“Quadrophenia”, like schizophrenia but twice as bad. Pete Townshend’s 2nd rock opera was his attempt to tell the story of The Who via the character of Jimmy, a Mod who didn’t fit in anywhere, who felt like his personality was split into 4 pieces, with each of those 4 personalities represented by a member of The Who. 

As the sound of crashing waves leads us into “I Am The Sea” we begin to hear snippets of songs from this album like they are being blown past us on the wind. “Helpless Dancer” Daltrey’s theme, “Is It Me” (from “Doctor Jimmy”) Entwistle’s theme, “Bell Boy” Moon’s theme (of course!) and “Love Reign O’er Me” as Townsend’s theme. Townsend saw himself as the Good character in The Who, Daltrey as the Bad, Entwistle as the Romantic and Moon as the Lunatic. The four facets of Jimmy’s quadrophenic personality. Just like every good opera Townshend uses those recurring themes to set scenes and tie different parts of the story together. There’s some heavy stuff going on in here but the music is majestic. The Who’s best album to my mind.

After all those waves and snippets of songs on the wind “Quadrophenia” suddenly bursts into life as “The Real Me” comes leaping from your speakers and Jimmy lays out his problems to us. He’s been to see a shrink, he’s talked to his Mother, he tells us about the girl who doesn’t even see him and then ends up talking to a Preacher who’s no help either. All the time he just wants to know who the real Jimmy is. Townshend’s guitar crashes throughout, Moon’s maniacal drumming drives things along but the truly astonishing thing about “The Real Me” is John Entwistle’s bass playing. Next time you’re anywhere near this tune concentrate on that, or click the link below and zone in on The Ox, it’s a quite remarkable performance. Pete Townsend has said about Moon and Entwistle that they did all the fancy stuff guitarists usually do, he just had to keep time !

“Quadrophenia is at its heart a story of confused teenagers and navigating your way through those hormonally charged years. Jimmy’s problems aren’t any different to those experienced by many of us growing up and Townshend managed to set it all to music brilliantly. The screenwriters for the movie version of “Quadrophenia” wouldn’t have had to work too hard to formulate their story. That movie, it also has to be noted, was every bit as important to the late 70’s Mod Revival as the rise of The Jam and the bands that were forming and playing in their wake. The opening scene of the film, Jimmy riding his scooter through the darkened streets of London looking cocky as hell until he’s surrounded by a bunch of rockers on motorbikes had a huge effect on many of us the first time we saw it.

There are some very suspect lyrics included in places, particularly on “Helpless Dancer” and “Doctor Jimmy”, things you wouldn’t get away with now. But I’m not going to dismiss an entire album over a few lines in two songs, I’ll acknowledge the fact they are there, that it would be better if they weren’t and move on.

Townshends artistic vision to write such a huge piece and The Who’s skill as musicians to bring this vision to life should not be underestimated. Songs like "The Real Me”, "5:15" and "Love, Reign o'er Me" sit very well as individual songs but tell a vital part of a bigger story. The fact that it took them decades to do it justice live speaks to its emotional intensity and musical complexity. “Quadrophenia” is a freaking masterpiece. 

The Real Me - https://youtu.be/MuFQ--RYUxU?si=go6DcD_DXqSuhh1X

BBC “Quadrophenia” Documentary - https://youtu.be/-B6iJPOI0b8

Back in March 2018 while on tour with The Wonder Stuff we all got dropped off in Shepherds Bush very early ahead of a gig at The Empire. My wife Deb and me went for a wander around Shepherd Bush as I had a few spots I wanted to visit and re-visit. We found a fabulous cafe on Askew Rd where we had breakfast. The reason for that particular cafe was because it was just a few doors down from Peckings Studio 1 record shop (look it up, it’s legendary) which was on my list. From there we headed to the junction of Godolphin and Goldhawk Roads to visit the former site of Townhouse Studios where The Jam recorded “Sound Affects” and The Wonder Stuff “Never Loved Elvis”. From there it was a short walk down the Goldhawk Road to what is now known as The Shepherds Bush Club but in a former life was The Goldhawk Social where West London’s Mods would congregate to see The Who play.

