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111 of 114 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Who at the Top of Their Game, January 30, 2005
The Who were at the top of their game when they recorded Quadrophenia and each member showcased his abilities to the fullest. This is Pete Townshend's most concise work as a musical story teller. It also features some of the best songs he ever wrote. At least six of the pieces on this set exceed even his normal (high) standard. `Sea and Sand' contains enough melodic fibre for two songs. `The Punk and the Godfather' and `The Real Me' are as fiery a pair of hard rock songs as have ever been released. `I'm One', `The Dirty Jobs', `Is It In My Head', and `Drowned' could easily find a place in music theatre. More familiar pieces such as `5:15', `Bell Boy' and `Love Reign O'er Me' continue to shine to this day. Even some of the flawed material stands out. `Dr. Jimmy' begins brilliantly but (partially) fails because Townshend didn't seem to be able to figure out how it should end. His playing and singing is uniformly outstanding throughout the set. There's some great guitar work on `Love Reign O'er Me'.
Roger Daltrey found himself as a vocal dramatist while the group was recording `Tommy'. The full power of his vocal range came out during the tours that followed and in the subsequent recording of `Who's Next'. He made full use of both, and did so with flair, style and confidence on this record. There are points where he sings more softly, points where he roars and times when he does both. His best moments come during `The Real Me', `Love Reign O'er Me' and on `Bell Boy' when he sets the stage for Moon.
John Entwistle came up with the clinic on how to use the bass as a lead instrument. His (most obvious) great moment comes early, midway through `The Real Me' when he and Keith take up the entire melody of the song and carry it under Daltrey's vocal line. It's been done many times by a lot of people but seldom better than this. Mostly however, his work on this record is extremely subtle. He carries much of the melody (as was the norm for him) but provides an excellent platform for the layers of guitar and synth work that ride over-top. Listen closely to `Cut My Hair', `The Punk Meets the Godfather' and "Is It In My Head'. The point of note is that much of what he does only seems to be coming from the bass guitar if a listener stops and really thinks about it.
Keith Moon gave his best (and last great) studio performance on this recording. The way he and Entwistle carry the melody of `The Real Me' is astounding. The symphonic element he lends `Dr. Jimmy' is something few other drummers could pull off. The phrasing he used to mark `Sea and Sand' is unique to this day. He marked Entwistle's bass line on `The Dirty Jobs' with his feet and Daltrey's vocals with the sticks. His use of cymbals to close, open and join the song's musical phrases is nothing short of remarkable. No other drummer would have played this piece like that, not then, not now, and not ever. He was probably the most innovative player ever to sit behind a drum kit.
This album never really got the recognition it deserved. That's not surprising considering the troubles that dogged it right from the beginning. After the Lifehouse episode the group wasn't ready to swallow another magnum opus from Townshend all too easily. Inactivity had shaken Moon's confidence. The group had trouble enough finding him to bring him into the studio to play and even more trouble getting him to play once he was there. The record was released after the tour began because of an unexpected shortage of vinyl. None of the members was ever satisfied with the way it was mixed initially. Once it was released It didn't get much media exposure either, probably because there wasn't much on it that would have been suitable for radio. On stage it was too complex for the band to play without a set of backing tapes. The tapes malfunctioned on a regular basis. When they did work they locked the band into a set rendition of the pieces. Moon made things worse one night by getting into monkey tranquillizers and collapsing on-stage. He recovered but wasn't himself for the rest of the tour (he dried out in a nursing home after it ended). That couldn't have helped the shows. The group never really shook off those problems and, after a short tour the following year (for the most), left it behind them.
It's stood the test of time (though it has its share of flaws that are all the more glaring because of the quality of the material surrounding them). The two instrumental pieces can wear their welcomes out quickly. In the wrong mood they sound either pretentious, dragged out, or both. `Dr. Jimmy' spends at least three minutes rambling after it's finished. `Helpless Dancer' falls flat on its face. Those are small complaints though. There's a lot to absorb on this record and it's still well worth the effort to do so. The writing approaches volatile subject matter subject matter thoughtfully and with great insight. The delivery is powerful and original. It reaches the heart as well as the mind. With this release the problem with the mix has been corrected. The sound is excellent. And, apart from correcting the original problems, it now also comes closer than any of their other albums to bringing their stage sound to record. This may be hard to imagine given all the synthesizer tracks on the recording but it's the truth. Who's Next is a close second but playing to the time signatures of the click tracks for the first time put too many restraints on Moon for that to be the case. By the time the band recorded this album he'd had enough experience with them to work better within the limitations they imposed. The bootleg recordings from the '75 tour prove this.
This is (finally) close to being the record the Who wanted to release. It's everything a record should be.
