Quadrophenia

10/10. I think the Who's best album, and certainly the most underrated. Glad someone finally added this since I didn't (felt bad about adding anything from artists already on the main list multiple times, and also about double albums)

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: The real me, Cut my hair, The punk and the godfather, Is it in my head, 5:15, Sea and sand, Doctor Jimmy, Love reign o’er me

It's Quadrophenia, after all, a source of an inordinate percentage of the greatest hits album that first exposed me to the band. I saw the movie eons ago, not totally certain I ever actually sat down and listened to the whole thing straight through. It holds up, obviously, though Im not sure it totally coheres as an album quite as well as it does as a soundtrack - heresy, I'm sure.

Haven’t listened to this before but being The Who is right up there. I’d pick Tommy over this if I was finding something to listen to, but that may just reflect a lifetime of familiarity.

I think I'd have dropped one of The Who's lesser albums like "The Who Sell Out" and replaced it with this album on the official 1001 list. This album is fantastic. Completely missed somehow by me until today. Of The Who's rock operas, this one is better than the rest as far as I'm concerned. Great addition!! Thoroughly enjoyed this one! Glad to have discovered it! Favorite songs: 5:15, I'm One, Drowned, The Punk and the Godfather, Sea and Sand, The Real Me, Quadrophenia, The Dirty Jobs, Helpless Dancer, Love Reign O'er Me Least favorite songs: Doctor Jimmy 5/5

Bold choice. Was there plenty Who on the main list? Yes. Was this still a good share? Yes.

Pretty awesome. Should have been on original list.

How wasn't this in the original list?

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. Fantastic inclusion. Better than any Who album on the original list because it’s their most fully realized project. I would say that it's only real competition is Tommy, but I prefer this. Production is incredible. I'm listening to it on vinyl (how pretentious!) and the John Entwistle's bass is coming through clear as day. Thank goodness too, because he's going off on this one. Keith Moon is perfection as always. Crazy lad. Pete’s writing is at it’s peak. Story is not the craziest, it’s fairly simple, but it presents a universal feeling about the struggle of belonging and what to believe in that everyone can relate to. Roger Daltrey’s vocals are cutting, precise, emotional, aggressive at some points, and soft when they need to be. I love this album a lot. So much range. Every song is a treasure. Fantastic. 5/5

Great little rock opera

The who is a band that I would have loved to see play live. This album, I did not know at all. Not their best in my opinion, but ok enough

This was excellent. I've listened to a number of these songs here and there over the years, but this may actually be the first time I've sat with the full album and I loved it. Full of nuanced rockers that are fun to listen to but also full of emotional depth and musically quite elegant. I agree with those who say the album was overly long and in need of an editor. But even the songs I personally might have omitted were worth hearing. Fave Songs: Love, Reign o'er Me; 5:15; The Real Me; Cut My Hair; Is It in My Head?; I've Had Enough; Sea and Sand; The Punk and the Godfather

This should have been on the main list 4.5

70s rock band concept albums are like: "This is the story of a guy that does drugs and gets depressed" and then it's 30 songs, 2 hours long, and told in the most incomprehensible and overblown fashion imaginable. Not like that's a bad thing though. This slaps. So much better than Tommy, it's not even close. Surprisingly very consistent and never boring, which is a miracle for an album as lyrically and musically samey (for a lack of a better term) as this. 4/5.

I'm not a big fan of The Who but Quadrophenia should've been on the original list as it's better than pretty much everything else of theirs that was. The Real Me and 5:15 are some of their best work ever and, while their overall sound isn't to my ear, the quality of the arrangements, production and styling to produce this musically and thematically is really strong. Pretty much the only album of theirs I'd listen to regularly, 4.

One of my favourite bands- steeped in controversy, tragedy and fall outs they never seemed to have a beginning to end classic album (lots of great tracks interspersed with some fillers) which goes to show how hard it is. This is a good choice and a good album though. I would have liked to have been a Mod I think.....

Excellent record. There is a reason it’s a classic.

