Quadrophenia -- the Thread

"Cobwebs and Strange," I think it's called, from AQO comes to mind.

This is also my favorite Who (or not-Who album). I'll disagree on the vocals, though -- Pete didn't learn to sing for a good while after this one, and Daltrey's screeching, cracking voice is more engaging than Pete's waver.

No way I'm paying $10,000 or whatever it is for the director's cut that just came out, but listening to it on Spotify now. Demos are interesting (I guess devoted fans have already heard them?) Still probably my 3rd favorite Who album. Sell Out>Generation>Quad.0

It looks like the MP3 version of the director's cut is $19.87: http://www.amazon.com/Quadrophenia--Directors-Cut-Super-Deluxe/dp/B0066D8CZU/ref=sr_1_2_digr?ie=UTF8&qid=1321500991&sr=8-2

Don't get me started on the problems with this reissue. First, they use the 1996 remix which, while not bad, takes certain liberties (omitting a "can you see" and a scream in "The Real Me," leaving out the seal noises after the line "You men should remember how we used to fight" in "The Dirty Jobs"). Second, there are some recent vocal and drum overdubs on Townshend's demos. Third, there are at least two Who studio outtakes ("We Close Tonight," "Four Faces") that, while previously released, should have been included, along with other outtakes ("Bank Holiday" has yet to see the light of day). Fourth, at least two shows on the 1973 US tour were professionally recorded, and should have been included.

This is fascinating and, at the end, kind of heartbreaking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h2ir0PtCgA

Here by the sea and sand: A symposium on Quadrophenia CALL FOR PAPERS

Possible topics include but are not limited to: the representation of Mods; Mod revival(s) and nostalgia; Englishness; class; violence; crowds; work; adolescence; masculinity; the relationship between the film and the album; the concept/double album; the accompanying book of photographs and Townshend’s text; influences; legacies; Quadrophenia as rock opera; Quadrophenia in the Who’s oeuvre; the self-conscious representation of the Who’s history; the performance of it in the current moment; pills; punks; godfathers; sea; sand; rain; bellboys.

I never got into the whole Mod narrative, but i think musically this is by far the best Who album. My favorite non-live.

And the dudes who were wondering if the who ever did any other instrumentals. They forget the epic "the Ox" and a large part of Tommy

the epic "the Ox"
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Tuesday, October 8, 2013 1:23 PM (2 months ago)

epic track

Just listening to this again. Not only is the drum sound better than on the studio record, but I dare say Moon's performances are better -- more frenetic, more daring, just more Moon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv6bCr4K7z8

listening to the first u.s. pressing and i am reminded that i always want it to sound better than it does. just the sound. not the performances. still very enjoyable though. and keith on "the real me" is still one of my fave things ever.

as a kid i grew up on the movie soundtrack so in a weird way i feel the loss of james brown and "green onions".

What about the sound/mix don't you like?

sounds muddy. haven't played a U.K. copy in forever. it might just be the U.S. version.

hmmm, I'm listening to the super deluxe version and I guess I hear what you are saying to a degree. Some of the songs a bit more muddy than others. On my system I'm hearing almost a diligence towards the four players--bass is super clear...if anything I feel like the electric guitar is downplayed in the mix.

I love this album, but I agree that the overall sound could have been better. Still, it's their last truly great album, IMO. Townshend and Entwistle still had some great songs in 'em ('Success Story', 'You Better You Bet', 'Who Are You') but not albums.

there are various remasters, remixes, etc available of this, I cna't keep any of them straight

gave this a listen again just two days ago. still one of my favorite albums of all time.

Of all the rock opera stuff The Who did, Quadrophenia was by far the best and most fully realised. Lifehouse would have blown it out of the water if it had been finished, just on the sheer strength of the material, and particularly if it had all been recorded like Who's Next!

there are various remasters, remixes, etc available of this, I cna't keep any of them straight

Can't speak to the remasters, but the mixes are:

1973 - original

1979 - Entwistle remixes it for the film soundtrack, turns his bass up, re-records his bass, adds bass, plus more bass (however, the soundtrack album has the 1973 outtake "Four Faces" plus the first Who songs with Kenney Jones, "Get Out and Stay Out" and "Joker James," the latter better than half of Face Dances and all of It's Hard)

1996 - fully remixed for the reissue program

As for the murkiness, play "I've Had Enough" and Roxy's "Serenade" from Stranded, released on the same day as Quad, back-to-back. The Who sound amateurishly produced by comparison, and not in a good way.

The main problem with the production, for me, is the drum sound. Unlike Glyn Johns' Who recordings (including "Is It In My Head" and "Love Reign O'er Me," the first songs recorded for Quad), the bass drums don't pop, the snare doesn't crack, and there's far too much emphasis on the cymbals.

Moon wasn't particularly concerned with how his kit was miked. By contrast, when engineer Ron Nevison (who did Quad) went to work with Zeppelin, Bonham took him aside after a few test runs to tell him exactly how his kit should be miked.

