Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who. Released on 19 October 1973 by Track and Polydor in the United Kingdom, and Track and MCA in the United States, it 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 1965. The name is a variation on the popular usage of the medical diagnostic term schizophrenia as dissociative identity 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. At the same time, the title is a play on the term quadraphonic sound, then a recent invention. Composer Pete Townshend has said: "The whole conception of Quadrophenia was geared to quadraphonic, but in a creative sort of way. I mean I wanted themes to sort of emerge from corners. So you start to get the sense of the fourness being literally speaker for speaker."
Musical structure: Moon in one of his few lead vocal roles, singing "Bell Boy" in Quadrophenia Townshend noted in 2009 that, rather than Jimmy’s personalities representing a Who member, he chose the personalities of each member to illustrate each of Jimmy’s four personalities, or "personality extremes" or mood swings. The liner notes illustrate this concept as follows (names added): A tough guy, a helpless dancer. ("Helpless Dancer" – Roger Daltrey) A romantic, is it me for a moment? ("Is It Me?" – John Entwistle) A bloody lunatic, I'll even carry your bags. ("Bell Boy" – Keith Moon) A beggar, a hypocrite, love reign o'er me. ("Love Reign O'er Me" – Pete Townshend) 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 nor 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 synthesiser), 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 synthesiser as a brief interlude. Some themes from other songs also make "surprise" reappearances here and there. These leitmotifs help give the work an impression of a cohesive unity. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrophenia
Personnel: The Who: -Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, percussion -Pete Townshend – 6 and 12-string acoustic and electric lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, synthesisers, piano, banjo, percussion, sound effects, co-lead vocals on "Cut My Hair", "The Punk and the Godfather", "I've Had Enough", "5:15", and "Sea and Sand", lead vocals on "I'm One", pre-production, special effects -John Entwistle – bass guitar, horns, backing vocals, partial vocals on "Is It in My Head?" -Keith Moon – drums, percussion, co-lead vocals on "Bell Boy" Additional musicians: -John Curle – newsreader voice -Chris Stainton – piano on "The Dirty Jobs", "5:15", and "Drowned" The Who - Quadrophenia Album: I am the Sea / The Real Me:
Quadrophenia, Cut My Hair:
The Punk & the Godfather, I'm One:
The Dirty Jobs, Helpless Dancer:
Is It In My Head? I've Had Enough:
5:15, Sea and Sand :
Drowned, Bell Boy:
Doctor Jimmy:
The Rock:
Love, Reign O'er Me:
Quadrophenia: The Original LP track listing: All songs written and composed by Pete Townshend.
Side one No.TitleLength 1."I Am the Sea" 2:08 2."The Real Me" 3:20 3."Quadrophenia" 6:13 4."Cut My Hair" 3:44 5."The Punk and the Godfather" 5:10 Side two No.TitleLength 6."I'm One" 2:37 7."The Dirty Jobs" 4:28 8."Helpless Dancer" (Roger's theme)2:33 9."Is It in My Head?" 3:43 10."I've Had Enough" 6:14 Side three No.TitleLength 11."5:15" 5:00 12."Sea and Sand" 5:01 13."Drowned" 5:26 14."Bell Boy" (Keith's theme)4:55 Side four No.TitleLength 15."Doctor Jimmy (containing "Is It Me?")" (John's theme)8:36 16."The Rock" 6:37 17."Love, Reign o'er Me" (Pete's theme)5:48 Quadrophenia: The Director's Cut track listing On 15 November 2011, a deluxe edition of Quadrophenia was released. The release was also