Warthur The Who's second great rock opera at points blows Tommy out of the water, but its double album format means that it's a less lean and compact prospect than its predecessor. Incorporating the muscular hard rock approach and synthesiser experiments of Who's Next into a narrative structure based around a confused teenage Mod trying to integrate the different aspects of his personality (each of whom is based on a member of the Who), I found the album both more musically rewarding than Tommy, where occasionally the musical quality took a back seat to the demands of the narrative, as well as simply telling a better story - though one which relies a little too much on mythologising and hyping up the mod scene in question.

Quite simply, on a lyrical and narrative level Quadrophenia makes Tommy look like juvenile, shallow hippy nonsense. Taking a universal human dilemma - trying to work out which of the differing personas we present to the world best reflects our real selves - and weaving it into a semi-autobiographical story looking back on the Who's Mod roots, Townshend creates a story with more depth and genuine literary merit than Tommy or Tommy's many imitators, whilst the other band members give their all to this performance. The use of synthesisers are carefully and tastefully judged, and together with Who's Next this album contains some of the band's most powerful rock anthems.

In the wake of this album, it is difficult to see Tommy as anything other than an experimental prototype, a cobbled-together blueprint that was more successful in pointing the way to Quadrophenia than as a musical piece in its own right. It's on this album that the Who reached their peak in terms of producers of rock opera. At the same time, there's strands of filler here and there - particularly on the second disc, which is significantly less tight than the first disc - and the emphasis on telling a more coherent story does sometimes overpower the music.

arcane-beautiful The Concept Album Part 2

Ok, I'm quite confused. I have seen alot of incredibly positive reviews on this album, and I'm pondering because I didn't really find anything very special about this album.

Compared to Tommy, this album doesn't really meet the mark.

This album isn't bad, but it's not great either. I do admit this album does have some great songs, and some of their most intricate material, but their is in my opinion alot of filler material.

It may drag on a wee bit, being over 80 minutes, but the concept does flow quite well, although it isn't as based as Tommy is, and descirbes alot more emotion than quotes or actions.

It fails in comparison to Tommy, but it still is quite enjoyable.

CD 1

1. I Am The Sea - Just ocean and the faint echo of the 4 themes. A bit lazy to be honest. 6/10

2. The Real Me - This is quite aggresive and Roger's voice is amazing. Great song. 10/10

3. Quadrophenia - Pretty interesting instrumental. Some nice synth work. 9/10

4. Cut My Hair - Pretty interesting chorus. Not alot in it to be honest. 6/10

5. The Punk & The Godfather - This song does have a weird almost Alice Cooper like chorus, and the vocal harmonies in the last verse are very beautiful. 9/10

6. I'm One -An acoustic ballad. Meh, it's okay. 7/10

7. The Dirty Jobs - Some nice corny and interesting lyricism. 7/10

8. Helpless Dancer - I like the way this song flows, it's almost like a sung poem. 9/10

9. Is It In My Head? - Pretty cool chorus and lyric ideas brought foward. 8/10

10. I've Had Enough -Good enough ending for the first act. 8/10

CD 2

1. 5.15 - Great chorus and very rocking. 9/10

2. Sea & Sand -Very boring in my opinon. 4/10

3. Drowned - I don't even remember this song. 4/10

4. Bell Boy - This was an amazing song. I love the cockney accent. Great chorus. 10/10

5. Doctor Jimmy - Best song on the album. Very dramatic. John's theme is the most beautiful on the album. Roger's vocals are amazing. 10/10

6. The Rock -A sum up of the themes bascily. 9/10

7. Love Reign O'er Me - This theme would be great if it had alot more work and intricacy to it. But, a great ending nontheless. 8/10

CONCLUSION: It's nothing really special. If it had alot cut out of it, it would be amazing.