Are you a music lover and want to learn more? Consider getting an online degree in music and start improving your knowledge today! Browse many online colleges here and begin your online education in no time!

Quadrophenia is the Who at 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 in which they played no little part, lushly endowed with black and white visuals and a heavy sensibility of the wet-suffused air of 1965.

The hero of Quadrophenia is Jimmy, a young motor-scooted Mod in the throes of self-doubt and alienation. Unlike Tommy, to whom he's destined to be inevitably compared, Jimmy is no simplistic parable or convenient symbol. His loner qualities set him apart from both friends and foes, and though he's more than willing to be led, somehow even that security seems to elude him. Torn between identities, Townshend has gifted him with four, all competing for top seed in Jimmy's confused psyche. In one he is forceful and determined, a master of his fate; another finds him full of brazen daring and rollicking jingoism; yet another softens and romaticized his nature, giving him a quiet inner strength; and still another reveals him as insecure, searching, the promise of salvation granted and hovering over the next hillrise.

Such is quadrophenia, schizophrenia times two, and Townshend maneuvers this conflict on several levels, each to noticeably good (if fairly evident) effect. Most important of these manifold hooks is the Mod generation out of which the Who sprang, and only secondary (though admittedly the most personally interesting) is the Who itself, four themes ("Helpless Dancer," "Bell Boy," "Is It Me?" and "Love Reign O'er Me") wrestling, congealing, splitting apart throughout the album. As for Jimmy, his frustration at being unable to resolve his separate selves suddenly overwhelms him, so that he smashes his scooter, flees to Brighton on the shore, finally putting to sea in a boat with the vague aim of suicide. This is where we find him at the beginning of side one, lost amidst his flashbacks and disjointed memories, and this is where we leave him, on a note of spiritual uplift and transcendence, at the end.

The interior episodes where all this is hashed out are the most successful on Quadrophenia, impeccably outlined by Townshend and stunningly executed by the Who. Jimmy attempts to mesh with his family, his peer group, his girl, and yet remains an outsider, wondering why in his just-so clothes "the other tickets look much better/Without a penny to spend they dress to the letter." Metting an old idol on the beach, now reduced to subserving as a local hotel bellboy, he is moved to remember: "Ain't you the guy who used to set the paces/Riding up in front of a hundred faces?."

An effective moment, yet when judged against the broader scope of Quadrophenia it seems as if all Townshend has constructed is a series of such effective moments. It is his mastermind that has created the tour-de-force recording breakthroughs of the album, the realistic and panoramic landscape of pre-Carnaby Street England, arranged the setting so that each member of the band could give full vent to his vaunted and highly unique instrumental prowess. Indeed, it might easily be said that the Who as a whole never sounded better, both ensemble and solo, proving unalterable worth and relevance in an age that has long passed others of their band's generation into fragments of history.

But on its own terms, Quadrophenia falls short of the mark. Jimmy Livingston Seagull, adrift on a stormless sea, with only his shattered wings and sharded memories to keep him company -- so close, and yet so far.

- Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 12-20-73.

Bonus Reviews!

It's about time! The Who fell into a gaping hole of Calcutta with Tommy, and I never thought that they'd emerge unscathed. Yet here they are with a hot one, plenty of rhythm guitar a la "Baby Don't You Do It" and Keith Moon is at last well-recorded on a fine piece of music. Entwistle plays loud, clean, and well. Daltrey sounds like himself but stronger, Pete's always Pete, and Quadrophenia's almost as good as the Who writing about being horny, but I guess even Mr. Townshend has trouble trying to be a kid again. No matter, this record is the Who's best in practically five years (but nothing will ever top The Who Sell Out), and if you don't own this one, you better just go ahead and trade in your stereo for a bellboy's suit.

- Jon Tiven, Circus Raves, 4-74.

Unlike Tommy, this one really is kind of opera -- first you get to know the music, then you sit down with the libretto and concentrate for eighty minutes. Even with the synopsis (as briliant a piece of writing as Townshend's ever done) and lyrics, it's account of a young Mod's "double schizophrenia" can be pretty confusing, partly because confusion is his subject. The music is cluttered with horns and unnecessarily shrill, so that -- despite its considerable melodic (and motivic, as they say) pizzazz -- you don't play it for fun. But if Townshend's great virtue is compassion, this is his triumph -- Everykid as heroic fuckup, smart enough to have a good idea of what's being done to him and so sensitive he gets pushed right out to the edge anyway. A-

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

A far more persuasive "rock opera" than Tommy, Quadrophenia really gained the critical recognition it deserved only during the brief UK Mod revival in the late Seventies. The title refers to the four-way split personality (double schizophrenia) of Jimmy the Mod; each member of the band takes a musical motif and represents one aspect of this classic "mixed up kid."

Sound quality is outstanding, notably the binaural recording of sea and rain which nearly cost the life of a member of the crew during recording. Entwistle's bass and Moon's manic drumming are explosively caught. The CD is particularly good for headphone replay.

The original LP was distinguished by the excellent black and white photo essay which thankfully has been retained.

- David Prakel, Rock 'n' Roll on Compact Disc, 1987.

The group's second rock opera wasn't nearly the success that Tommy had been, but it proved more fertile in other media -- "Love Reign o'er Me" was moderate success as a single but precious little else seemed to register with the public. Ironically, this is a finely produced album, with a sound that is both hard and lush, and Roger Daltrey seemed to achieve a larger-than-life performance as the embattled mod Jimmy. (Mobile Fidelity's gold-disc reissue includes a beautiful, lavishly-produced booklet reproducing the photos and liners from the original LP release in addition to improved sonics.) * * * *

- Bruce Eder, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

The album that brought back Vespa scooters, parkas and uppers: Pete Townshend took a look at the Who's roots in the London mod scene of the early Sixties and composed this expansive, messy rock opera about a lonely teenage boy looking for love in the city. It gets even better when you check out the movie.

Quadrophenia was chosen as the 266th greatest album of all time by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine in Dec. 2003.

- Rolling Stone, 12/11/03.

 Main Page | The Classic 300 | Readers' Favorites | Other Seventies Discs | Search The RockSite/The Web