During the '70s, Tommy went from being the Who's finest hour to excessive pop-culture cliché--precisely the sort of bloated musical albatross that fueled the decade's punk and new wave reactionaries. Consequently, dir... more »ector Frank Roddam imbued his 1979 version of Quadrophenia (Pete Townshend's 1973 introspective ode to teen angst set against the English mod versus rocker clashes of the early '60s) with a conscious sense of scale and humanity. Unlike the often embarrassing Tommy film spectacle, the band's musical presence on Quadrophenia is both concise and surprisingly fresh. They contribute three new songs ("Get Out and Stay Out," "Four Faces," "Joker James") that help flesh out the story and cut much of the original material down to its musical and emotional essence. Credit Who bassist/film musical director John Entwistle (who'd no doubt perceived the sharp musical changes just then happening around him) with stripping Quadrophenia down to size, in the process underscoring his thunderous, cascading bass lines; Pete Townshend's slashing power chords; Keith Moon's maniacal drum fills; and Roger Daltrey's vocal power. After Tommy, less was indeed more. --Jerry McCulley« less
During the '70s, Tommy went from being the Who's finest hour to excessive pop-culture cliché--precisely the sort of bloated musical albatross that fueled the decade's punk and new wave reactionaries. Consequently, director Frank Roddam imbued his 1979 version of Quadrophenia (Pete Townshend's 1973 introspective ode to teen angst set against the English mod versus rocker clashes of the early '60s) with a conscious sense of scale and humanity. Unlike the often embarrassing Tommy film spectacle, the band's musical presence on Quadrophenia is both concise and surprisingly fresh. They contribute three new songs ("Get Out and Stay Out," "Four Faces," "Joker James") that help flesh out the story and cut much of the original material down to its musical and emotional essence. Credit Who bassist/film musical director John Entwistle (who'd no doubt perceived the sharp musical changes just then happening around him) with stripping Quadrophenia down to size, in the process underscoring his thunderous, cascading bass lines; Pete Townshend's slashing power chords; Keith Moon's maniacal drum fills; and Roger Daltrey's vocal power. After Tommy, less was indeed more. --Jerry McCulley
"I bought this record back in the early eighties. There are several great songs(Dr. Jimmy, The Real Me, The Punk And The Godfather, 5:15). I also enjoy several of the songs contributed by other artists such as She's So Fine, Da Do Run Run, and Be My Baby.However the new who tracks Four Faces, Joker James, and Get Out And Stay Out are inferior additions when they replace missing tracks like Cut My Hair, Drowned, The Rock, and The Dirty Jobs. Also cutting only 34 seconds of Helpless Dancer is oh so annoying. What is the point please?If you like the early sixties at the end of the CD, you might want to pick this version up. Otherwise go with the all Who Quadrophenia."
Remastered Quadrophenia songs have more oomph.
The Sanity Inspector | USA | 11/23/1999
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The omission of the Motown songs is no great loss to me. In fact, I don't even care about the film so much. But the remastered versions of the Quad songs are _much_ ballsier than the originals. This is due to bassist John Entwistle re-recording the bass parts with an eight-string bass, wiping some superfluous keyboard parts, and restoring some great Keith Moon drum parts. Thus, "5:15" sounds like the hit it should have been, and "Bell Boy", "Doctor Jimmy", and "The Punk Meets the Godfather" are even more dramatic than before. The only miscues are his decision to fade "Love Reign O'er Me" instead of using the gong ending, and using a conventional ending for "The Real Me" instead of the "me-ME-me-ME-me" vocal ending. An optional purchase for casual fans, but a solid pick for real Who-heads."
More quadrophenia, less who
uili | Mexico City, Mexico | 08/20/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The movie is a great way to aproach to the band, but it`s more a timetravel experience: it's the 60's UK; it's the mods; it's the rockers; it's the drugs (sure, man! since then!); the mopeds; and giving meaning to existence -as always-, it's about the music. The Who is having a great musical moment here, but there is music that becomes important in this context that only had a mere frat rock reference before.
For the customer, be sure of what you want:
* Quadrophenia [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] -- The Who; Audio CD Double, features only The Who's music. This album is trully amazing, but don't expect to find something very close to Tommy. Yet the album totally rocks!
* Quadrophenia [SOUNDTRACK] -- The Who; Audio CD
1979 version with 25 tracks, including (i think all the) music that is not played by the who but appears on important scenes in the movie. An unbeattable document, to have along the VHS AND the DVD, to understand the mod mechanisms.
* Quadrophenia: Songs From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [SOUNDTRACK] -- The Who; Audio CD
1993 version with 15 tracks. Who fans love it. Remastered versions, rerecorded parts. I think it sounds more powerful, but lack the historic part (which doesn't matter for a die hard Who fan) This is like an action concentrate if that is what you were looking for.
c'mon! save some bucks, get the three of them, plus the vhs plus the dvd.
get involved."
1979 Soundtrack of Quadrophenia
John Peterson | Marinette, WI USA | 05/05/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This soundtrack features ten tracks from The Who's "Quadrophenia" CD remixed here by John Entwistle, one outtake ("Four Faces" which does have Keith Moon drumming), two songs from The High Munbers (The Who 1964 recordings, "I'm The Face" and "Zoot Suit"), two songs recorded specifically for this soundtrack "Get Out And Stay Out" and "Joker James" with Kenney Jones drumming, seven rock-n-roll oldies performed by the original artists, and "Hi Heel Sneakers" performed by Cross Section.The sound quality is good except for "Green Onions" which uses an inferior master source. However, in my mind it's not as good as The Who's original 1973 version which was totally remixed and remastered by Jon Astley. Here the source tape was only remastered.If you're just getting into The Who I recommend getting the double CD version which of course contains the whole original recording. This CD is nice to have to augment the 1973 set."
We are the mods!
John Peterson | 08/06/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The film Quadrophenia and the album were catylysts for a whole new generation of mods (myself included 4 years ago) in Great Britain during the late Seventies and now again in the late 90's. I would recommend any fan of this album visiting one of the UK's mod events (scooter rallies or musical evenings) and would also advise getting hold of the live recording of Quadrophenia at Hyde park in London which features Phil Daniels as the voice of Jimmy."