The Who, then known as The Detours, first played the Goldhawk Social in June 1963 and between then and December 1965, when they played their final gig there, they built up a reputation and a committed following of Mods that got them noticed nationally. Much of the material on this, their debut album, would have been road tested in front of and influenced by the audience at the Goldhawk Social. When The Who appeared on Ready Steady Go to promote their single “I Can’t Explain” their managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, were asked to supply an audience of “typical teenagers”. They simply invited the regulars from the Goldhawk Social. Among them would no doubt have been legendary Who fan “Irish" Jack Lyons who said of the band "The Who weren't a joke, they were fucking real, and so were we”. 

“My Generation” was recorded rather quickly after the success of “I Can’t Explain” and the band have subsequently dismissed it as something of a rush job that didn’t represent the way they sounded at the time. Even so it contains some fantastic stuff. Unusually for the times the majority of the songs were written by the band, 8 of the 12 by Pete Townshend, the stampeding instrumental “The Ox” by John Entwistle, Keith Moon and session pianist Nicky Hopkins and just 3 cover versions which were very likely staples of their live set at the time.

There are classic singles, “My Generation” and “The Kids Are Alright” (“A Legal Matter” was also a single but released by record company Brunswick after the band had left them for Reaction Records so it doesn’t really count). There are great album tracks, “Out In The Street” is a perfect opener introducing what I know as that 60’s Who sound (even if the band didn’t agree), “The Good’s Gone” is an almost Psychedelic (before its time) drone (it was also obviously a favourite of Paul Weller's, listen to it swiftly followed by The Jam's "Time For Thruth"). The covers are what you would expect from a band playing primarily to Mods (James Brown and Bo Diddley).

In 1980 at the height of the Mod Revival, Virgin Records re-issued “My Generation” in it’s original sleeve design with lookalike Brunswick labels that said Virgin instead. I snapped it up at the time and it sat in my collection taking pride of place with the two volumes of “Tamla Motown Presents Mod Classics”, genuine 60’s Mod music. I still have all three of them. 

The Who went on to produce more experimental records in the 60’s that were more to their liking and by the 70’s became the greatest rock band on the planet but this and the next record we’ll talk about are the two I think of when my thoughts turn to the ‘orrible ‘oo.

The Good’s Gone - https://youtu.be/7onOwZZiE7g?si=7-I5HdMWFsqhzo4D

Another thing I’ve inherited from my parents. My Mom was a big Johnny Mathis fan and had an album she’d play all the time that had a version of “Maria” from this show on it. Mom and Dad were also fans of the great Broadway musicals and Broadway musicals don’t get much greater than Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s “West Side Story”. 

It’s loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”. The setting now is the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City where Tony, of the local American gang the Jets, and Maria, from the recently arrived Puerto Rican community and allied to their gang the Sharks, fall in love, and “never was a story of more woe than this of Maria and her Tony” to paraphrase the bard.

The Broadway show was made into a movie in 1961 starring Natalie Wood as Maria, Richard Beymer as Tony, leader of the Jets, Russ Tamblyn as Riff, George Chakiris as Bernardo, Maria’s brother and leader of the Sharks and Rita Moreno as Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend. It’s a fantastic looking film, bright and colourful. The songs are superb “Something’s Coming”, the incredible set piece “America” (Bernardo “Everywhere grime in America, Organized crime in America, Terrible time in America”, Anita “You forget I'm in America”), “Maria”, “Gee Officer Krupke” is hilarious, the slinky, jazzy “Cool”, I have no idea why fans of the New York Jets haven’t adopted “Jet Song” in some way as their own (“When you’re a Jet, You’re a Jet all the way, From your first cigarette to your last dying day”) maybe because they just don’t sing at their football games like we do ? It all ends on the stunning “Somewhere” with a dying Tony and Maria professing their endless love for each other.

As a loosely connected aside, some of you may know I’ve been a big fan of American Footbal for over 40 years. My NFL team is the New York Jets and the college team I follow are the Long Island Sharks…one has to wonder how much influence this movie had on those decisions…

Somewhere - https://youtu.be/PtwIFrtZ7ww?si=hM-PiuoJNeoNhzRj