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Quadrophenia

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For the film based on this album, see Quadrophenia (film).
Untitled

Quadrophenia is the sixth album by the English rock band The Who. Released on 19 October 1973, Quadrophenia is a double album, and the group's second rock opera. Its story involves social, musical, and psychological happenings from an English teenage perspective, set in London and Brighton in 1964 and 1965.

The name is a variation on the incorrect popular usage of the medical diagnostic term schizophrenia as multiple personality disorder to reflect the four distinct personalities of Jimmy, the opera's protagonist—each said to represent the personality of one member of The Who. The title also referenced the Quadraphonic sound schemes then being introduced.

History

Quadrophenia was originally released as a two-LP set with a butterfly jacket and a thick booklet containing lyrics, a text version of the story, and photographs illustrating the tale. MCA Records re-released it as a two-CD set in 1985 with the lyrics and text story line on a thin fold-up sheet but none of the photographs. The remastered CDs of 1996 include the full original booklet in miniature.

In the liner notes to the remastered Odds and Sods Townshend revealed that Quadrophenia evolved from an idea for a self-indulgent autobiography of the band (which was allegedly to have been titled Rock is Dead—Long Live Rock). Two of the opera's tracks date from 1972 ("Is It In My Head?" and "Love Reign O'er Me"), a year that also produced The Who's singles "Join Together", "Relay" and "Long Live Rock" (the latter not actually released until 1974). However, by the time Quadrophenia was released, the band's role in the story was only symbolic, via Jimmy's four personalities.

The 8-track tape version of this album has the distinction of being one of the few 8-tracks that is arranged exactly like the album, with no song breaks.

Quadrophenia reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard album chart (kept from #1 by then-British labelmate Elton John with his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album) and was the highest position of any Who album in the US as they would not ever hit #1 on the US album charts.

The band viewed the tour in support of the album as disastrous. Performances were plagued by malfunctioning sound effects tapes. Once the tapes started, the band had to play to them. The band felt constrained in playing to these recordings, preferring a more free-form attitude.

On the first night of the U.S. leg at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, drummer Keith Moon collapsed onstage. Scott Halpin, an audience member, was brought on to finish the show.

Pete Townshend now looks back on the album with great praise. "The music is the best music that I've ever written, I think and it's the best album that I will ever write." [1]

Story

The story covers about five days of the life of Jimmy Cooper, a participant in the circa 1964 Mod lifestyle in England, the son of simple working-class folk. "The story is set on a rock!" announced the composer, Pete Townshend, at one live performance, indicating that the opera represents Jimmy's looking back at the events of the previous day or two that led him into the gloomy situation where he finds himself at the end of the story. The narrative is difficult to derive from the lyrics alone, but becomes clearer with the benefit of a short story (also written by Townshend) related from Jimmy's first person perspective, that is included in the album's booklet.

The first half of the opera consists of songs that allude to the frustrations and insecurities that govern Jimmy's life, including brief glimpses of his home life, his job, his psychoanalyst, and his unsuccessful attempts to have a social life. Jimmy feels idle and unsure of himself after a bank holiday weekend he spent at Brighton Beach some time before where he participated in a brawl between the Mod movement he belonged to and a group of "leather clad Rockers." Halfway through the opera he sings "I've Had Enough", finds himself kicked out of his home when his parents find his box of 'blues' (blue pills of some unnamed drug, possibly amphetamine) and in a fit of depression, wrecks his prized scooter. Distraught and with nothing better to do, Jimmy takes a large dose of blues and takes a train ride to the coast ("5:15", the time when the train departs.) where he once felt truly alive and accepted.

During his stay near the beach in Brighton, he encounters the former "Ace Face", the leader of a group of Mods, whom he admires greatly. However, "Ace Face" now works as a bell boy at a nearby hotel. Ironically, this is the very same hotel Ace Face had smashed the windows of two years before. This display of masculine bravado had earned him the admiration of many of his fellow Mods two days before during Jimmy's first stay in Brighton. Jimmy is disgusted to learn that the person he had admired as a Mod had "sold out".

At this point, Jimmy is inconsolable. Everybody from his parents to his girlfriend had disappointed him before, but he had never expected the Mod lifestyle to let him down. Drunk and depressed, he steals a small outboard-driven rowboat and takes it out to a barren rock protruding from the sea, where he endures a psychological crash. With his life's worries splayed out in front of him in detail he then faces the fact that his boat has drifted off, he's coming down from his high off pills and gin, and is now stranded on the rock as a storm rages around him. With nothing left to live for, he finds a spiritual redemption in pouring rain ("Love, Reign o'er Me".)

Musical structure

Each of Jimmy's four personalities is supposed to be associated with one of the four musicians in The Who. The liner notes illustrate this concept as follows (names added):

In addition to describing a personality/band member, the four descriptions refer to four musical themes that portray Jimmy's personalities in the opera: "Helpless Dancer", "Is It Me?", "Bell Boy", and "Love Reign O'er Me". The four themes (or "leitmotifs" as described by Townshend) are mixed together in both the title track (bridging "The Real Me" and "Cut My Hair"), and the penultimate track, "The Rock" (bridging "Doctor Jimmy" and "Love, Reign O'er Me"). The two pieces were the most musically complex pieces that Townshend ever wrote for The Who, combining all four themes into two six-minute instrumental medleys. The two pieces have neither a definite beginning or end, as they begin with a fade-in from the previous track, starting with the theme of "Bell Boy" (Moon's theme). This is followed by the themes of "Is It Me" (Entwistle's theme), "Helpless Dancer" (Daltrey's theme), and "Love, Reign O'er Me" (Townshend's theme). "Quadrophenia" fades into rain sound effects after the "Love Reign O'er Me" theme. "The Rock" however ends with a combination of the four different themes, using the "Bell Boy" theme as the chord sequence, the "Helpless Dancer" theme as the melody, the "Is It Me?" theme as a lead (played on guitar and synthesizer), and the keyboard part to "Love Reign O'er Me" as a countermelody. The whole song abruptly ends on a downbeat layered with the sound of thunder and descends into "Love Reign O'er Me" proper.

