Some
people above already
noded something about this
great album, but a
list of the
songs is still
missing. Could be
interesting for the people who are
stealing their
music off the
internet. ;)
- 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
- Dr. Jimmy
- The Rock
- Love Reign O'er Me
Quadrophenia (written in its entirety by musical god Pete Townshend) was The Who's next album release after Who's Next and was released on October 26 in 1973, reaching #2 in the UK album charts. According to http://www.thewho.net, many british Who fans failed to find a copy because of an oil embargo. Whatever..
The Music
I find that this album sounds very different from Who's Next, which, being one of the first rock albums to use synthesizers, has an entirely other "character" than this release. While Who's Next had some rocking songs like Won't Get Fooled Again and Behind Blue Eyes, I think that Quadrophenia rocks a bit more, and that's what I like about it. Instead of tracks full of synthesizers, Pete wrote songs with heavy guitar parts and unbelievable bass lines (for example the amazing The Real Me).
I Am The Sea is an "instrumental" piece featuring themes that you will later on the album, so it's kinda like the Overture of Tommy, which (in my opinion) is superior though, because it ties the different themes together in one song, while I Am The Sea mainly consists of ocean sounds.
The Real Me, as mentioned, has a great guitar part and its bass line (by John "Thunderfingers" Entwistle) is one of The Who's best. Why Pete put the next song, Quadrophenia, which follows now as a kind of "late Overture", on the album as the third track is a mystery to me, but it fits perfectly. Cut My Hair and The Punk And The Godfather are two great rock songs, IMHO being two of the best songs on the whole album.
I'm One, a song that starts with acoustic guitar picking and a bit sad lyrics, is interesting, because it features parts of Sparks from Tommy, which Pete has reused very often. The Dirty Jobs is perhaps the weakest song on the album (that doesn't mean it's bad, but it's not as good as the rest), once again Keith's drumming is great and John's bass line is amazing, but I miss some guitar playing by Pete.
The 8th song, Helpless Dancer is piano-heavy, and is the first of the four band members' themes, namely Roger Daltrey's. It sounds a bit like a discussion between your loudspeakers and features a sample of The Who's The Kids Are Alright. Is It In My Head is a bit sadder again, but hearing Pete's riffs and typical Who-styled playing can't make you sad. ;)
I've Had Enough follows as a great rock song, including an interlude that is part of Love Reign O'er Me, the great ending of the album. 5:15 starts with some train sounds, piano, bass and Pete's singing. In newer live versions (for example on the Royal Albert Hall video by The Who) John Entwistle plays a rather long bass solo, showing his unbelievable skills on his instrument. 5:15 was also released as a single, did not chart in Britain and reached #45 in the U.S. Billboard charts.
Sea And Sand is IMHO one of the greatest songs on the album, starting with the sound of the ocean and an acoustic guitar. John plays the hell out of his bass under Pete's amazing guitar riffs. What I especially love, is the moment before "My jacket's gonna be cut slim and checked..." as the bass notes seem to drop down. Am I crazy?
In Drowned the band is great once again, Pete rocking hard and John playing wild bass (he's playing some kind of bass solo actually). It's a love song with desperate lyrics as "I Wanna Drown In Cold Water", though the music doesn't seem that sad. Pete is playing this song alone with an acoustic in some newer live sets.
Bell Boy is the next theme, Keith Moon's, who is also "singing" some lines in this track. On the 30 Years of Maximum R&B video, there's a great live performance of this song available. IIRC, Keith once sang his part in french, when The Who played in the french parts of Canada.
The next song is Dr. Jimmy (Jimmy being the main character of the story), a part of which is John Entwistle's theme, "Is It Me?". The track is rather long (8'42, nine seconds longer than Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, yey), but it's great the way it is. The song features lyrics like "You say she's a virgin?/Well, I'm gonna be the first in".
The Rock, the track right before the final, is an instrumental piece, a bit like Quadrophenia. It has some great guitar parts by Pete, and other sweet stuff.
The last song, Love Reign O'er Me, fits just as well into this album as any other song, and is the perfect ending for it. The track starts with rain samples (Riders On The Storm-like), and a piano playing an intro, later the whole band enters. Roger's vocals are the album's best in this song, he really gets into it. As PMD says in his amazing writeup about his song, this is the part where "the punk (Jimmy) reaches his final enlightenment".
Being Pete's second full-length rock opera, Quadrophenia has to get compared to Tommy, the first one. It seems to me that The Who matured a lot since Tommy, and that the songwriting is on a higher level sometimes. Musically, Tommy's studio version is not really as good as Quadrophenia. Live versions of Tommy are unbelievably amazing, but I can't say anything about Quadrophenia, because I've only heard a few songs live. Anyway, this could be The Who's best studio album, and it sure is one of the best rock albums ever, from one of the best rock bands ever.