available on Double vinyl, Mini-Deluxe Digi-Pak edition, and as a digital release. Disc One: Original LP 1 No.Title 1."I Am The Sea" 2:08 2."The Real Me" 3:20 3."Quadrophenia" 6:13 4."Cut My Hair" 3:44 5."The Punk and the Godfather" 5:10 6."I'm One" 2:37 7."The Dirty Jobs" 4:28 8."Helpless Dancer (Roger's theme)" 2:33 9."Is It In My Head?" 3:43 10."I've Had Enough" 6:14 Disc Two: Original LP 2 No.Title 11."5.15" 5:00 12."Sea and Sand" 5:01 13."Drowned" 5:26 14."Bell Boy (Keith's theme)" 4:55 15."Doctor Jimmy (John's theme)" 8:36 16."The Rock" 6:37 17."Love, Reign O'er Me (Pete's theme)" 5:48 Disc Three: The Demos No.Title Recording date 1."The Real Me" written and recorded in October 1972 2."Quadrophenia – Four Overtures" in 1973 3."Cut My Hair" written in June 1972 4."Fill No. 1 – Get Out and Stay Out" 12 November 1972 5."Quadrophenic – Four Faces" in July 1972 6."We Close Tonight" in July 1972 7."You Came Back" in July 1972 8."Get Inside" written in April 1972 9."Joker James" in July 1972 10."Ambition" (track supposedly available on Q-Cloud but finally omitted)written early in 1972 11."Punk" 18 November 1972 12."I'm One" 15 November 1972 13."Dirty Jobs" 25 July 1972 14."Helpless Dancer" in 1973 Disc Four: The Demos No.TitleRecording date 1."Is It In My Head?" 30 April 1972 2."Anymore" listed as recorded on 10 November 1971, but probably a misprint; actual year would have been 1972 3."I've Had Enough" written and recorded on 17 December 1972 4."Fill No. 2" 12 November 1972 5."Wizardry" in August 1972 6."Sea And Sand" written and recorded on 1 November 1972 7."Drowned" in March 1970 8."Is It Me?" 20 March 1973 9."Bell Boy" 3 March 1973 10."Doctor Jimmy" 27 July 1972 11."Finale – The Rock" between 25 March and 1 May 1973 12."Love Reign O'er Me" 10 May 1972 Disc Five: DVD Quadrophenia 5.1 No.Title 1."I Am The Sea" 2."The Real Me" 3."Quadrophenia" 4."I've Had Enough" 5."5:15" 6."Dr Jimmy" 7."The Rock" 8."Love Reign O'er Me""
QUADROPHENIA 1973 ALBUM - BBC Documentary The history behind the album:
More info about the movie Quadrophenia:
The story covers about five days of the life of a certain Jimmy, a participant in the circa 1964 Mod lifestyle in England. "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. 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) (this happens in the song Cut My Hair). Distraught and with nothing better to do, Jimmy takes a large dose of blues and takes a train ride to the coast (Embodied in the song 5:15, which is supposed to be the time when the train departs). 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 days 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 the now former Ace Face's scooter from the front of the Brighton hotel where he is employeed, takes it out to a barren rock protruding from the sea, and crashes psychologically. With nothing left to live for he finds redemption in the pouring rain, which is expressed in the final song, "Love, Reign o'er Me".
Quadrophenia is a stage musical based on the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who, released on 19 October 1973, and a film of the same name, released in 1979. The album was the group's second full-length rock opera, and the story reveals social, musical and psychological events from an English teenager's perspective. The music and songs were composed by Pete Townshend and the story is set in London and Brighton in 1964 and '65. The name of the musical is a variation on the popular usage of the medical diagnostic term "schizophrenia" as dissociative identity disorder, which reflects the four distinct personalities of Jimmy, the story's protagonist.