The four themes also surface on many other songs throughout the album; the most subtle example being when the "Helpless Dancer" theme appears on "Bell Boy" (the main song) played on synthesizer as a brief interlude. Some themes from other songs also make "surprise" reappearances here and there. These leitmotifs help giving the work an impression of a cohesive unity.

Critical reaction and impact

In 2000 Q magazine placed Quadrophenia at number 56 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2001, the TV network VH1 named it the 86th greatest album of all time. Template:RS500 IGN placed Quadrophenia at number 1 in their list of the greatest classic rock albums of all time.[1]

Subsequent productions

In 1979 the film Quadrophenia was released, with three additional songs written by Pete Townshend (see Quadrophenia (soundtrack)). While the film was an accurate visual interpretation of Townshend's vision of Jimmy and his surroundings, the inspired casting of a very young Sting as the Ace Face remains one of the most memorable moments of the film. In the film, the music was largely relegated to the background, and was not performed by the cast as if a rock opera.

In summer 1996, The Who, with a large backing group featuring among others Zak Starkey on drums (his first appearance as The Who's drummer), Geoff Whitehorn and Simon Townshend on electric guitar (the former played lead guitar on almost all of the songs) and keyboardists Jon Carin and John "Rabbit" Bundrick, performed Quadrophenia in its entirety for the first time in many years in London's Hyde Park, with guest performers Phil Daniels as the Narrator/Jimmy, Gary Glitter as The Rocker, Adrian Edmonson as the Ace Face/Bellboy, Stephen Fry as the hotel manager (screaming, "Bellboy!"), Trevor McDonald as the newsreader and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour as the bus driver. Gilmour also played additional lead guitar for that first performance – he sang and played lead guitar on The Dirty Jobs, plus performed lead guitar on Sea and Sand, Dr. Jimmy, The Rock, Love, Reign O'er Me and 5:15 (Reprise). For the subsequent extensive tour of the UK and the U.S., Daniels was replaced and Gilmour's role was taken over by Simon Townshend. Gary Glitter and P.J. Proby (subsequently) made guest appearances as The Godfather, and Billy Idol also guested as the Ace Face/Bellboy, also subsequently being replaced.

In 2005, A live performance of Quadrophenia from The Who's late 1996/early tour was included in a 3-disc DVD box set released by Rhino Entertainment, also featuring a live performance of Tommy from 1989 as well as other hit songs performed live. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey provided special commentary, and an interview with Billy Idol was also included.

The album was covered in its entirety by Phish on October 31, 1995 as part of the band's "Halloween musical costume extravaganzas", which was later released as Live Phish Volume 14. The jam band also covered the track "Drowned" on their live album New Year's Eve 1995 - Live at Madison Square Garden.

In November 2005, Luna C Productions staged a theatrical version of Quadrophenia in Los Angeles, starring Stephen Shareaux as Jimmy. Additional performances occurred in March and November 2006.[2]

In February 2007, students from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama staged "the first independent theatrical production (of Quadrophenia) blessed by Pete Townshend" at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, Wales.[3]

During the Behind The Laughter episode of The Simpsons, the cover of the Krustophenia record is a parody of Quadrophenia.

Track listing

All songs written by Pete Townshend.

Side one

  1. "I Am the Sea" – 2:08
  2. "The Real Me" – 3:20
  3. "Quadrophenia" – 6:15
  4. "Cut My Hair" – 3:46
  5. "The Punk and the Godfather"[4] – 5:10

Side two

  1. "I'm One" – 2:39
  2. "The Dirty Jobs" – 4:30
  3. "Helpless Dancer" – 2:32
  4. "Is It in My Head?" – 3:46
  5. "I've Had Enough" – 6:14

Side three

  1. "5:15" – 5:00
  2. "Sea and Sand" – 5:01
  3. "Drowned" – 5:28
  4. "Bell Boy" – 4:56

Side four

  1. "Doctor Jimmy" – 8:42
  2. "The Rock" – 6:37
  3. "Love, Reign o'er Me" – 5:48

The soundtrack album

Main article: Quadrophenia (soundtrack)

Personnel

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1973 Billboard Pop Albums 2
1973 UK Chart Album 2

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1973 "Love, Reign O'er Me" Billboard Pop Singles 76
1974 "The Real Me" Billboard Pop Singles 92
1973 "5:15" UK Singles Chart 20
1979 "5:15" Billboard Pop Singles 45

Certifications

Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold 29 October 1973
BPI – UK Gold 1 December 1973
RIAA – U.S. Platinum 2 February 1993

Notes

  1. ^ IGN
  2. ^ Quad - A Spectacular Musical Staging of The Who's Quadrophenia
  3. ^ http://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/fe_diaryshared/diary_details.asp?Event_id=724
  4. ^ On the U.S. release of the album, "The Punk and the Godfather" was renamed "The Punk Meets the Godfather"

References

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