I saw the light : I finally dig the Who's Tommy !

I'm closer to this, should give it a fresh listen.

 

Look for a copy on Track Records, no CD can do justice to Quadrophenia.

 

Excellent point. The arrangements are spare for good reason....Pete wanted to be sure the band could pull it off live.

 

Yeah, I cringe during Fiddle About and some other bits as well.

 

That is what it was meant to do.

 

Would you say the same of Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes?

 

Agree 100% that Quad is the true masterpiece (to quote you), but to me it has always been that, in any format, in any mix. PT nailed it perfectly what it was to be the uncool, unpopular, no-girlfriend kid.

Ok, back to Tommy.

 

I think that with Tommy, Townshend has managed a good balance of musicality/concept and most of all it was a very "portable" rock opera, great for the stage and tailor made for The Who.
I enjoy Quadrophenia mut never managed to love it as much as I love Tommy...

 

Find 2 or 3 hours and play them back to back. Then report back.

Tommy, while having a lot of great musical ideas, is downright silly in its story. It has to be viewed thru the prism of the quaintness of the 1960's. And I think our view of the studio album is tinted by association with the great live performances of the material we have.

Quad, the album, stands on its own, and it is much deeper and complex than Tommy. From parental neglect, teenage coming of age traumas, insecurity, being let down by the heroes of your youth, and (as PT has said) undiagnosed mental illness, it may overreach, but reach it does.

 

Before I get attacked for calling Tommy "downright silly", I recognize that the grain of sand inside the oyster that is Tommy is the sexual molestation PT suffered as a child, and there is nothing silly about that.

 

The news about Quadrophenia is a shocker. It's a true work of genius.

 

I love both Tommy and Quadrophenia. I have the 2003 DVD-Audio of the former and the 2014 Blu-Ray audio of the latter. 5.1 is my go-to mix for both.

I also love Who's Next.

 

This is airways an interesting topic to me... why does it take a long time for certain peopleto dig certain tunes or albums? It certainly takes me a long time... how about over twenty years for My Aim is True (and I was always a big Elvis Costello fan).

That said, i think that Quadrophenia is a misunderstood album. It is actually not dense or difficult at all, as long as you don't think about it... just listen to the songs. It's just one huge rock song after another. Tons of hooks and melodies. And unlike Tommy (which I love), it doesn't sound much like a musical (other than some repeated motifs and an overture, which, if you have a memory like mine, you won't notice until you've listened to it about twenty times). It's just a bunch of great rock songs, and if you didn't read the Wikipedia article you probably wouldn't even know it was a concept album. In other words, just listen to the tunes! Don't worry about the production history or the context, at least not until you've listened a few times! Quadrophenia is one of the great rock albums of all time IMO, but I think it's reputation suffers a little because it's been labeled as "Pete Townshend's other rock opera".

 

Love reign ore me is alone worth getting quadro

 

For me, for years I only just listened to Who's Next. It wasn't until about 10 years ago that I learned to appreciate Tommy and now would consider it my favorite Who. I now also enjoy Quadrophenia but that has only been for the past 5 years.

 

So many reasons to love Tommy. Keith Moon's drumming, Townshend on acoustic and restrained electric guitar, powerful yet tasteful, Entwistle's horns and bass work so memorable, and the emergence of the first rock god lead singer Roger Daltrey. Ironically, while Tommy has some sparse arrangements and quiet moments and Quadrophenia is full blown power in the studio versions, live it was the exact opposite as Tommy opened up live and they were the best live band in the world starting with the 60-70 Tommy era while Quadrophenia didn't translate to the stage well famously illustrated beginning in the opening UK tour and the Cow Palace in '73. The later shows we have on boots in the US and London at Xmas show what it could have been given more time to develop live. It was gratifying to see Quadrophenia pulled off so well on those tours a few years ago. However, I'd take a time machine ride just to go back to a 69 or 70 show to see Thomas in all its glory!

 

Ugh, I sure wouldn't. I rarely flip through my Yes albums and think, ooh let's listen to The Ancient Gods Under The Sun.

I don't think Quadrophenia is a masterpiece but it's strong and palpably angry, with some of The Who's best performances ever.

 

That's the good thing about not being a native speaker, you listen to the flow of words and the music and don't necessarily get the meaning of the songs. So I only understood lately that Uncle Ernie was not the gentle kind.

 

What light ?

You just need to be in the right mood for Tommy.

 

Tommy is a monumental achievement.

Kevin's recent vinyl remaster is outstanding!

 

Christmas is still one of my all time favorite Who songs!

 

I was intrigued to read Pete's account of the recording of Tommy in his autobiography.

Whilst it still appears that the arrangements were going to be reasonably spare, the sound of the Tommy LP was due in a large way to the recording method of having Townshend, Entwistle & Moon tracking the basics together; because of poor sound separation in the studio they were using, Pete didn't feel able to play acoustic guitar (or loud rock guitar) in a band context and the LP had to be put together and rushed out, before he had the opportunity to redub the guitar parts he wanted. This is apparently why most tracks feature a thin and dull electric rhythm guitar part as the main guitar part, since those parts where what he laid down as guide parts, during the basic tracking sessions.

 

Watch Tommy the Movie, you'll enjoy it very much now. Quadrophenia, is such a bore of a movie....

 

I saw the movie in the 70's and bought the soundtrack which I liked somewhat. I only heard the original for the first time about two months ago when I picked it up cheap on CD. I struggled getting all the way through it.

On the other hand, another uber classic that I only heard for the first time about 9 months ago is Exile on Main Street. I already own two copies [vinyl/CD] and I've lost count of how many times I've listened to it.

 

Have the SACD and original UK pressing, also redbook fatboy.