-- Who - Quadrophenia | (Audio CD) MSRP $ 31.98 Amazon Price $ 28.99 Savings $ 2.99 | |  Release Date: 02 July, 1996, Mca
TRACK LISTING - I Am The Sea
- The Real Me
- Quadrophenia
- Cut My Hair
- The Punk And The Godfather
- I`m One
- The Dirty Jobs
- Helpless Dancer
- Is It In My Head?
- I`ve Had Enough
- 5:15
- Sea And Sand
- Drowned
- Bell Boy
- Doctor Jimmy
- The Rock
- Love, Reign O`er Me
Usually ships in 24 hours | | | Brilliance | Pete Townshend is a rock god. While everyone knows The Who`s rock opera "Tommy" (another great album, mind you), "Quadrophenia" is a lesser known album, and one of the Who`s most ambitious. At its heart, it`s a boy`s coming of age story. The music is perhaps unlike any other album, and yet the message is universal. Who hasn`t felt alone ("I`m One")? Who hasn`t felt like the outsider in a group of supposed friends ("Cut My Hair") or angry at the injustices of the outside world ("Helpless Dancer")? Who hasn`t dealt with the frustration of growing up and searched for a way out ("Love Reign O`er Me")? It`s a boy faced with the decision of being part of the crowd or an individual.
"Quadrophenia" combines the pounding, loud, gritty rock("the Punk and the Godfather", "5:15") with the melodic instrumental pieces that are perfectly crafted, combining the four themes (four different sides of Jimmy`s personality). It combines the light, yet angsty, melodies of "Is It In My Head?" with the dark anthem of "Dr. Jimmy".
In my opinion, it`s this album that defined Pete Townshend as a genius. Whether he`s writing or performing, he does it with incredible brilliance and an ear for unique creations. Roger Daltrey will always be, as a journalist once said, the `titanium voiced mega-stud` and he earns this title in the power anthem "Love Reign O`er Me." John Entwistle takes the bass guitar to a new level. In "Quadrophenia", the bass serves as the rhythm and backbone of the music. It drives the beat while Keith Moon on drums serves more as "lead drums"- where you would usually find a guitar solo, there`s a drum solo. The drums on this album are more a part of the melody, rather than the rhythm. For me, this is perhaps on of the few albums where I will specifically listen to the drums. While most albums make listeners want to sing along, "Quadrophenia" is an album to be listened to as a whole. Each aspect of the music is perfectly crafted to fit together.
Mixing the lyrical genius of the Beatles and the driving rhythm of the Rolling Stones, The Who combine both in "Quadrophenia" for an album that is universal in its themes, but completely unique musical experience. "Tommy" was written for the masses, but "Quadrophenia" was a `labor of love`...a complex combining of haunting melodies and pounding, rock anthems into a masterpiece. (I could go on for hours...) | | | | deserves way more than five stars | | quadrophenia was a great soundtrack album for a movie and ranks among my best albums of all time containing timeless classics like love reign over me,5.15 the punk and the godfather and the title track. i would recommend that you should have this great double album in your collection soon.very highly recommended.five stars. | | | | The Who`s Most Ambitious Project - Good, But Not Great | | The Who were definitely at peak form in terms of songwriting and musicianship in the early `70s. After releasing the groundbreaking yet inconsistent rock opera TOMMY and the hard rock masterpiece WHO`S NEXT, the band set out to do another double-length concept album, although this time it was to be a much more personal, realistic story as opposed to the whacked-out fantasy trip of TOMMY. What resulted was QUADROPHENIA, the group`s most ambitious and grandiose album ever. With its cohesive story, tight musicality, great vocals, and excellent production (it sounds so good in fact that I can`t believe it came out in 1973!!), QUADROPHENIA eclipses the overrated TOMMY in every way, in my humble opinion. Like TOMMY, however, it`s not a perfect record. Some of the songs on disc 2 kind of drag and it sounds like the band is going through the motions up until the powerful finale "Love, Reign O`er Me." More on that later. The overall storyline itself is what makes QUADROPHENIA such an interesting listen. The plot focuses on the main character Jimmy, a teenager growing up on the mean streets of low-end London in the late `60s. He deals with many of the problems that usually face teenagers: parents who don`t really care about him, trying to fit in, struggling to find his niche in the world, etc. One day, he decides to join the Mod movement and gets caught up in the various excesses that befall him. Eventually, he tires of the Mod lifestyle and leaves the town, only to continue his struggle. It doesn`t seem like it will ever leave him. Entirely written by guitarist Pete Townshend, QUADROPHENIA is a very personal story, as I said earlier. The Who were a part of the whole Mod scene in the late `60s and Jimmy`s personality goes into four different directions, hence the title. They are like his consciences: the loony side of drummer Keith Moon, the quiet introspection of bassist John Entwistle, the emotion of Townshend, and the anger of singer Roger Daltrey. Each of them get their own theme, which make up the four main themes of the music: "Helpless Dancer" (Daltrey), "Bell Boy" (Moon), "Doctor Jimmy" (Entwistle), and "Love, Reign O`er Me" (Townshend). A very cool concept if you ask me. The songs on here are some of the best the band has ever recorded. After the brief mellow intro "I Am the Sea," it segues into the raging rocker "The Real Me," and then right into the surprisingly progressive and complex instrumental title track, which features some of the best synthesizer playing captured on tape. "The Punk and the Godfather" and "Sea and Sand" are two more great rockers, while "I`m One" and "I`ve Had Enough" are two of the more beautiful songs Townshend has written. "5:15" is a really catchy tune with a great melodic chorus and a groovy horn section. "Bell Boy" is absolutely hilarious and features a maniacal lead vocal from Moon himself (crazy guy, he was). The highlight, by far, is "Love, Reign O`er Me," truly one of the greatest album closers of all time. Roger Daltrey`s vocals on that song are truly stunning, and the chorus is highly emotive, as well as the synths. As I said before though, the album does kind of drag a little bit before the ending. At 8 minutes, "Doctor Jimmy" goes on for too damn long and should`ve been trimmed, while the second instrumental "The Rock" is an absolutely pointless reminder of the main themes and is basically filler. All minor quibbles, though. I expected QUADROPHENIA to really blow me away and it did, but only up to a certain point. However, it is still a great album and shows the Who at the peak of their creativity. Unfortunately, the band never did anything this great again. | | |
-- zzzz
 |