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Remastered Mess, September 1, 2004
Even though Quadrophenia is my favorite Who album, this remastered version pales in comparison to the original CD version released in the early 90's. It's actually muddy in spots, and as a result sounds that you're used to hearing have been quieted or lost altogether. For example, in "The Dirty Jobs," after Daltrey sings, "You men should remember how you used to fight," there used to be what sounded like seal noises (which fit in well with the ocean and water images and sounds of the album), perhaps to indicate how spineless these "men" have become. In the remastered version, these noises are gone. Later, in "Drowned," the piano is reduced to a less prominent role, particularly in the central section where the horns come in and overpower the piano, and that's a shame since the playing on the original is so inspired and thrilling. But, perhaps the greatest tragedy of this remastered version is how forced to the background Townshend's rhythm guitar is during "Love, Reign O'er Me", especially in the solo--and we're talking ferocious, adrenaline-causing strumming in the original. Find a used CD copy of the original or buy the gold CD. Anything but this mangled version. It's as if the person in charge of remastering the album didn't appreciate the finer points of the original production or wasn't even a Who fan. Maybe, in overseeing this, Townshend didn't have his hearing aid in, and Entwistle was too busy snorting coke. Either way, they goofed.
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88 of 100 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mottrophenia, September 16, 2004
Was 'The Who' the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world? At the time of the release of their second double album rock opera Quadrophenia at the end of 1975, the answer would have probably been `yes'. The `Beatles' had long since gone and never played any real live concerts as we know them today. 'The Rolling Stones' had just lost their second lead guitarist in Mick Taylor, and were being led down a very disco-orientated channel by Mick Jagger. Only Keith Richards could really claim to be a true rocking Stone. 'Led Zeppelin' was still around of course, but they were almost on another plain. So we can safely say that in the early seventies `The Who' was one of the biggest rock 'n' roll bands around. Already with many landmark albums behind them, Tommy (1969), Live at Leeds (1970), and Who's Next (1972), not to mention a mass of hit singles and historic appearances at such events as Monterey Pop Festival 1967, Woodstock, and the Isle of Wight in both 1969 and 1970, were backed up by saturation touring to bigger and bigger audiences all over the world.
Of course, like all of the rock greats, 'The Who' was not only known for their recording and spectacular stage shows, but stories of their on the road excesses are now part of rock 'n' roll mythology. The release of Quadrophenia was the major rock release of late 1973. It was waited for with barely concealed restraint by their millions of fans. The album went straight into the charts at number two in the United Kingdom and the United States of America remaining in the top thirty for over six months, a phenomenon almost unheard of for a double album in those far off days.
Quadrophenia found 'The Who' at the peak of their collective powers. Peter Townshend wrote all the songs, and never before had he put together such a continuous package of solid arrangements with such strong emotions bursting through in every song. The story follows the early years of a young man, Jimmy, growing from adolescence to nearly killing himself due to his fall into the depths of depravity in the whirlwind world of the Mods and Rockers on the south coast of England in the early sixties; a gripping tale of youth culture from those heady days.
Peter Townshend's guitar playing here also finally raised him onto the same level as his peers like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. Roger Daltrey is the person who puts his throat on the line to give the feeling to Townshend's words. Roger Daltrey was at the peak of his powers when he sings the final stanza's of 'Love Reigns O'er me' and brings the album to its shattering climax. One wonders if he still had a larynx left.
For the one time in the Who's career all the songs on one album were written by their principal songwriter, not leaving room for any of John Entwistle's often entertaining songs. John Entwistle shows more than ever here how essential he was to the Who with his fluid bass lines giving the songs real substance. John Entwistle's way of playing the bass was not only to nail down the theme of the songs, but also as a lead instrument. On Quadrophenia, more than any other Who album, the bass is pushed right to the front of the mix, quite deservedly so. John's fine French horn playing also adds a haunting air to some of the songs.
Then driving the band ever forward was everybody's favorite rascal Keith Moon, not only is his drumming superb and distinctive (only Keith Moon could drum like Keith Moon), but his vocal contribution to 'Bellboy' always brings a smile to your face. The fine piano playing of Chris Stainton should also be given a mention as it compliments the other players perfectly. Perhaps the Who should of added a keyboard playing then, instead of waiting till poor old Keith had shuffled off this mortal coil. It would have helped the band immensely trying to play these songs on stage instead of messing about with pre-recorded backing tapes.
The album open ups with the sound of the sea washing up on the beaches and snatches of refrains from the main themes of what is to come. The band comes crashing in with the rocker 'The Real me' and from then on you are taken on the roller coaster ride of a young impressionable wannabe Mod with plenty of highs as well as deeply disturbing lows. One of the highs is of Jimmy actually going to see his favorite band 'The Who' in concert. As Jimmy tries to emulate his heroes, his life spirals more and more out of control. With this the band's playing becomes more and more frenzied, climaxing in the nine minutes of 'Doctor Jimmy', where, if you listen carefully, you can hear Roger Daltrey's microphone being spun round the heads of all in the studio on its lead wire, and Townshend windmills his arm around his axe, building to the next frantic chorus. You can imagine the whole studio being destroyed at the song's climax.
`Doctor Jimmy', played in all it's glory on stage at Charlton Football ground in 1974 in front of 95-thousand people, was the highlight of the Who's set. The album closes out with the triumphant instrumental `The Rock', just before 'Love Reigns O'er me' brings the proceedings to a dramatic and satisfying conclusion. Quadrophenia is a great rock band at the top of its game. Logically, later it turned into a movie with Phil Daniels playing Jimmy and Sting the Bellboy, which was excellent.
Modded by Mott the Dog.
Rockered by Ella Crew
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