Red Mosquito

I'm going to start this thread by saying the original version of A Quick One, While He's Away (which can be found on the 30 Years Maximum R&B box set) is the version to listen to.

My favorites are Quadrophenia and The Who Sell Out.

Alright, there are definitely some qualities in the album cut that are just tops.

Momma's got a squeeze box she plays on her chest

theplatypus wrote:My favorites are Quadrophenia and The Who Sell Out.

Mine too.

Kevin Davis wrote:

theplatypus wrote:My favorites are Quadrophenia and The Who Sell Out.

Mine too.

Definitely agree these are the two best. Quadrophenia is one of about three records that at any point in my life I considered my absolute favorite ever.

The Who By Numbers is another great record, though sadly underrated.

Lament wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:

theplatypus wrote:My favorites are Quadrophenia and The Who Sell Out.

Mine too.

Definitely agree these are the two best. Quadrophenia is one of about three records that at any point in my life I considered my absolute favorite ever.

The Who By Numbers is another great record, though sadly underrated.

These are my three fav Who albums with Tommy just around the corner. I love Townshends guitar playing on this album and the chords/arrangements he uses. The lyrics are a bit too cringe worthy at times but the guitars and production sits really well with me.

Sell Out and Live at Leeds are essential for me.

saw them about a month ago on their 'quadrophenia' tour. Still such a powerhouse live act, amazing performance. Made me realise that they must have been the greatest live act ever in their prime. (Live at Leeds....)

I would rank their album as follows:

-Who's Next
-The Who Sell Out
-Quadrophenia
-A quick One
-Tommy
-The Who By Numbers
-Who are You
-My Generation
-Face Dances
-Endless Wire
-It's Hard

and still so many great singles and b-sides. Their Odds & Sodds record is great!!

Quadrophenia is a monstrously good record, Live at Leeds and Who's Next are also quite fantastic. In college I had a huge phase for these guys.

cutuphalfdead wrote:I'm going to start this thread by saying the original version of A Quick One, While He's Away (which can be found on the 30 Years Maximum R&B box set) is the version to listen to.

Have you ever watched the version from the Rolling Stone's Rock n Roll Circus?

Quadrophenia is definitely one of my favorite records ever, and it was that era that drew me to the band....but these days I find I am eternally mesmerized by the madness and art they brought to their music at a much earlier date...a time when the Beatles were only just beginning to get away from cutesy pop and the Stones were still mostly just an R&B cover band.


Fast forward to 2:20.

All those later records are better written, and are very much the big payoff of the early explorations, but that 1964-66 period is really the heart of the art, as it were....that moment of total, almost blind inventive drive that ultimately created this incredible sound....a band that could balance their music on the absolute precipice of chaos, could do so indefinitely, and would sneer and strut while they did it.

I recently read Townsend's autobiography. It was a bit of a slog to get through since everything I was interested in he barely touched on and everything I could care less about he went on and on about. He did come off as honest so I appreciated that. A complete asshole but an honest one.

bada wrote:I recently read Townsend's autobiography. It was a bit of a slog to get through since everything I was interested in he barely touched on and everything I could care less about he went on and on about. He did come off as honest so I appreciated that. A complete asshole but an honest one.

I really liked it, but I got it as an audiobook. He reads it himself, and there's a bit more self-deprecation revealed in some of the moments that way. I remember a couple of times thinking "Man, if I had read that as words on a page I would have assumed..."

A lot of the time it seems like he's explaining his prior arrogances as honestly and directly as he can, but that he has a very genuine level of derision for those moments, now.

Birds in Hell wrote:Sell Out and Live at Leeds are essential for me.

cutuphalfdead wrote:I'm going to start this thread by saying the original version of A Quick One, While He's Away (which can be found on the 30 Years Maximum R&B box set) is the version to listen to.

That's a good one, but I like this one:

cutuphalfdead wrote:I'm going to start this thread by saying the original version of A Quick One, While He's Away (which can be found on the 30 Years Maximum R&B box set) is the version to listen to.

That's great, but it's not the original version. It's a Frankenstein hybrid of the original version and the rock & roll circus version. Most of the liner notes/descriptions for that box set are completely wrong because the Who's production team are a bunch of fucktards.

the Who's production team are a bunch of fucktards.

Yup. I assume this was one of their primary influences on Pearl Jam.

McParadigm wrote:

the Who's production team are a bunch of fucktards.

Yup. I assume this was one of their primary influences on Pearl Jam.

Birds in Hell wrote:Sell Out and Live at Leeds are essential for me.

Love Live at Leeds.