Quadrophenia: The Director's Cut

It seems that many of the reviews of this set are from people with no intention of buying it. Which is, of course, their choice, but what they are doing, in essence, is reviewing the listed contents of the box, rather than the box itself. I must admit, I was slightly disappointed to read that the bonus audio would consist entirely of demos, and that only part of the album would be available in 5.1. Still, I ordered the box because, quite simply, this is an album I love.Having now played the contents of the box a couple of times over, and having read Pete's entire, lengthy liner notes, I can report that a mere list of the contents of this box do not do the box justice. Make no mistake about it--this is not a set where some minion within the Who organization put everything together and then sent it along to Pete's people for his approval. Townshend wrote every word of the liner notes contained within this set--he writes not only of the genesis of the project, but the construction of the studio where it was recorded, the recording of and story behind his demos, and also of what he wanted to achieve with the album's narrative. Call him greedy, call him an egomaniac, or call him what you will, but it is obvious that Pete put a great deal of time and personal effort into this set. Is this an ego project for Pete? For crying out loud, he wrote every note of music and every lyric on this album--who better him to put together a package such as this?Included in this set is a rather extensive recording diary, along with access to a special web page where one can view the pages and original notations from the actual diary, as well as pictures from the sessions, many taken by Pete himself.I do want to add a couple of things, however: First of all--the lack of studio outtakes. The fact is, looking at the session diary, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of them--it would appear that only two songs were completed by the band that were not included on the final album--"We Close Tonight" (found on the 1998 "Odds & Sods) remaster) and "Four Faces" (which appeared on the 1979 "Quadrophenia" soundtrack). So, for those complaining about the lack of any "new" studio material in this set, the problem is that there doesn't appear to be any. Pete may well have been able to cobble together "alternate versions" from unused material, much like George Martin controversially did with the "Sgt. Pepper" material in "Anthology 2", but he instead chose to put together an alternate version of the story using his demos. He writes:"If I don't sequence my demos myself here, someone may attempt to do so. I put my hand on my heart to profess that I am not trying to fix the story by doing this, or make more sense of what might one day appear on the musical theatre stage...All of these demos have been included purely for enjoyment. I've had great fun working with them again (after 40 years in some cases)...Let's face it, if I was dead, a critic would write these liner notes and could posture all over my work as though they knew what they were talking about."As for the lack of live material, Pete makes it clear that he is not proud of the subsequent tour the band undertook to promote the album. In the liner notes, he describes how after spending the summer of 1973 recording the album, he then spent August 3 through September 12th mixing the album, whereupon Track announced that the album would be released October 13th and the tour would begin October 28th. His plans to take some time to not only prepare a quadraphonic mix of the album, but to properly mix backing tapes for the tour, and to spend some time with his family, were immediately cancelled. He writes:"What followed were some of the most shameful episodes in our career on stage...if only we had been given time to work together, The Who's Quadrophenia tour of 1974 might have been different. We were all depressed I think, and disappointed...The Who's worn-out stage act had not been revitalized by Quadrophenia..."No, this set isn't for everybody. But given the amount of material packed into this box--four discs of music, a DVD, a 45, an extensive hard-bound book plus access to a special website where one can peruse scores of documents, photographs and other material, as well as about an hour of interviews with Pete, I can say that the set was worth every penny.

