"Quadrophenia: The Director's Cut": Official Press Release for Boxset (part2)

Wow, I see them now, searching on "lifehouse chronicles".

But you don't see them searching on "townshend lifehouse".

Really strange is that both of them have the exact same description ("Pete Townshend The Lifehouse Chronicles 6 CD Set - Mint"), yet you can't find them searching on "townshend lifehouse". They are both from the same seller btw.

Great search engine there ebay. No wonder hardly anything I list ever seems to get any views or bids. Even if somebody is looking for something & searches logically they can't find it.

 

I get 16 hits for "townshend lifehouse", including 2 Chronicles boxes.

 

Since the Chronicles box is now OOP, they could use material from that as well as some additional unreleased material to compile the Who's Next box. Include the original mix, 1996 mix and new 5.1 mix in high resolution, a nice book, the Young Vic gig, etc. It'll be a great set for newer fans (like me) to upgrade from the single CD remaster.

 

So how would the owners of this set describe the surround version? Still on the fence about getting it just for the demos.

 

If you are a newer Who fan I would run not walk to pick up the Who's Next DE rather than wait for a box that might never happen. Too many career peak moments on that Young Vic disc to miss out on.

 

That's weird, let me look again.

Ah, I figured it out. I was already in the CDs category when I searched. Those two boxsets are not there, they are listed under "Music > Other Formats". I was excluding them by starting in "Music > CDs". I should've started under Music, or just general I guess.

 

Oh yes, I can't wait for UM putting such a box together! The DE had been ordered. The version of Naked Eye on the single disc is so good that I figured I needed that whole gig asap. Plus, I think the DE gives me the original stereo mix too.

Enough digressing from me on this Quadrophenia thread.....

 

This won't help probably but I've been blabbing it up so much I can't help myself (sorry) whether or not I'm alone in what it is and how it sounds to me. I don't have a 5.1 setup yet. My intention was to think about putting the surround mix for sale in the classifieds for now. After hearing the fold-down stereo mix, I will never part with the dvd. However random and happenstance it is, and the song selection could have been, for me, it's a fascinating and wonderful sonic listen and single album sequence. Through chance and madness alike. In this shortened and single album length sequence, the two instrumentals in concert with I've Had Enough and LROM and their instrumental themes and melodies are really more concentrated and powerful within this shorter sequence of musical ideas. And what the stereo mix has become is for me akin to hearing it for the first time - new and different, clearer and more austere. There is less density/claustrophobia and more a sense of calm and as importantly to me, an alternate and fascinating end result default mix to stereo as a result. One poster upthread, or in the other thread, mentioned sopmething I found interesting. That the demo presentation, or sequence, or just the sheer number of demos included for the set, gave that person an even greater sense of the epic scale of Quadrophenia. My two cents fwiw.

 

Written on the track sheet masters? for side two of Quad is Is It In My Head with 'edited' in parenthesis. I wonder then if The Who did record a version with the extra verse that is in Townshend's demo? They used the 26th take of Dr. Jimmy.

 

The ending is basically a third instrumental verse, not followed by a chorus, but it isn't clear if they just mixed out the vocal and edited out the following chorus, or if there was an additional verse/chorus in there after the bridge that got edited out. I just (briefly) listened and I can't say any edit points jumped out, although I may notice something upon closer listening.

 

Thanks for listening and posting your impressions/findings. That particular Who performance has always been a favorite of mine and seemed perfect to me. I never listened for an edt or imagined there to be one, but between the demo and seeing that notation specifically written beside the Who recording, I'll give it another listen too.

I saw an update on Q Cloud addressing when "Ambition" as it was first mentoned in the box set liner notes to be included on the demo cd's, then on the website, and now later not to be available. "In the Quadrophenia notes Pete Townshend mentions discovering a couple of unfinished tracks and his desire to make them available in Q Cloud. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to save these recordings so the have had to be omitted." In the video interviews posted in Q Cloud, he says some of those demo tapes were in bad shape, very bad shape. In the liner notes for Ambition he mentions writing lyrics but never recording his own vocal at the time for the demo, and he was going to include that demo/song with a new vocal in this new set. But, he also writes that The Who made several attempts at recording the song. Fwiw, I am assuming that the 'disclaimer' at Q Cloud about those unusable unfinished tracks pertain to Townshend's own demos and not the band recordings. Wishful thinking perhaps. I guess time will tell if any additional Who tracks recorded during that time do see the light of day.

 

It seems odd that he never would have recorded a vocal yet the Who would have attempted the song.

Still waiting on my box.

 

PT performed "Ambition" for his in the attic series (video available for view on youtube) IIRC, he mentions prior to performing the song whether or not The Who recorded it.

 

I believe he does mention the Who recorded it, but then again...Melancholia, anyone?

 

It really does. Maybe they have tapes of the band laying down their parts and working on the music because he writes they made several attempts at it in the summer of '72, and the lyrics were done early '72. Re: his demo, he does write "I have had to add a vocal" so I suppose it is possible there was an original vocal, and maybe that vocal track, became the unusable part of the original demo recording?

It was almost two weeks before I received the set. Hope you get yours soon.

 

QUADROPHENIA: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT RADIO SPECIAL

http://www.quadropheniaofficial.com/quadrophenia-2011/quadrophenia-the-director’s-cut-radio-special/

 

Thanks

 

I'm not really buying the note in QCloud about being not possible to save the demo recordings. In the liner notes to the box, Pete mentions three demos that are posted on QCloud. 'Ambition', an alternative version of 'Get Out and Stay Out', and 'Unfinished Theme From Quadrophenia'. The last one he also specifically states was already released on Scoop - so there's nothing to save if it's already been released.

I asked about this in the feedback section of QCloud and got an answer back that said the label asked them to put that note there, and they'd pass my inquiry on to them. Needless to say, the label hasn't contacted me to set the record straight.

 

Studio Diaries show both We Close Tonight and Four Faces as out of contention for inclusion, 7/31/73. Also notes with lyrics re: Roger's vocal at the end of I've Had Enough with the additonal note of ('end section edited'). So, like Is It In My Head, The Who may have recorded Pete's IHE demo in full with full ending. Real Me end edit and cross-fade on 8/10/73.

 

Interesting, Pete has written out ideas for specific vocal mix levels for IHE. Interesting to see that as it pertains to the original vocal mix of that track.

 

This showed up yesterday. A few random comments:

- The mastering on the album itself seems very similar to that on the '96 CD, at least based on The Real Me. It is *slightly* less bright, but I wouldn't call it night and day at all.

- Somebody (Pete?) sure seems to like reverb these days. The 5.1 mix of LROM is swimming in it, and the vocals on the demos of Is It In My Head? and LROM are much more processed than on the original mixes.

- Interesting that there's a different vocal in the bridge of the Is It In My Head? demo compared to what I'm used to hearing.

- Amazing just how much of Quadrophenia (the song) was taken from the demo.

- The 5.1 mix is...interesting...but the track lineup baffles me. For me it doesn't really work either as a collection of songs or as individual songs. Sea and Sand seems like it would have been an obvious choice to include. As far as the reverb goes, I guess it is what it is.

- The book and overall packaging are very nice.

- The sound of the demos is a bit odd, as somebody else mentioned. I have a feeling that's due to the sound of the mixes.

I still need to do some more close listening to the demos and 5.1, as well as pull out the 45.

 

I noticed that the demo tapes exhibit noticeable signs of degradation. So I think measures were taken to try and mask/reduce this. Resulting in the sonic signature we hear on this collection.

 

Where do you hear degradation? I'll have to listen for it...

 

I'd have to go back and listen again to guide you to specific spots, I did not take notes.

But what I mainly heard sounded like speed inconsistency. I don't know the technical term to describe this type of analog tape distortion. Perhaps wow and flutter. ?

 

Luke, it is truly amazing as you say re: the Quad demo and band recording. I listened to the demo again yesterday and thought the same. Uncanny really, it is quite a demonstration. I was so impressed I had to question if Pete was actually playing the drums. I don't play drums, but fwiw, some creative and good playing there. I am curious if PT may have overdubed a new vocal (right channel) in the call and response vocals for his demo Is It Me.