Who question that probably can't be answered correctly

poetinahat

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I find that, for me, unilateral 'better than' comparisons don't suit art in general. I haven't ever listened to Quadrophenia all the way through (I know, I know). And I like Tommy a lot.

But, despite all that, I rate Who's Next as one of my very favorite rock albums. So I would feel all right about casting my vote for Who's Next.
 

Mark Thompson

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Who's Next is easily my favourite Who album and also the one that Pete Townshend is most pleased with (so he told me...seriously). It was going to be a rock opera called 'Lighthouse' that never fully materialised.
 

folkchick

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Thanks for the answers. For me, it really is hard to say. I loved Tommy first, but Who's Next really goes beyond even masterpiece level. It's interesting to think how I casually bought it on cassette, and listened to over and over not knowing how great it really was/is. Moon's drumming, the whole synth thing, Daltrey's singing, THE SONGS--of course--the immaculate and genius guitar riffs.

But I do love Tommy A LOT, and Quadrophenia is so great with the LOVE theme weaving in and out.
 

thothguard51

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Quadrophenia was created for a new sound system, Quad, that was just coming out at the time. To get the full effects of the album, you had to have a Quad system. Unfortunately, Quad did not make it very far before other, less expensive, systems took over.

Its a great album, but is also a gimmick album...

Compare to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album, and to properly hear everything, you needed a 360 degree sound system, which is what Floyd recorded with as well as toured with.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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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.
 

folkchick

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I've never heard the Quad explanation, so thanks for writing about it. Kind of reminds me of "Sensurround" which pretty much went nowhere after being used on a couple of films.

Despite being a novel album, I still think all the songs have a very strong message and play as somewhat of a biography for Townshend, I think, though I have read the album was meant as a bio for all members of the band.
 

Priene

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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.

Yes, as a concept album DSOTM was deeper, but I thought we were comparing Who-to-Who albums.

There was a great documentary about Quadrophenia on BBC4 the other week. It may still be on iPlayer. Unless you're outside the UK, in which case it's probably blocked. My favourite bit was Daltrey describing laying out Pete Townhend with an uppercut.
 

thothguard51

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I disagree but to each their own.

Whats to disagree with? 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...

Besides, they already had Tommy as a story concept album so its not like they needed another.

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...

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 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.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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Besides, they already had Tommy as a story concept album so its not like they needed another.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Each band gets just one concept album? I guess Pink Floyd shouldn't have bothered with Animals or The Wall then, after DSOTM.

I love Quadrophenia. I don't care if it wasn't the most popular album of all time. I don't judge music based on its popularity.

And yes, I also love Pink Floyd, as the gentleman in my avatar will attest.
 

Arcadia Divine

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Whats to disagree with?

I disagree with the fact you said that was a gimmick album. No album should be considered a gimmick. Albums should be considered experimental to a degree but never a gimmick album. A lot of hard work from every position, even from people that only sing (a lot of pop artists), goes into making an album so to say any album is a gimmick would be defeating the purpose of that record. By the way, the purpose of not just a record but music in general is communicating.

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...
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.

Besides, they already had Tommy as a story concept album so its not like they needed another.
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.

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...
A mostly agree with this. I say mostly because the concept of digital music hasn't been perfected nearly as well as analogue music.

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.
The artist isn't the only one to blame or praise.

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 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.

Edit: I also want to say that if the artist, such as Elton John, experiments slightly more and more with each album than the music doesn't take so much to get used to and the transition from a listener's perspective isn't quite as jarring.
 
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folkchick

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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 went into Quadrophenia than just experimentation or employment of a recording/listening device.
 
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Arcadia Divine

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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.

It happens more then people think, just not at that level. Some people get better results than others.
 

folkchick

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True. I'm thinking along the lines of someone attempting music in the classical vein, which, to me, seems like he was attempting with a few of the songs on the album, and which wasn't a commonality in popular music for that time. There were background orchestrations, and solos, all of which were added using the help of an outside person, George Martin, for instance. But actual written pieces, rare.

You can compare Quadrophenia to something by Tchaikovsky, a composer known for themes. Townshend had the "Love" theme and the almost Russianish folk theme intertwining. I've often compared Townshend and Tchaikovsky, and wonder if the former had aspirations for the latter, himself. If Tommy was based on Opera, I'd say Quadrophenia was based on a more classically defined work, like a ballet.

And now . . . I need more coffee.
 
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Arcadia Divine

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I know that purely instrumental music is MUCH harder to convey emotion than music with vocals. I'm often left comparing classical music and music in more modern genres and I'm left thinking has modern music gone downhill? I good example would be modern rock.

In regards to rock, it's like I get the point. You guys want to kick ass and make love. Let's change the subject already lol. I personally feel that a lot of modern rock bands are heading in that direction.