AR: Quadrophenia

The Who - Quadrophenia (1973)

The second of The Who's rock operas, Quadrophenia is more psychological, more autobiographical, more thematically complex, and more of an opera (at least musical-structure-wise) than Tommy. It's also always struck me - and this doesn't seem to be historically accurate, as both albums were huge hits when released - as vastly less well known than the deaf-dumb-blind tale. This is probably because Q lacks a huge single. "5.15" saw some chart success, and there are plenty of stand-alone numbers on the album, but there's nothing like an iconic tale of pinball wizardry to be found here. Many Top 500 album-type lists consistently put this work in the pantheon, so perhaps it's just "My Generation" that hasn't embraced this album quite as much as some of The Who's other work. While I would argue that the complexity of Quadrophenia makes it a little less accessible than other classic albums or The Who's litany of hit singles, my peers need to get with the program: this is a fantastic, rich album / composition that deserves your investment.

The story is of Jimmy, a teenage mod in 1964-65 UK. He's psychologically-disturbed - the "quadrophenia" of the title refers (not in accordance with DSM-IV standards, natch) to a "schizophrenia" comprised of four personalities. They represent the four band members as well. There's the tough guy/helpless dancer (lead singer Daltry), the romantic (bassist Entwistle), the lunatic (appropriately, drummer Keith Moon), and the beggar/hypocrite (guitarist/songwriter Townsend). The four personalities have corresponding songs on the album ("Helpless Dancer," "Is It Me?," "Bell Boy," and "Love Reign O'er Me," respectively) each of which has a distinct theme featured prominently in its own track but that also pops up throughout the album. The opening track, "I Am the Sea," opens with sounds of shore and rain with these themes quickly punctuating through the ambiance. It's an overt thematic establishment, very much a nod to a traditional operatic introduction of characters/themes. Two other tracks, the title track (3rd on the album) and the penultimate track ("The Rock") weave all of these "leitmotifs" together in long, complex instrumentals. The echoing melodies serve to make this one of the rare concept albums that sticks to the concept all the way through - Sgt. Pepper's Band doesn't mysteriously leave the stage. The variety of the themes / the varying instrumentation utilized also manage to present a multiple personality from with the consistent album frame; quite a neat trick.

Jimmy's tale against this backdrop of questionable pathology is one of frustration and repeated let-downs from all avenues of his life. He starts with a angst-ridden scream at his confusing psychology in "The Real Me," one of the loudest rockers on vinyl that features an insane acrobatic bassline, ever-spastic drumming, and a roaring horns. It's an amazingly sparse track that erupts out of the ocean sounds that introduce the album. This is the album opener proper, the first song you get after the initial theme introduction, and I humbly submit that no album opener surpasses this one in terms of energy. Jimmy is seeking answers from all avenues - preachers, doctors, mothers - but no one can give him an answer to his question, "Can you see the real me?" He's going to spend the remainder of a double album trying to answer that question or, more exactly, trying to see the real him, but it's a quest which his four-faced personality and the difficulties of his world will greatly hinder.

I don't want to run through the story track by track or event by event; the website quadrophenia.net does an excellent job of providing the original liner notes, quotes from Townsend on the import of songs, overviews and interpretive essays of the story, as well as rich accounts of the concert, film, etc. history of the piece. The main point I'd like to emphasize about the story as narrative is that it's an impressively grounded, from-within dark tale that maybe doesn't entirely wrap itself up well - or maybe, does so over-cathartically - but the realism and cohesion is starkly different from the seeming dark-secret grab bag that peppers Tommy. It's a different game from that work, and one that works in that while hearing it, you feel enveloped in a story, not just witnessing passing vignettes from a fantastic life.

That said, I have to comment on some of my favorite tracks. "Cut My Hair" overflows with references to mod life while lamenting both his parents and his compulsion to match the styles of his peers. The track also contains the first of many self-referential moments in the line "I'm dressed right for a beach-fight but I [just] can't explain." And the multiple, disparate sections of the song evoke a profound sense of adolescent frustration. It ends with an ambient, radio broadcast (of a beachfight, no less) and tea kettle whistle that is rudely interrupted by the chung-a-chung-a-chung of a serious riff rocker in "The Punk and the Godfather," a song that inserts the Who into their own story: NB "I'm the punk with the stutter," a frank reference to "M-m-m-m-my Generation." It's an invigorating romp that (dare I say) ironically points out the inauthenticity of the rock n' roll life, sadly admitting the absurdity of a life spent "pounding stages like a clown." Another complex rocker with crowd sound effects, it's another classic.

"I'm One" is just a gorgeously feisty rock ballad of self-assertion. There are songs that I love, and there are moments within those songs, lines that just force a smile every time I hear them. This one has two: "Where do you get those blue blue jeans / faded, packed secret so tight?" and "I've got a Gibson without a case / But I just can't get that even-tanned look on my face" are seriously un-cool lines that give a sad glimpse of a loner-yearning-for-inclusion's vulnerability. "Is It In My Head" and "I've Had Enough," in the midst of the penetrating motif riffs, both let vulnerable frustration shine through; the acoustic, banjo-driven middle section of "IHE" in particular just lets loose a severe apathy-at-it-all, delivered not just in lyric but in vocal sentiment.

"5.15" -> "Sea and Sand" -> "Drowned" is probably the best sequence of an already great album. 5.15 is just a ridiculous, let's give them their own adjective, Who'ed-Out sort of call-and-response tune featuring horns and preposterous energy. "Sea and Sand" is almost the perfect mid-70s, Frampton- or Skynyrd-style ballad that alternates with frank aggression fraught with mod-style. "Drowned" is, and of course you know this, a Phish cover staple, and the rollicking piano rocker serves Page quite well and leads to some monstrous rock workouts. The Who's original version, natch, amps severely, and even allows the "5.15" horn theme back in to complete the triptych. Just a great run on the back of the album; side 3 of 4 for those of you in the old school.

Unfortunately, side 4 is a bit of a letdown after the mayhem of the rest of the disc(s). There's just too much synthesizer, too much Broadway-esque character involvement for my tastes, and the self-indulgence of this Double LP rock opera goes just a bit too far. It's just a tad too EPIC, in other words. And sure, "Love Reign O'er Me" is a plenty good closer for an album - it's the fifteen minutes that precede it that weigh the whole experience down. "LROM" does what it can to bring Jimmy some catharsis, though in a little bit of a cliched "AYNiL" mode. It is one of the more memorable, happy resolutions to a sad, frustrated tale, even if by some accounts Jimmy's salvation is only found as he drowns alone.

So Quadrophenia carries on *just* a bit too long, and since the downer part of the album occurs at the end, it unfortunately gets knocked down a few pegs in my book. This by no means negates the remainder of the brilliance of the album - it really is an engrossing narrative full of fantastic music that does not back down from its self-imposed requirement to interweave everything on every inch of the album. Easy to see how such a work could inspire the genre of "rock opera" for decades to come - I'm assuming it's no coincidence that the protagonist of American Idiot is a "Jimmy," too. So give this one a few spins, let it sink in, and admire the interplay of The Who at a peak; it's definitely some of the best of a great band's work.

Status: Recommended
Nyet's Fave(s)*: "The Real Me," "Drowned"

* - I may have failed to mention this - double albums get two faves. Phew, glad we cleared that up.