Quadrophenia

M??rcio Ivam. (December 14, 2010)

The song "Cut my Hair" shows that Townshend`s genius.His voice is perfect!The band are allright.Keith Moon, in my opinion, the best drummer of Rock n roll.Very crazy!The mad side of the moon!

Bruce Beatlefan (March 13, 2010)

Quadrophenia has been, by acclamataion of the rock critics and the Who's apologists, accepted into the canon of Classic Albums From The Who, along with Tommy and Who's Next. I don't want to make an argument with those who find the album rewarding, or thoughtful, or Townshend at his most articulate... but granting all this to be so, I find Quadrophenia to be one of the most unlistenable and overwrought albums in rock history--it may qualify as the poster child for the pretentious prog rock album that brought that great era to a crashing halt (Quadrophenia, or maybe Yes's Tales of Topographic Oceans).

There are nice moments, to be sure: the segue from "The Real Me" to "Quadrophenia" is wonderful, two songs rock very enjoyably: "The Punk and the Godfather" and "5:15", and the track "Drowned" is terrific. Aside from a few other isolated nice moments ("Helpless Dancer", "Is It in My Head", "Love, Reign O'er Me") the listener is assaulted with an exhausting array of complicated four-part "themes", stories about a punk kid who engenders little sympathy (how different from Tommy), and a wall of blazing synthesizers, guitars, and horns that make Phil Spector sound positively sparse.

It is clear that Pete Townshend poured a lot of thought and commitment into this project--in the music you can practically hear him straining to pour all his pain and pathos into telling "Jimmy's" story, but the truth is that in pop/rock music one of the most common pitfalls is to be found "trying too hard". The music is wearisome and, ultimately, unsatisfying. When I put my Quadrohphenia CD into my boombox and press play, I feel like a man who is shouldering an unpleasant and burdensome task...

JMR (August 24, 2005)

Plays and sounds like an epic movie soundtrack, something from a
David Lean movie buts its rock and roll. In credible.