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One man's gimmick album is another man's concept album. Quadrophonic sound aside, Quadrophenia is a complete story, loaded with themes (social isolation, the futility of modern existence, mental illness). As someone who has listened to this album thousands of times over the course of 30 years, I'm pretty sure there is more than an mere audio gimmick going on there.Its a great album, but is also a gimmick album...
One man's gimmick album is another man's concept album. Quadrophonic sound aside, Quadrophenia is a complete story, loaded with themes (social isolation, the futility of modern existence, mental illness). As someone who has listened to this album thousands of times over the course of 30 years, I'm pretty sure there is more than an mere audio gimmick going on there.
Yes, as a concept album DSOTM was deeper, but I thought we were comparing Who-to-Who albums.
but is also a gimmick album...
I disagree but to each their own.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Each band gets just one concept album? I guess Pink Floyd shouldn't have bothered with Animals or The Wall then, after DSOTM.Besides, they already had Tommy as a story concept album so its not like they needed another.
Whats to disagree with?
Which makes me think this album was highly experimental to the point where it was a little too different than people were used to hearing.The name of the album says it all. Had there been no Quad sound system, which Sony and Panasonic Techniques were pushing hard at the time, do you think they would have named the album Quadrophenia? A lot of extra effort went into that album to record in Quad...
I disagree with that as well. Every song on every album is essentially telling some sort of story. How they tell the story depends entirely on not only the artist but people behind the scenes. Not all musicians are created equal so some tell their story better than others.Besides, they already had Tommy as a story concept album so its not like they needed another.
A mostly agree with this. I say mostly because the concept of digital music hasn't been perfected nearly as well as analogue music.Like I said earlier, Pink Floyd used a 360 degree sound system so that the music traveled, front to back, side to side and all around. They had a 1 million dollar computer sound system they took with them on tour. Hell, now a days, a $10,000 lap top does the same thing...
The artist isn't the only one to blame or praise.I recall the Dark side of the Moon concert where as the music traveled you could watch everyone's heads turn with the music. It was a oh-my-god moment and you looked at your neighbor and smiled for having shared the same experience. It was not the same as the Who's Quadrophenia concert. Not that that concert was bad, just not the same experience.
Dark side of the Moon stayed in the top 50 albums for more than 20 years, compared to Quadrophenia, which dropped on the list very quickly. This is not to say The Who was not good, just that this album didn't fare as well as some of their others.
I think most of that was due to the fact that he knew what he was doing with experimentation more so than a lot of the other artists in his time. Granted I haven't listened to much Elton John, but I do remember that he tends to push the boundaries slightly with each album. As a recording artist, he earned almost my complete respect because of that.I didn't like Elton John when he first arrived on the scene. Shruggs. Today, his work is some of my favorite because they stand the test of time.
I want to add, because I've been thinking about it this morning, how rare it was for a rock or pop musician to score their own music in the way Townshend did. Much more when into Quadrophenia than just experimentation or employment of a recording/listening device.