Another masterwork from the Who
The music on Quadrophenia (1973) is sophisticated and represents the second large scale concept album by the group (the other being Tommy). The concept on Quadrophenia, which revolves around English youth, is handled carefully and with great intelligence, resulting in a concept work that is deep, multidimensional, and ever engrossing.

On Quadrophenia, Townshend once again amply demonstrates his ability to embellish just a few central musical themes with instrumental preludes, interludes and postludes, all of which create the impression of something much larger and complex. In addition, highly melodic vocal, guitar and synthesizer parts weave and soar above a positively thunderous rhythm section to create some very interesting music. Speaking of which, John Entwistle is a ripping bass player and Keith Moon is simply phenomenal.

This remastered package is pretty nice and features a nicely detailed booklet and good sound quality.

Quadrophenia is an excellent album and is highly recommended along with Tommy and Who's Next.

Awesome
Nobody writes stuff this good anymore, except maybe Nick Worrall. Simply stunning in every way possible.

"Is it me... for a moment?"
It's better than Tommy. Waaaaaaay better. After a couple of listens to Quadrophenia, you'll never need to hear about Captain Walker or his unfortunate spawn ever again. See, where Tommy was an exploratory stab at an album-length rock opera, Quadrophenia is a confident, competent, expertly executed conceptual masterpiece. Where Tommy often feels slipshod and thrown together, Quadrophenia is airtight and well thought out. Quadrophenia replaces Tommy's contradictions with complexities, its banalities with genuine emotion. The deep parts are deeper, the comic relief is funnier, and the story is less, er, stupid.

It also has better songs. It has "The Real Me," which is a gorgeously chaotic slab of hyperamplified teenage angst. It has the sweet delirium of "5:15," and the vicious identity crisis of "Doctor Jimmy." It has such harrowing classics as "The Punk And The Godfather" and "Helpless Dancer," and it has the anthemic, bitter "I've Had Enough." And the desperate romance of "Sea And Sand." And the apocalyptic "Love, Reign O'er Me." And the hilarious "Bell Boy." And some really well-placed synthesizers. And a really cool story, which I'll let you discover on your own. Bon appétit!

The Who - At Their Very Best
For me this album is The Who's high water mark. For some reason history has not lauded it as much as "Tommy" and sales wise it was a step down from the band's previous album "Who's Next", but for pure musical creativity this album is one of the great conceptual works, and dare I say progressive rock albums, of all time. The two disc set tells the story of Jimmy, a mod in early 60's Briton. Jimmy's whole life revolves partying, drugs and clashes with the rival Rockers at Brighton pier. It is the classic tale of that period in life between being a kid and becoming an adult. Jimmy's story is told with some of Pete Townshend's most well written lyrics and music that find that band at the very top of their game. The album plays like a movie soundtrack and indeed it was eventually made into a movie starring a young Sting from The Police. All of the band members are in top form here with John Entwistle absolutely stunning on bass, and probably the last really great performance from Keith Moon. If you like The Who at all and especially if you are into progressive rock or concept albums in general you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones seem to be held on a higher pedestal over the who when it comes to classic rock, but neither band ever came close to a full album as good as this in my opinion.

The Who and their masterpiece.
I remember buying this in 1973, and being slightly disappointed, that Daltry's vocals at times, seemed buried in the mix. However, this was Pete Townshend's writing, at it's best. I saw them perform this in Los Angeles,as those that were around for the strange 1973 North American Tour, knows. We didn't know at the time, that this would be the last time that Keith Moon would perform with fearless abandon. The Who died, when Keith Moon did, in 1978. Everything else since, pales in comparison.