Quadrophenia
| The Who
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by the English rock band The Who, released as a double album on 26 October 1973 by Track Records. It is the group's second rock opera. The story follows a young mod named Jimmy and his search for self-worth and importance, set in London and Brighton in 1965. It is the only Who album to be entirely composed by Pete Townshend. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
Rolling stone
Their most symmetrical, their most cinematic, ultimately their most maddening. Captained by Pete Townshend, they have put together a beautifully performed and magnificently recorded essay of a British youth mentality.
-
Billboard
Oct. 2013 He ratchets up the emotion to 11,& brings it back down to tell the rest of the story…and then takes it back up there one more time. Townshend's guitar work is cool, understated, but just as emotive and vital to the atmosphere.
-
BBC
2008 Yet, as Townshend now admits, and as all Who fans know, everything great about the Who is contained herein.
-
Consequence of Sound
Oct. 2013 The result is a greater amount of sonic texture, and a more engaging and enveloping experience. The album has plenty of references to scooters, neatly cropped hair, sleek jackets — all the trappings a teenager seeking inclusion in the popular crowd would want.
-
Classic Rock Review
Feb. 2013 this may be the ultimate Who album due to its sheer breadth and ambition Townshend expanded fully from his traditional guitar-centric approach to include pianos and keyboards as prominent lead instruments. Meanwhile, lead vocalist Roger Daltry is in top form.
-
Sputnik Music
Sept. 2015 The group's finest hour and the one art-rock album to buy if you plan on buying only one.
-
All Music
Some of Townshend's most direct, heartfelt writing is contained here, and production-wise it's a tour de force, with some of the most imaginative use of synthesizers on a rock record.
-
Ultimate Classic Rock
Nov 2011 'Quadrophenia' is one of the few recordings that gives the listener a license to revisit adolescence every time it's played.
-
Consequence of Sound
Nov. 2011 Quadrophenia is The Who’s forgotten masterpiece, with barely any presence on classic rock radio save for the occasional “deep cut” lip service to “Love Reign O’er Me” or “5:15”. Yet this album is perhaps The Who’s finest.
-
Pop Matters
Nov. 2011 Everything Pete Townshend did up until 1973 set the stage for Quadrophenia. It’s all in there: the pre-teen angst, the teenage agonies and the post-teen despondency. It's incredibly smart, but fairly oozing with soul; it's nostalgic and, almost impossibly, prognostic. It's the material Townshend was placed on this planet to make. Let the tide in and set you free.
-
Puluche
Oct. 2013 Quadrophenia was and still is a masterful conceptual recording.
-
Prog Archives
Essential: a masterpiece of rock music.
-
Digital Spy
Nov 2011 Quadrophenia is a surprisingly straightforward Rock record. Roger Daltrey's voice is appropriately pitched between storytelling musical theatre and full-on Classic Rock tonsil-rattling.
-
Muso Scribe
Aug. 2015 Might – upon first listen — seem mannered and a bit stiff. But if one can open one’s mind to hearing the material presented in a classical idiom, there are many joys to be found.
-
Record Collector Magazine
Interesting as these and another three jettisoned songs might be, it’s still the might of the original record that marks it out as one of the most accomplished releases of the 70s.
-
Huff Post
Jan. 2015 I thoroughly recommend this album - right from the outset, it reaches out and grabs your attention and holds it all the way through.
-
What Culture
An album with superior songwriting and a stronger story. It was based on Pete Townshend's own experience of growing up as an angry mod in the early Sixties.
-
Gigwise
Jan. 2013 We feel everyone should know a little bit more about such an iconic album as The Who gear up to play it in full once again this summer. Not too many albums actually inspire the making of a film, so it's only right that we delve a bit deeper into one of the seminal British rock albums.
-
Musicko
Sept. 2009 I consider Quadrophenia the biggest cultural contribution The Who ever made.
-
Uncut UK
Jan 2012 Almost 40 years after its inception, however, Pete Townshend’s tale of a moddy boy with a muddled head and an aching soul flies on.
-
Vintage Rock
Mired in the world of mods, Quadrophenia pushed the Who to new musical heights and is often considered the last truly great Who album.