Music: Pete Townshend Lyrics: Pete Townshend Book: Pete Townshend Basis: Quadrophenia rock opera by The Who
History: After the rock opera was released in 1973, The Who attempted to perform the album on a supporting tour. However, the effort turned out to be disastrous because of the complexity of the production. The album's music made extensive use of synthesizers and sound effects, which meant the group had to work to backing tapes for live performance. The band was constrained by playing to the tapes, and early performances were plagued by tape malfunctions. The band soon abandoned the rock opera in favor of their other hit songs. In 1994 Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, celebrated his 50th birthday by performing a two-night spectacular of Who music at Carnegie Hall, followed by a major tour. This tour attracted attention to songs from The Who's Quadrophenia and gathered support for the staging of a major tour of the rock opera in 1996-1997. In 1996 Pete Townshend was approached to produce Quadrophenia for The Prince's Trust concert at Hyde Park, London. He at first planned to perform the opera as a solo acoustic show using scenes from the film on backing screens, but after receiving offers of financing from Vespa, Townshend decided on a full-out production. The opera was performed with a large backing band, including John Entwistle on bass, Pete Townshend on acoustic guitar and vocals, Zak Starkey on drums, Rabbit Bundrick and Jon Carin on keyboards, Simon Townshend and Geoff Whitehorn on guitar and special guests including Phil Daniels as the Narrator/Jimmy, Gary Glitter as The Rocker, Adrian Edmonson as the Ace Face/Bellboy, Stephen Fry as the hotel manager, Trevor McDonald as the newsreader and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour as the bus driver. Gilmour also played additional lead guitar for that performance. A horn section and backing vocalists were included, along with other actors. Afterward, Townshend decided to take the production on tour in 1996-1997 as The Who. For the subsequent tour of the UK and the US, Daniels was replaced by a filmed narrative, and Gilmour's role as the bus driver was taken over by Simon Townshend. Gary Glitter and P.J. Proby made guest appearances as The Godfather, and Billy Idol also guested as the Ace Face/Bellboy. Development as a stage musical: In November 2005, Luna C Productions staged a theatrical version of Quadrophenia in Los Angeles, starring Stephen Shareaux as Jimmy. Additional performances were produced in March and November 2006. 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. This production was reworked, recast and expanded by Director Tom Critchley and playwright Jeff Young into a successful full-scale UK Tour which launched at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth in May 2009. The four Jimmys were played by Ryan O'Donnell, Rob Kendrick, Jack Roth and George Maguire. Actor Ryan O’Donnell received a 2009 nomination for "Best Performance in a Musical" from the TMA Theatre Awards for his performance as Jimmy in the stage version of Quadrophenia. Trailer:
Quadrophenia is the soundtrack album to the 1979 film Quadrophenia which refers to the 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia. It was initially released on Polydor Records in 1979 as a cassette and LP and was re-released as a compact disc in 1993 and 2001. The album was dedicated to Peter Meaden, a prominent Mod and first manager of The Who, who had died a year prior to the album's release. The album contains ten of the seventeen tracks from the original rock opera Quadrophenia (as not all of the tracks were used in the film). These are different mixes than those that appear on the 1973 album as they were remixed in 1979 by John Entwistle. The most notable difference is the track "The Real Me" (used for the title sequence of the film) which features a different bass track, more prominent vocals and a more definite ending. Most of the tracks are also edited to be slightly shorter. The soundtrack also includes three tracks by The Who that did not appear on the 1973 album - "Four Faces, "Get Out and Stay Out" and "Joker James." The latter two songs marked Kenney Jones's first on-record appearance with the Who after taking over on drums for the late Keith Moon.
Tracks: All songs performed by The Who unless noted. Side one: "I Am the Sea" – 2:03 "The Real Me" – 3:28 "I'm One" – 2:40 "5:15" – 4:50 "Love Reign O'er Me" – 5:11 Side two "Bell Boy" – 4:55 "I've Had Enough" – 6:11 "Helpless Dancer" – 0:22 "Doctor Jimmy" – 7:31 Side three "Zoot Suit" (The High Numbers) – 2:00 "Hi-Heel Sneakers" (Cross Section) – 2:46 "Get Out and Stay Out" – 2:26 "Four Faces" – 3:20 "Joker James" – 3:13 "The Punk and the Godfather" – 5:21 Side four "Night Train" (James Brown) – 3:38 "Louie Louie" (The Kingsmen) – 2:41 "Green Onions" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s) – 2:46 "Rhythm of the Rain" (The Cascades) – 2:28 "He's So Fine" (The Chiffons) – 1:52 "Be My Baby" (The Ronettes) – 2:30 "Da Doo Ron Ron" (The Crystals) – 2:09 1993 CD reissue A version of the album was released on CD in 1993 (as Songs from Quadrophenia) featuring only the tracks performed by The High Numbers and The Who. The album keeps the Who tracks in the same order as the original double album and begins with the two High Numbers tracks. (Note: Prior to deciding on the name The Who they were called The High Numbers for a short period in summer 1964.) "I'm the Face" (The High Numbers) – 2:31 "Zoot Suit" (The High Numbers) – 2:00 "I Am the Sea" – 2:03 "The Real Me" – 3:30 "I'm One" – 2:40 "5:15" – 4:51 "Love Reign O'er Me" – 5:11 "Bell Boy" – 4:57 "I've Had Enough" – 6:12 "Helpless Dancer" – 0:23 "Doctor Jimmy" – 7:32 "Get Out and Stay Out" – 2:28 "Four Faces" – 3:21 "Joker James" – 3:14 "The Punk and the Godfather" – 5:28 2000 CD reissue A version of the album was released on CD in 2000 (as Music from the Soundtrack of the Who Film Quadrophenia) restoring the track listing to its original configuration, and adding "I'm The Face" to the running order. "I Am the Sea" – 2:03 "The Real Me" – 3:28 "I'm One" – 2:40 "5:15" – 4:50 "Love Reign O'er Me" – 5:11 "Bell Boy" – 4:55 "I've Had Enough" – 6:11 "Helpless Dancer" – 0:22 "Doctor Jimmy" – 7:31 "Zoot Suit" (The High Numbers) – 2:00 "Hi-Heel Sneakers" (Cross Section) – 2:46 "Get Out and Stay Out" – 2:26 "Four Faces" – 3:20 "Joker James" – 3:13 "The Punk and the Godfather" – 5:21 "Night Train" (James Brown) – 3:38 "Louie Louie" (The Kingsmen) – 2:41 "Green Onions" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s) – 2:46 "Rhythm of the Rain" (The Cascades) – 2:28 "He's So Fine" (The Chiffons) – 1:52 "Be My Baby" (The Ronettes) – 2:30 "Da Doo Ron Ron" (The Crystals) – 2:09 "I'm the Face" (The High Numbers) – 2:29
QUADROPHENIA : The Story Of A Generation Quadrophenia is a 1979 British film, loosely based around the 1973 rock opera of the same name by The Who. Director Franc Roddam has brought us an array of young British acting talents who bring back London's nineteen-sixties Mods and Rockers. Set against the soundtrack of The Who's 1973 mighty concept album "Quadrophenia", Phil Daniels plays working-class Jimmy, the drug-induced Mod, who hates his job and is misunderstood by his parents. But by night, he comes alive, with the all-nighters, his pills and his scooter-riding friends. Always on a high, life can't get any better. Then there's the Brighton scooter run, where both Mods and Rockers converge, ending in the battle of the cults on Brighton Beach. What goes up must come down, and with Jimmy's come-down, his life is turned around, and so begins his downward spiral into paranoia and isolation, and the four-faceted mindset: Quadrophenia. With its extremely realistic language, violent overtones and classic sixties soundtrack. : "We Are The Mods" The Film:
CAST : Phil Daniels as Jimmy Cooper Leslie Ash as Steph Philip Davis as Chalky Mark Wingett as Dave Sting as Ace Face Ray Winstone as Kevin Herriot Gary Shail as Spider Garry Cooper as Peter Fenton, Steph's boyfriend Toyah Willcox as Monkey Trevor Laird as Ferdy Andy Sayce as Kenny Kate Williams as Mrs Cooper, Jimmy's mother Michael Elphick as Mr George Cooper, Jimmy's father Kim Neve as Yvonne Cooper, Jimmy's sister Benjamin Whitrow as Mr. Fulford, Jimmy's employer Daniel Peacock as Danny Jeremy Child as Agency Man John Phillips as Magistrate Timothy Spall as Harry the Projectionist Patrick Murray as Des the projectionist assistant George Innes as Cafe Owner John Bindon as Harry North, gangster P. H. Moriarty as Barman at Villain Club Hugh Lloyd as Mr. Cale Gary Holton as aggressive Rocker 1 John Altman as Johnny 'John the Mod' Fagin Jesse Birdsall as aggressive Rocker 2 Oliver Pierre as Jimmy and Danny's tailor Julian Firth as drugged-up Mod Simon Gipps-Kent as party host Mickey Royce as Ken 'Jonesy' Jones James Lombard as Nicky