If I had to choose *one* rock opera by The Who, I would pick *Tommy*, which for me is wilder and crazier than this one, and so harbors far more memorable moments overall, either bangers or extremely interesting instrumental dirges. That said, it doesn't mean that *Quadrophenia* doesn't have its fair share of stellar moments composition and arrangement-wise, of course. And it also has unambiguous bangers, like the first proper song 'The Real Me". Yet I think that the transitions between some of those great moments don't work as well as they do in *Tommy*. The jumps are either jarring, or conversely, the compositions and/or sections following one another sound a little too similar. I love Keith Moon's trademark drum fills on his toms, for instance, but after hearing them again and again and AGAIN here, you kind of grow weary of them. Which takes the cake, somehow. My impression is that the drums take the center stage to fill out a void somehow -- because the music doesn't go to all the places it could have gone to on paper. But what do I know, huh? Sure, it's hard to state that *Tommy* is itself a very "focused" work. As good and harmonically daring as it is, it also loses the musical thread once or twice. Yet it still seems to me that this *other* Who opera rock sounds *slightly* more driven AND more dynamic. The other problem for me being that *Quadrophenia* is also way more dependent on its storyline, which makes it harder to listen "casually". Honestly, I can listen to *Tommy* quite casually if I want to, believe it or not. I don't necessarily need to follow its vaguely defined storyline through the lyrics. Whereas such way to listen is harder to pull off with *Quadrophenia*, in my very humble opinion. And this goes beyond the lyrics in the album, by the way. Take the instrumental title-track on the first side of the first disc: the music's on it is terrific, sure (I actually love that particular seventies synth sound, also found in Vangelis's records around those years, interestingly enough). But when that quite long instrumental track is over, you may end up wondering : "Okaaaaay.... but what was the point of all that? How come this overture isn't the very *first* track?". It's a main titles sequence of sorts, sure, but if you can't see what's happening on the "screen", the whole cut doesn't make a lot of sense. Worse, it doesn't transition well to the next (proper) song "Cut My Hair". Just as other tracks stumble on those transitory moments -- which is where *Tommy* sounds far more convincing to my ears, as admittedly quaint as some of its tones are. So yeah, if you add those shortcomings to all the rock cuts found in *Quadrophenia*-- admittedly very nice ones, yet sounding a little too close to other highlights found in previous The Who albums, you may end up finding that album somewhat lengthy, just as I do. This double-album is probably the last great full-length release by the band, just as Pete Townshend pointed it out himself.. Yet anyone who's not a *die-hard fan* might sense how "derivative" a couple of instrumental dirges already are here and there. At least this listener does. With all that in mind, however, there are still enough awesome cuts in this other rock opera to at least *consider* it for a list such as this one. And the first time the "Love Reign O'er Me" theme appears, on track "I've Had Enough" -- right at the end of the first vinyl disc -- is unmistakably striking. So when the whole song takes flight in the closer of the second disc, helped by Roger Daltrey's terrific performance, it's as good as the closers of *Tommy* and *Who's Next?*. Which testifies how good "Love Reign O'er Me" is given the closers in question. When the main character goes to the sea to meet his fate, you can really, REALLY feel the "operatic" stakes. That synth-laden chorus is simply incredible, enough said. And here you can never tire of listening to it, no matter how many times it is repeated. Besides, that whole meta-concept behind *Quadrophenia* -- where The Who in their mid-sixties persona appear themselves as supporting characters -- marks one of the first occurrences where a rock album as a whole looked into the past of the genre so as to find answers about the present. Nostalgia takes a part in it, but those feelings also need to be taken with a huge grain of salt. So in a sense, this double-album is about the loss of innocence, whether through its contents or its execution. And surely that's gotta count for something as well. So all of that is enough to make the album an apt candidate for the list, I guess. But is that enough for a final inclusion? Well, it all depends on which other artist gets snubbed because of said inclusion. The Who already have their fair share of stellar moments in my own imaginary list. Why they should be replaced for this one is not the real question for me. *Who* will replace them is, quite possibly. I'll see myself out --------------> 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 64 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 82 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 149 ---- Emile... Ma propre balise temporelle... Tu trouveras mes trois dernières réponses sous les albums d'Eric B. & Rakim, Shpongle et Ookla The Mok

Kind of funny to add an album by a band that already has (at least) 5 albums on the list. It's a very good album though

Another concept album by The Who. Maybe the idea behind the album is better than on Tommy, the songs are not. It misses the hit singles and is much and much too long. It's not a bad album though, just not one of their best.

Very wild and self indulgent. a real record for the fans, casuals will be a little bored.

I'm surprised this wasn't on the original list

I think I need to watch the film for this album to make sense. Mind you, Tommy didn’t really make full sense to me either.

I get it but it’s too long

Compelling. This is my favorite Who album. The storytelling is complete and fully formed, and the music is epic in places, and fully embraces musical creativity... just loving the bass and drums parts through most of this. Its long but i was fully involved. Definitely a miss from the original list.

Better than Tommy at least

This ain’t a bad album, on its own hard to argue against, but I would rank Tommy over this. So hard to make an argument for another who album on the list, that being said I prefer this to the who sells out. So I would replace that album with this.

I’m a music nerd but not that this much of a music nerd

Not my favorite by the Who, but still very good. 3 stars.

The Who has made some great songs and even their concept albums are unlike any others, but Quadrophenia is what happens when people don’t tel you no. This album is way too long and most of the songs are pretty similar in style just different lyrics and the occasional orchestra instrument. The album may fit as a concept but it doesn’t fit as an enjoyable album. It’s like watching The Irishman. You know the people in it have talent but you wonder why it takes so long and split it up over a couple days. To me this is a 2 star album but compared to so many in this list it’s a low 3. 5.8/10

Not their best not their worst

Went in with an open mind as I like the band, but had seen the film and found it boring. Overall felt the same with the album, meandering and unless you're in "the scene" you don't get it. 2.9

Hard rock, art rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Maybe blasphemy, but I didn't enjoy this much other than the last track. I have to give credit for history though.

Way better than Who's Next 4 wait why is it so fcking long, I'm out 2

There's some decent rock on here as only The Who know how to do it, but the entire LP runs so long that any moments of joy get crushed beneath huge swaths of mediocrity. There are only so many vocal Daltrey-isms and Townshend lines one can fit in an hour and a half before patience starts to run thin.

I grew up on classic rock. I love classic rock. The Who are boring as shit. I've always felt so and have yet to be proven wrong.

lol what a waste of a vote. 2/5.

Who's Next and Tommy are solid 5's but Quadrophenia has disappointed me with every listen. The mix / remaster currently on streaming seems worse than previous as well.