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moshkito 
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 04 2007
Location: Grok City
Status: Offline
Points: 17524
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 Posted: April 04 2012 at 14:04 |
Hi,
The sad part of it all? ...
TOMMY was far more important to the time and place and what it wanted to do and represent. Pete had talked about this being a "rock opera", which of course got all the academics laughing and trashing it, but got all the rock fans to go listen to it ... and a couple of songs made this album really big ... and its impression on radio at the time was massive ... and then you heard The Who at Woodstock ... an image that is one of the strongest in the whole concert ... that illuminates what a whole generation is/was and hoped to be.
QUADROPHENIA was more of it, but in the end, by that time, it had lost its luster, although there are some outstanding musical passages in there that are an absolute treat in music ... but we no longer "cared" about music anymore ... and there were no "hits" in that album ... which was trashed senselessly by reviewers ...
It is an amazing tribute that this PA Board can recognize the immense work in QUAD and how important it was ... at the expense of not knowing/understanding, the immense value ... of the other work as well.
I had a dream once, and it was right about the time that The Who did their thing in Knebworth, and I saw that moment on the stage ... and Roger takes a step from the microphone, looks at it lovingly, then looks down ... and his mind was saying ... "I don't want to do this anymore!" ... because the meaning and understanding of what it all meant and the fight that was put together to help people understand and know more and better ... is all lost ... we just want to hear the hits and the songs. We don't give a cahoot about the art, the artist ... there is nothing in our lives that means anything that anyone else does ... because we have our own dope ... our favorite songs!
Now you know what that scream is all about!
Edited by moshkito - April 04 2012 at 14:10
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com
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Snow Dog
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 23 2005
Location: Caerdydd
Status: Offline
Points: 32995
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Posted: April 04 2012 at 14:08 |
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^How do you know what "we" want? Why do you always make these assumptions?
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Man With Hat
Collaborator
Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team
Joined: March 12 2005
Location: Neurotica
Status: Offline
Points: 166178
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Posted: April 04 2012 at 21:51 |
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Tommy
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Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.
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dennismoore
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: April 19 2011
Location: America
Status: Offline
Points: 877
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Posted: April 05 2012 at 10:15 |
 Snow Dog wrote:
Everyone knows that Quadrophenia is superior. |
Yipes! Where is this "everyone" committee? I need to find them cause they appear to know all, and they would be quite helpful in a jam!
I voted for Quadrophenia, but this is a case of why these polls are silly. This is not an apples to apples comparison at all and the two records shouldn't be compared.
Tommy was The Who really begining to find themselves as a band and leaving the pop rock world behind, where most rock bands simply followed each other and imitated each other.
Tommy was a true birthing of an original band, yet it was marred with many pains of that birth. Several songs like "I'm Free" and "We're Not Gonna Take it" had Roger sing every phrase exactly the same, robotic and devoid of emotion. The 1975 Tommy shows The Who giving better attention to the tracks(those didn't get farmed out to other bands.) the difference is night and day.
Tommy was great for what is was, especially in 1969. Quadrophenia came out in 1973 which was 100 years ahead in recording production and rock band progressiveness.
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Snow Dog
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 23 2005
Location: Caerdydd
Status: Offline
Points: 32995
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Posted: April 05 2012 at 10:20 |
dennismoore wrote:
Snow Dog wrote:
Everyone knows that Quadrophenia is superior. |
Yipes! Where is this "everyone" committee?
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I preferred Tommy. After all it has prettier tunes and nice melodies and some nice musical interludes. I found Quadrophenia a hard listen by comparison. However it slowly gave more and more eventually surpassing Tommy in masterliness.
Soon as I realised this and knew I was right.....I knew that everyone had to agree with me.
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Logan
Forum & Site Admin Group
Site Admin
Joined: April 05 2006
Location: Vancouver, BC
Status: Offline
Points: 35940
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Posted: April 05 2012 at 11:41 |
RoyFairbank wrote:
Quadrophenia in a Himalaya landslide.
Tommy is like a middle school version of Quadrophenia.
Quadrophenia is in the top 10 most important albums in human history, Tommy is in the top 10 albums in Who man history.
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I won't say which is better, but wow, I believe that Tommy a much more important album in the annuls of rock music than Quadrophenia, and much more of a milestone release for The Who. I think it much more important historically. As far as most important musical compositions in human history (rather than particular album releases), I rather think that Quadrophenia would barely get a footnote (okay, in the rock section of Music Through the Ages, The Who is a very important band so it would be listed in more than a footnote and it is commonly considered to be one of the greatest rock albums). Tommy paved the way for Quadrophenia to quite an extent, and even if Quadrophenia is more mature, Tommy was more ahead of its time -- although only a few years apart, Quadrophenia is of a different time. If the question was, which I do like more, about equal for me. Both albums were favourites of mine at one time. Another question might be, which movie is better, Tommy or Quadrophenia? I guess I liked Quadrophenia more, but Tommy did have Oliver Reed going for it (not a favourite Ken Russell film of mine).
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Svetonio
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 20 2010
Location: Serbia
Status: Offline
Points: 10213
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Posted: April 07 2012 at 07:36 |
I think that the tracks from Tommy are working much better live than Quad tracks.
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The Dark Elf
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline
Points: 13063
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Posted: April 07 2012 at 23:08 |
moshkito wrote:
QUADROPHENIA was more of it, but in the end, by that time, it had lost its luster, although there are some outstanding musical passages in there that are an absolute treat in music ... but we no longer "cared" about music anymore ... and there were no "hits" in that album ... which was trashed senselessly by reviewers ...
It is an amazing tribute that this PA Board can recognize the immense work in QUAD and how important it was ... at the expense of not knowing/understanding, the immense value ... of the other work as well. |
If you only knew how incredibly pretentious your post sounds. "we no longer 'cared' about music"? Speak for yourself, or better yet, don't generalize your platitudes. Also, many of us are quite aware of the enormity of Tommy in context with the era it was released; that does not mean, however, that Quadrophenia cannot be considered a better, more cohesive album. On the contrary, I consider it a far more mature, complex and satisfying composition than Tommy. That being said, I still think Who's Next is better than both of them.
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...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
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Snow Dog
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 23 2005
Location: Caerdydd
Status: Offline
Points: 32995
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Posted: April 08 2012 at 05:45 |
The Dark Elf wrote:
moshkito wrote:
QUADROPHENIA was more of it, but in the end, by that time, it had lost its luster, although there are some outstanding musical passages in there that are an absolute treat in music ... but we no longer "cared" about music anymore ... and there were no "hits" in that album ... which was trashed senselessly by reviewers ...
It is an amazing tribute that this PA Board can recognize the immense work in QUAD and how important it was ... at the expense of not knowing/understanding, the immense value ... of the other work as well. |
If you only knew how incredibly pretentious your post sounds. "we no longer 'cared' about music"? Speak for yourself, or better yet, don't generalize your platitudes. Also, many of us are quite aware of the enormity of Tommy in context with the era it was released; that does not mean, however, that Quadrophenia cannot be considered a better, more cohesive album. On the contrary, I consider it a far more mature, complex and satisfying composition than Tommy. That being said, I still think Who's Next is better than both of them. |
Also 5:15 was a huge hit off that album. 
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Gerinski
Prog Reviewer
Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
Status: Offline
Points: 5154
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Posted: April 08 2012 at 06:51 |
Regardless of how undoubtedly significant Tommy was (and I certainly enjoy it, both music and film), musically I hold Quadrophenia a lot higher, actually in another dimension altogether.
After all these years I still listen to Quadrophenia from time to time and recently I even watched the movie again, while it's a couple of years since the last time I listened to Tommy or felt like watching the movie.
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dennismoore
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: April 19 2011
Location: America
Status: Offline
Points: 877
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Posted: April 08 2012 at 09:31 |
Snow Dog wrote:
dennismoore wrote:
Snow Dog wrote:
Everyone knows that Quadrophenia is superior. |
Yipes! Where is this "everyone" committee?
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I preferred Tommy. After all it has prettier tunes and nice melodies and some nice musical interludes. I found Quadrophenia a hard listen by comparison. However it slowly gave more and more eventually surpassing Tommy in masterliness.
Soon as I realised this and knew I was right.....I knew that everyone had to agree with me. |
Understood. Also, I guess it depends on the order or when one hears them. I first heard Tommy from the 1975 soundtrack record, then I heard Quadrophenia, Quadrophenia struck me as utter perfection (modern rock or prog or whatever label one uses), for the simple reason that from start to finish each track was strong, of all the great bands of the times, non had made and album so strong, and Quadrophenia was a double album! 4 sides, amazing to this day nobody has done that. After hearing both the soundtrack Tommy & Quadrophenia, it was quite hard to hear the original Tommy with Roger's monotone singing. I wish the Who would have done all the songs on the1975 remake and then offered the guest versions(Elton John , Tina Turner, Clapton, etc..) on 45s or another release. I still think the Who versions on the 1975 soundtrack are one thousand time better then on the 1969 Tommy.
Edited by dennismoore - April 08 2012 at 09:31
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"Yeah, people are unhappy about that - but you know what, it's still Yes." - Chris Squire
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dennismoore
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: April 19 2011
Location: America
Status: Offline
Points: 877
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Posted: April 08 2012 at 09:38 |
The Dark Elf wrote:
moshkito wrote:
QUADROPHENIA was more of it, but in the end, by that time, it had lost its luster, although there are some outstanding musical passages in there that are an absolute treat in music ... but we no longer "cared" about music anymore ... and there were no "hits" in that album ... which was trashed senselessly by reviewers ...
It is an amazing tribute that this PA Board can recognize the immense work in QUAD and how important it was ... at the expense of not knowing/understanding, the immense value ... of the other work as well. |
If you only knew how incredibly pretentious your post sounds. "we no longer 'cared' about music"? Speak for yourself, or better yet, don't generalize your platitudes. Also, many of us are quite aware of the enormity of Tommy in context with the era it was released; that does not mean, however, that Quadrophenia cannot be considered a better, more cohesive album. On the contrary, I consider it a far more mature, complex and satisfying composition than Tommy. That being said, I still think Who's Next is better than both of them. |
@The Dark Elf, I think moshkito is writing in 3rd person like he is an historian or something, I see his point but it does seems a bit condescending. About your point about Who's Next: No way, no how, so sorry dude. Who's Next is a single album masterpiece. Quadrophenia is a double album masterpiece. 2 beats 1 
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"Yeah, people are unhappy about that - but you know what, it's still Yes." - Chris Squire
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The Dark Elf
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline
Points: 13063
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Posted: April 09 2012 at 22:30 |
dennismoore wrote:
The Dark Elf wrote:
moshkito wrote:
QUADROPHENIA was more of it, but in the end, by that time, it had lost its luster, although there are some outstanding musical passages in there that are an absolute treat in music ... but we no longer "cared" about music anymore ... and there were no "hits" in that album ... which was trashed senselessly by reviewers ...
It is an amazing tribute that this PA Board can recognize the immense work in QUAD and how important it was ... at the expense of not knowing/understanding, the immense value ... of the other work as well. |
If you only knew how incredibly pretentious your post sounds. "we no longer 'cared' about music"? Speak for yourself, or better yet, don't generalize your platitudes. Also, many of us are quite aware of the enormity of Tommy in context with the era it was released; that does not mean, however, that Quadrophenia cannot be considered a better, more cohesive album. On the contrary, I consider it a far more mature, complex and satisfying composition than Tommy. That being said, I still think Who's Next is better than both of them. |
@The Dark Elf,
I think moshkito is writing in 3rd person like he is an historian or something, I see his point but it does seems a bit condescending.
About your point about Who's Next:
No way, no how, so sorry dude.
Who's Next is a single album masterpiece. Quadrophenia is a double album masterpiece.
2 beats 1
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Okay, I suppose you've got me there. 
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...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
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chopper
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 13 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 20030
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Posted: April 10 2012 at 20:29 |
Snow Dog wrote:
The Dark Elf wrote:
moshkito wrote:
QUADROPHENIA was more of it, but in the end, by that time, it had lost its luster, although there are some outstanding musical passages in there that are an absolute treat in music ... but we no longer "cared" about music anymore ... and there were no "hits" in that album ... which was trashed senselessly by reviewers ...
It is an amazing tribute that this PA Board can recognize the immense work in QUAD and how important it was ... at the expense of not knowing/understanding, the immense value ... of the other work as well. |
If you only knew how incredibly pretentious your post sounds. "we no longer 'cared' about music"? Speak for yourself, or better yet, don't generalize your platitudes. Also, many of us are quite aware of the enormity of Tommy in context with the era it was released; that does not mean, however, that Quadrophenia cannot be considered a better, more cohesive album. On the contrary, I consider it a far more mature, complex and satisfying composition than Tommy. That being said, I still think Who's Next is better than both of them. |
Also 5:15 was a huge hit off that album. |
Yep, a top 20 hit in 1973. And a classic if ever I heard one.
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dennismoore
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: April 19 2011
Location: America
Status: Offline
Points: 877
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Posted: April 10 2012 at 21:10 |
The Dark Elf wrote:
dennismoore wrote:
@The Dark Elf,
About your point about Who's Next:
No way, no how, so sorry dude.
Who's Next is a single album masterpiece. Quadrophenia is a double album masterpiece.
2 beats 1
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Okay, I suppose you've got me there. |
I was always good at math. 
Quadrophenia & Who's Next. Two of the greatest recordings ever. I am a huge prog fan but we could cause some real trouble/damage around here. What do you think of this thread idea?:
Quadrophenia & Who's Next: My two Who records will kick any of your two records all across town, even if one IS Close To The Edge!
I am almost tempted, but then I love YES so much this may cause a war between my brain's two hemispheres 
Edited by dennismoore - April 10 2012 at 21:11
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"Yeah, people are unhappy about that - but you know what, it's still Yes." - Chris Squire
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Horizons
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: January 20 2011
Location: Somewhere Else
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Points: 16952
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Posted: April 10 2012 at 21:19 |
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Quadrophenia is their best album. Complete magic.
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Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
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smartpatrol
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 15 2012
Location: My Bedroom
Status: Offline
Points: 14169
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Posted: April 16 2012 at 13:19 |
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Quadrophinea!
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The Bearded Bard
Special Collaborator
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Joined: January 24 2012
Location: Behind the Sun
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Points: 12859
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Posted: May 01 2012 at 17:16 |
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Tommy for me. Never liked Quadrophenia much. It even bores me a bit to be honest.
Edited by The Bearded Bard - May 01 2012 at 17:16
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Tonester66
Forum Newbie
Joined: June 07 2014
Status: Offline
Points: 1
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Posted: June 07 2014 at 01:24 |
I love the Overture from Tommy, but overall, it seems to have to much info for an album. And I heard an interview with Roger Daltrey, where he said that Quadrophenia was a much better album musically, than Tommy. I would tend to agree with him. 
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Altairius
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 14 2014
Status: Offline
Points: 187
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Posted: June 07 2014 at 01:54 |
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Quad
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/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
Tommy vs. Quadrophenia
