[Guide] "A Quick One" by The Who: all tracks and where to find them

What a wealth of information.

 

I selfishly wish that you would do something similar for all of the early albums! Great stuff -- thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Write a book or a blog with all of this info please!

We should have an option on this site to 'tip' the users -- buy them a cup a coffee for their efforts or something!

 

The mono mix of My Generation and both mixes of Sell Out are much more straightforward, thankfully.

 

The 2 cd Japanese sets for My Generation, A Quick One and Sell Out ought to have been the template for how 1990's reissues should've been handled...no remixing, just vintage mono and stereo mixes, singles (a's and b's), etc. Only unreleased songs without prior mixes should be mixed for bonus tracks. Then the catalog wouldn't be the mess that it is nowadays.

The problem I have with those Japan sets is: they are loud, but not awfully loud.

 

The 2012 sets are not loud. The 2008 sets were.

That said, the 2012 AQO screwed up the stereo mix of So Sad About Us. Instead of the original mix, it's the remix, and badly distorted.

 

I would love to read what your preferred source would be, if forced to pick one, for all of the standard releases.

It's likely down to the 2011-2012 SHM releases and the HD Tracks releases from the past few years, I'd guess. I have found the HD tracks releases to be slightly "less loud" than the SHM releases, but they are both excellent imo.

It's really unbelievable what a complete mess the catalog is...and I'm afraid that it really can't be rectified at this point no matter how hard they try (there will always be a "yeah, but you still need this...")

 

I think I've posted my thoughts somewhere here. Whatever the case, it would be a mix of sources, as there's no single definitive release. For example, the 1995 CD is mostly useless, but it has the best Run Run Run.

 

My bad, I was thinking of the 2008 sets. Were it not for the loudness, they'd be darn near definitive. Sorry for the confusion.

 

I feel your pain. It *could* be rectified if they let Luke be in charge of it...each album has its own set with vintage mixes, remixes, a's and b's, alternate mixes, etc. That was each album has every time-related song that has been released officially.

 

Still some inferior sources for AQO. And I think some of the RSW tracks were mangled.

 

How is it there's such loose quality control?!

 

If we only knew.

 

For My Generation, on digital download 2014 mono remasters, tape dub is used while 2011 SHM-SACD and 2012 SHM-CD box is mastered from master tape. Is this is the case with A Quick One too?

 

@lukpac - besides orig vinyl, what's the best source for the studio Substitute?

 

I'd say the CD of Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy

 

No. The mono mixes should always come from the masters, to my knowledge. For stereo, a variety of sources have been used, few or none masters.

That's just about the worst place. It sounds terrible there.

I remember it sounding great on the JPN Direct Hits CD. I think newer comps like Who Hits 50 are good too, but I haven't compared lately.

 

Which, of course, is OOP. I'll check Who 50. Tks.

 

Interesting! You really should be hired Universal Music, so you can fix the catalog...once and for all!

 

The MCA CD "Who's Better Who's Best" (MCAD-8031, from 1988) has a great sounding version of Substitute.

 

what is the best version to a quick one album? 2014 remasters?

 

Down your street your crying is a well known sound.............................

 

Most mono versions are fine.

Unfortunately, every stereo release has one problem or another. The 2014 HD download is mostly OK, but the EQ leaves something to be desired, the sources are not always the best, See My Way is fake stereo, and So Sad About Us is a distorted transfer of the 2002 remix. A definitive stereo release does not yet exist.

 

Say one wanted to assemble a homebrew CD of all the best stereo AQO tracks that have been made available. What would be the preferred source(s) for each track?

 

Keeping in mind that most or all could still use EQ:

Run Run Run - 1995 AQO CD
Boris The Spider - MCA MBBB CD
See My Way (mono) - 2012 SHM AQO 2CD
So Sad About Us - MCA AQO (Happy Jack) CD
A Quick One, While He's Away - 2012 SHM AQO 2CD

remainder - I'm A Boy CD

Other vintage stereo mixes:

I'm A Boy - UK Who's Better Who's Best CD
In The City - 2012 SHM AQO 2CD
Disguises - 30 Years
Barbara Ann - 2012 SHM AQO 2CD
I'm A Boy (alt) - 2012 SHM AQO 2CD

 

This thread is terrific!!!!

are there other similar threads?

Like:

[Guide] "My Generation" by The Who: all tracks and where to find them
[Guide] "The Who Sell Out" by The Who: all tracks and where to find them
[Guide] "Singles and Compilation" by The Who: all tracks and where to find them

and so on...