-
Variety
Oct. 1996 It contains the hallmarks of all great Who works the solid compositions, a little Brit music hall, Roger Daltrey’s calm-to-terror vocal tricks and more crescendos than a Tchaikovsky work yet it possesses a level of timelessness that defies its era and its out-of-control progeny. “Quadrophenia” is the strongest album in the Who canon,
-
Retrollection
Aug. 2015 ‘Quadrophenia’ was a critical and commercial success both here in the UK and in the US. The album virtually created the Mod revival in the late 1970s. As far as The Who is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than this.. ..and that’s saying something!
-
The Quietus
Feb. 2014 When you go back to the record it has that whole soundscape, the sea and the sand, the way the sounds and themes drift in and out. I think it's better than Tommy. I like Tommy enough, but I think this is better.
-
Analog Planet
Jan. 2008 The Best Quadrophenia Ever From Classic Records.
-
The Super Audio
June 2012 The Who's most ambitious album. And it sounds amazing.
-
Audiophile Review
Oct. 2014 Quadrophenia is classic, one of the best rock recordings ever made, and it just got a little better with this new 5.1 surround mix. Who fans have every reason to celebrate this release.
-
Louder Sound
Oct.2016 A record about the 60s, recorded in the proggy fug of the 70s. Even given its time-specific, niche-culture context, it feels oddly significant today.
-
Dangerous Minds
Sept. 2014 It’s considered a classic album. Case closed. Suffice to say, I had a terrific listening experience and I played it three times start to finish in a 24 hour period and I have to say, wow, I really loved it. Best Who album.
-
Blog Critics
Not only does the original double album contain some of the Who’s most explosive performances as a band — particularly from bassist John Entwhistle and drummer Keith Moon — it also features some of the best, and most personal songwriting of Pete Townshend’s career.
-
The Hi-Fi Celluloid Monster
Nov. 2011 Quadrophenia is just as if not more relevant today than when it was originally released. Perhaps this is because it so deeply connects with the emotion of the listener.
-
Daily Democrat
Feb. 2013 “Quadrophenia” is a complex, challenging rock opera. The appeal, one must conclude, is strictly musical.
-
Clash Music
July 2011 If teenage angst is the root of rock and roll, then ‘Quadrophenia’ is its definitive statement.
-
Grinning Planet
There are a few passages that can't quite keep up with the overall astonishing level of musicianship, but in the end, Quadrophenia triumphs mightily.
-
Prog Sphere
Nov. 2012 Suffice to say, ‘Quadrophenia’ is considered a masterpiece, and rightfully so. A proud masterpiece of rock music,
-
Thoughts of Just a Fan
May 2015 I thoroughly recommend this album – right from the outset, it reaches out and grabs your attention and holds it all the way through. With most albums and some operas / shows, there is usually one or two songs that you skip when playing. So far, I haven’t found one I felt the need to skip – all of it is sublime.
-
Sputnik Music
Sept. 2006 An album that cuts deep emotionally and rocks hard musically while inspiring all the while, Quadrophenia is a rock n roll classic for this, that, or any other generation. And that's about as good as it gets and as much as we can ask of any rock n roll record.
-
Sputnik Music
Nov. 2005 Great instrumentation, great story, great vocals. A near perfect album. Period.
-
BBC
2011 Quadrophenia is one of the few albums of its time that sounds as good today as it must have done then. For once, the term ‘masterpiece’ is not sold on the cheap.
-
Pop Matters
Feb. 2004 The Who's Quadrophenia seems to stand out as a rare example of an attempt to realize humanity in all its forms, in its darkness and beauty, and so is the most loveable album I've as yet encountered.
-
Telegraph UK
Sept. 2009 This is that rare thing, a rock musical that really rocks.
-
Nostalgia Zone
March 2018 this one was all Pete. That may contribute to why it’s my favorite.
-
Seattle PI
Not only does the original double album contain some of the Who's most explosive performances as a band - particularly from bassist John Entwhistle and drummer Keith Moon - it also features some of the best, and most personal songwriting of Pete Townshend's career.
-
Slacker
. Various members of the band griped endlessly about flaws in the mix, but really these will bug very few listeners, who in general will find this to be one of the Who's most powerful statements.
-
All About Jazz
Feb. 2012 Still it's a marvel to behold how the simplicity of the songs takes on such emotional and instrumental complexity in completed form.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments