of acclaim. I would put Quad top tier over Meaty.

Tommy and/or Who's Next because they're the joint recommended First Listen at this point...but Leeds could indeed also be an orange.

Clash's selection of Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy is also a good canidate. Extremely important - and I guess "iconic", as subjective as it is - compilations that collect (mostly) non-album tracks are ellegible for Oranges (I call it the Bona Drag rule)

I don't think something like Meaty Beaty should be orange.

Live at Leeds must be orange. Unless there's a two-albums limit for orange, I guess.

EDIT: And it appears that there isn't, since Neil Young has two orange studio albums plus Live at Massey Hall. If Live at Massey Hall is orange, then there is no question that Live at Leeds must be orange.

I don't see how a collection of The Who's sixties singles - most of them non-album track singles - could be anything less.

Idk man, I love those singles - that's my favourite Who period. But I think Orange should be saved for the absolute cream of the crop releases - there are plenty of compilation which pretty much all those singles. I think red suffices for Meaty Beaty, but I don't care enough to argue further.

compilations can be Oranges, though. For instance, Morrissey's Bona Drag is a compilation, but its both orange and RFL.

Yes, you are correct. This is the part of the tier rules that affects live albums: