Musically I believe this is the greatest album ever made. You have three of the best rock musicians all teamed up in one group and on this album they put everything they had into it. You also have one of the best songwriters of all time who managed on this album to create two LPs worth of solid melodies and hooks. Of course all of this is topped by one of the best rock voices of all time. It makes all these prog rockers I've listened to seem like such a joke. This is the best album I've ever found for taking naps to. This album is also good as background music when home alone and your cleaning the house before the ladies get home from a trip. Just crank it up and enjoy.
Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 5 out of 5 stars for Great.
I agree with every part of this review.
ReplyDeleteI discovered this album during my sophomore year of college, which is probably the absolute best time in one's life to listen to the Who. That was a very stressful year for me, and I can remember many nights simply going into my room, sitting in the dark, and listening to this album over and over. There just wasn't anything else I knew of -- not a novel, not a play, not anything (except maybe the Bible) -- that could capture all of the different emotions that were roiling me.
One other thing I like about the album is that it is self-consciously great and grandiose. For the most part, modern art tends to be very stripped down; "less is more" is a common belief. But I believe that in many circumstances, more is more. So I'm glad that Pete Townsend pulled out all the stops and really tried to make something great.
There is no telling how much pain, suffering, and agony went into the making of this album. But from my perspective, it was certainly worth it.
Also, this was a great, great video.
ReplyDeleteI listened to this album about a zillion times, too, and, definitely, it's off-the-charts great. One of the strangest listenings (looking back, not especially strange at the time) was while driving from Chicago to Bowling Green in the late summer of 1986, for my freshman year at Western. My mom was in the car with me, and I listened to the whole thing on cassette, probably loud enough to be annoying, while I drove. I don't remember Mom ever objecting (and, believe me, Mom was not/is not afraid to object anything that she believes was/is objectionable). She did, at one point, make some joke about one of Townshend's lines ... mockingly taking it too literally just to get my goat. But, by and large, I think now about this scene and can only imagine that Mom's last baby was moving out of the house and she just decided she was going to try to enjoy the time with him on his own terms. It's a really beautiful thing when I think about it now.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, and I hadn't put these two moments together, when I took Mom on a big road trip up to Maine in the autumn of 2001--15 years later--I remember that we listened almost exclusively to her music (and NPR news, as this was right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks). Finally, at one point on the way home, she asked me what music I liked, and I went into a (true) explanation that I like a lot of different stuff, including even like some Perry Como that she enjoyed.
"Yes, but what kind of music do you like to listen to if it's just you in the truck?"
She wanted to know.
By the way, I think Townshend got a lot of the end of this song from "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone. He was a big Nina Simone fan, even had her on one of his solo records and covered songs that she covered.
Eric, I love that story about your mom. When Number 3 son goes off to college, I'll probably let him listen to whatever he wants.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think I'll give her a call.
ReplyDeleteShe's excited about tonight's UK game ("They've got a chance!") and Butler ("I really like their coach, and, if they end up having to play Kentucky, I'll have a hard decision to make.")
ReplyDeleteMan!
ReplyDeleteThis video is fun. My favorite part is about 10 minutes into the music when the kid says that every second so far feels like it has been the best second.
ReplyDeleteLove the tea kettle right before "The Punk and the Godfather." There was a movie that came out several years ago (in which Yassar Arafat appears as a red balloon) that I think might've drawn inspiration from this moment on Quadrophenia.
ReplyDeleteYes, here's the movie: Divine Intervention. It's really good.
This guy makes a really good point--at the end of Side 1, Townshend (or Daltrey) might've been using one of those talkbox things that Peter Frampton would make famous in 1976. Townshend is at his heart such a conservative, but he really challenges himself to try/explore/adopt anything new or different. (I think this is part of the reason he's always so exhausted and teetering on illness.) Anyway, one of the ways that Quadrophenia is so great to me is that there are just so many different and interesting noises on the record, but they do all seem so clearly logical and intentional. There are no stunts.
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