Ok People, we finally have a much deserved "Deluxe Release" of The Who's classic and amazing "Quadrophenia". I purposely waited a full week before attempting a review to give the CD a good listen 2-3 times and take in all the new demos and the amazing book. I've purchased Quadrophenia now four times on CD and was only 11 when it came out in 1973 so admittedly I do not have a strong connection to the sound of the original vinyl LP as I barely remember it. I did have it for about 5 or 6 years and when CD's came out in the mid 80's, the mix on this was a bit muddy for my ears and I remember always adding a little treble. It seemed the '96 remastered CD was brighter but a little too bright. Based on a recommendation from a die-hard fellow fan I later purchased the Japanese remaster from and was pleased with the sound of that. This new remster is clearly very close to the regular '96 remaster but in doing a PC analysis did find the range was a little wider, so it clearly is not the exact mix.There's beem plenty of comment on the sound, but overall I do not find it bad and certainly not half as bad as some would have you believe and I can't believe someone would give this package one star. The demos are great to have. I was first nervous to hear there was some overdubbed drums on them, but it turns out that only applies to a few songs and after a few listens, I do not have a problem with them - effort was made to not make then sound too clear or modern. Pete's demos are always amzing and these are no different - it's definitely sometimes refreshing to hear Pete's vulnerable, subtle vocal take on a song rather than Roger's "locomotive" voice.The book in this package is simply amazing. I've bought loads of boxed sets over the years and I'm not sure there's ever been a better book included with a set - it's simply gorgeous; detailed and full of great photographs - many of which this long-time fan has never seen. I'm surpised others have not commented just how nice it is. Pete gives a very detailed essay about the project and there is a track by track section also. I've added some photos of the book above in the product desciption. A few of the photos do appear a little grainy, but again, this is minor and in fact they were a little grainy in the original release.Buying the set gives you access to some additional photos and info at on the Web. Originally there was word that there might be some additional music there as well, but sadly this has changed.I have to give this 5 stars. I think the way to review this is by itself - I disagree giving it one star because you like some other mix better. The album is still amazing.I personally am not a big fan of sorround music and 5.1, so the lack of entire alum in this format was ok with me.Is it a little disppointing that the mix is not perfect? Yes, but we are talking about an almost 40 year old recording that has always has its problems. It seems that boxed sets always set you up for amazing hope and they can never live up to the hype and excitement. Even The Who's great "30 Years" boxed set has its share of problems - a couple of weird choices for songs and the unbelievably bad decision to "cross fade" tracks on disc 4.I say if you really like Quadrophenia and/or if you are a fan of Pete's demos, pick this up - the demos and book are alone worth it.

The trouble with allowing feedback.(apart from mine obviously) is that the majority of the complaints come from people unlike myself who have not worked in the "music biz".People who have no idea about the amount of time money devotion,and obviously care put into a project like this.They complain about the price and come up with some weird and wonderful prices that they think it's worth...based on what..??then there are the nitpickers who could have done a better job.Compalints most often in this case about the 5.1 ep being just that an ep..rather than the full album..yet it's already available in that format elsewhere so they would have probably complained about that.Townshend puts his mind heart,soul and very nearly his (remaining) sanity into the original double album,as explained in various books, and into this coffee table crusher and yet thanks to the advent of the internet etc everyone's a critic.I've bought it I've listened to it and I love it..I would however someday like to hear a version (or in Townshend & The Who's case probably 5) that contained the missing bits.

I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS RELEASE BEING A MASSIVE WHO FAN,BUT I FEEL VERY LET DOWN AGAIN BY THIS RELEASE.YES THE BOOK IS GOOD WITH A NICE ESSAY BY PETE AND THERE IS SOME GOOD MEMORABILIA,BUT WHAT IS THAT DVD ABOUT.ONLY HALF THE ALBUM FOR A START AND MOST PEOPLE I KNOW (INCLUDING ME)DON'T HAVE SURROUND SOUND.THE FOURTH DISC IN MY OPINION SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LIVE SHOW FROM 1973 FEATURING QUADROPHENIA.THE 1973 GIG FROM THE SPECTRUM HAS BEEN OUT FOR YEARS ON BOOTLEG SO WHY ITS NOT ON HERE IS QUITE FRANKLY VERY POOR.I ASKED CHRIS CHARLESWORTH AT THE 2013 WHO CONVENTION IF HE AGREED THAT A LIVE DISC SHOULD BE ON HERE AND HE AGREED WITH ME.NATURALLY TOMMY IS BEING RE-ISSUED AGAIN WITH YOU GUESSED IT A BLOODY DVD SURROUND SOUND DISC INCLUDED.THE ALBUM IS A 5 STAR ALBUM ALWAYS WILL BE BUT AS A FAN I FEEL CHEATED BY THIS BOX SET.SORRY PETE.

Love this package just for the 25 demos alone, a bit pricey but it was a gift so what do I care, I agree with some other reviews that the pictures in the book are low quality and they should of invested in cleaning them up for publication in a book. I have no idea why they have a DVD for disc 5 as it seems totally pointless to get 8 songs on a DVD format when you have just bought the whole album, maybe if it had been live footage I could see the point. I've never heard the album in vinyl so can't really compare the transfer to CD, I still have a CD version from the 90's and love it to bits. I think this product is great and only paid £50 because I had some vouchers and some birthday money so decided to invest, I am sure it may get cheaper and suggest waiting for it to fall to a price you can live with as it a lot of money for what you get.

Clearly a product for collectors or Who fans. One to treasure - it's a shame the outer cover was battered in one corner, and I probably ought to send it back. However I am not a collector, I was interested in the 5.1 mix and it was a way of spending birthday money on something I would not have bought for myself. Makes a good table top book!

Bought this for my husband, who is a BIG the who fan. The printing of the book and poster is in really good quality and a good collection of CDs. A nice gift for The Who fan to add to their collection.