Weren't they recording in a studio that was still being built at that time?

Glyn Johns was probably one of the few people who could record Moon well... there's a couple of early Who tracks which have shocking engineering in the drum department, all cymbals and sibilance! There's one on A Quick One in particular that's painful to listen to... I'm sure you can figure out which!

i think i have the memory of really liking how "the real me" sounds on the soundtrack. it kicks harder. it should always kick hard.

in fact that was always my fave moment listening to the soundtrack when i was a kid was that POW of i am the sea seguing into the real me and on the 1973 album it just limps into the real me. out of the mud.

Weren't they recording in a studio that was still being built at that time?

Yes. They thought it was completed, but decided it wasn't, so they had to rip out the mixing desk and start over. Much of it was recorded using Ronnie Lane's mobile studio (which Ron Nevison had helped design) as the control room. And when they went to their management looking for some cash to complete their studio, they found hundreds of thousands of pounds unaccounted for, necessitating an audit, and basically pushing Lambert & Stamp out for good.

Glyn Johns was probably one of the few people who could record Moon well... there's a couple of early Who tracks which have shocking engineering in the drum department, all cymbals and sibilance! There's one on A Quick One in particular that's painful to listen to... I'm sure you can figure out which!

The drums on A Quick One only really bother me on the title track. But Sell Out has terrible, anemic drum sounds on just about every track (worst offenders are "I Can't Reach You," "Our Love Was").

i got a pristine first u.s. press of ogden's nut flake the other day and omgomgomg it is so massive. as good as the u.k. copy i have. and yes i need both. quadrophenia deserved that sound.

mickie most would have been good for the who.

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-who-lifehouse-upgrade.html

this guy's website is everything the internets were meant to be.

The drums on A Quick One only really bother me on the title track.

You don't find the overly loud ear splittingly sibilant cymbals on 'I Need You' painful to listen to?

I actually like the drum sound on that song! The distorted cymbals are balanced out by the rest of his kit; they don't overwhelm his sound.

Ooh, I'd have to disagree - they cause great pain to my ears. It's a shame, because I don't mind the song, but I find the recording borderline unlistenable.

Not crazy about the original mix either. I like the '96 one a lot.

sounds muddy. haven't played a U.K. copy in forever. it might just be the U.S. version.

U.S. sounds like it's mastered well to me - I think it's the mix.

There's a scene, I think in The Kids Are Alright, where Townshend talks about Lambert at the mixing board in the early days after he took over from Shel Talmy. He was inexperienced and did stuff that had the engineer holding his head in his hands, like compressing a ride cymbal up into the sound of a steam train. Compared to the Talmy tracks before and the arrival of Glyn Johns later, lot of those records sound pretty dire to me.

This is the '96 mix. It's the CYMBALS you can't hear on the original. That and the vocals are buried a little more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2h1MY70uag

Keith Moon rules.

Compared to the Talmy tracks before and the arrival of Glyn Johns later, lot of those records sound pretty dire to me.

Johns actually engineered most of the Talmy stuff (all of the My Generation album). And one of the few records in that middle period that sounds great, "Pictures of Lily," was also engineered by Johns.

i got a pristine first u.s. press of ogden's nut flake the other day and omgomgomg it is so massive. as good as the u.k. copy i have. and yes i need both. quadrophenia deserved that sound.

― scott seward, Friday, November 17, 2017 10:12 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, that album rules and the bass on it sounds so thick and chunky. Best heard in mono, of course, but the stereo mix is interesting.

yeah that lifehouse reconstruction is a good one. that whole concept is so baffling and obviously fueled by some kind of mania, I can't see how it ever could have been done well; it's telling that townsend has revisited that concept like 20 times in his career, I think he's still dicking around with it.

i played Tommy too loud for Tarfumes today. my sweet German Polydor copy. that there's my playing copy. Tarfumes bought a sweet copy of Zen Arcade. #sweetness

i also played him a choice track from my fave johnny hallyday album. the one with the small faces backing johnny up and glyn johns engineering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrZ4sEPKBp4

I actually wish I’d bought your copy of Quadrophenia now. I remembered that, at some point between the ‘70s and the 2010s, the negatives of the photo book were lost. The reproduction in the Super Deluxe edition is noticeably blurry. So maybe the mix was murky on your copy, but the pics weren’t.

i picked up a gold disc mfsl Tommy CD today at the dollar CD sale down the road today. sounds pretty cool. very bright. sharp. i can imagine if you had a fancy CD player it would sound even better. and a tube-driven CD amp. and a pair of Bose bookshelf speakers. kidding. i do actually have a nice CD player for the first time in my life. an old Sony X303ES. weighs about 400 pounds.

I bought that MFSL Tommy years ago, only because I couldn't find a copy of the regular CD for some reason. As it turns out, the version of "Eyesight To The Blind" on it has an alternate vocal take, unavailable anywhere else.

i'm digging it. it's also loud in the right way. as opposed to the wrong way.