Quadrophenia - Track 3, Side 1
As a rock fan in the mid ‘70s, you had to make a hard choice: You were either a Led Zeppelin fan or a fan of The Who. While it tended to be the burnouts and misfits who were Zeppelin fans, the jocks and preps seemed to favor The Who. Luckily times have changed considerably, and thanks to classic rock radio, the two camps have merged seamlessly into one.

The story of The Who’s rock opera Quadrophenia also portrayed a struggle between distinct groups: The mods versus the rockers. Quadrophenia is told through the character of Jimmy and his four distinct personalities, each a representation of the four members of The Who: Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon. It also explores more universal themes of teen angst, approaching adulthood and finding one’s place in the world.

Quadrophenia was released in 1973, four years after The Who’s first rock opera, Tommy. While Quadrophenia was arguably a better album than Tommy, the story was less structured and the narrative wasn’t nearly as strong. In 1979, a feature film version of Quadrophenia was released.  Although considered a masterpiece of rock cinema, it needed not only considerable scripting to stitch together Townshend’s very loose story, but also additional songs in order to tell a proper tale.

After the success of the 1989 Who tour where Tommy was performed in its entirety, the band decided to stage Quadrophenia in 1996. As chronicled in the special features of this disc, Roger Daltrey had a very significant involvement in the production… more so than Townshend had ever allowed him in the past.

The eventual final product, as found on The Who: Quadrophenia Live, is what The Who was best able to accomplish with the difficult material. I have to say that this time around, they were less successful with this experiment than they were with the Tommy tour.

Daltrey and Townshend seemed far too concerned with trying to tell the story than they were with putting on a proper rock show. The staging for the tour included a gigantic Jumbotron screen positioned directly above the stage. Projected on this screen were a number of crutches that were needed to fill in the narrative gaps that the songs themselves did not. Images seen included historical newsreels, vintage footage of The Who, scenes from the feature film, and an actor portraying the main character, Jimmy (Alex Langdon). In the original show, the stage darkened so that the audience could focus on the information on screen. On the DVD, these scenes are directly transferred to the picture via edits, cutting back to the band only during song performances. To say that these moments are distracting and aggravating would be an understatement. These moments grind the flow of the show to a halt, and really highlight the fact that Quadrophenia is a story best left untold in a live stage performance.

When we do get to the band, we see a much older but still capable Who. Vocalist Daltrey, finally acting his age and cutting his hair, is in fine voice. Guitarist Townshend, frustratingly strapped to only an acoustic guitar for the show, is lively and actually interacting with the audience and the band instead of seeming like a man alone in the world… his usual approach. Bassist Entwistle is really the most unchanged of any of the band members. While he may be greyer and a little thicker, he wears the same stone-faced expression and rigid stance he’s had since the early days of the band. Original drummer Moon died in 1978 and here is replaced by Zak Starkey (Ringo’s kid). Joining the foursome is Townshend’s brother Simon on guitar and as The Bus Driver, two keyboardists, another percussionist, two background singers and four horn players.

Unfortunately, The Who returned to the “special guests” move that they pulled for Tommy, only this time with definitely less satisfactory results. Billy Idol, who must be tight with The Who, returns to the stage as The Ace Face. Just as he did in Tommy, Idol surprises us, as his voice is certainly pleasant while singing Who songs. A much less welcome visitor is P.J. Proby as The Godfather. I assume Proby is well known in the UK, but this was the first I’d ever heard of him. His time on stage was an embarrassment, with a voice and appearance of a man whose best years were probably 30 years ago, if ever. Now, I realize this was probably the point of the character, but he was so bad that I dreaded his every appearance on the stage.

All of this was woven together into something that was not quite a rock concert and not quite theater, but attempting to be both. They failed on both counts, and that is shocking to say about a band that was just as well known for their electrifying stage performance as they were for their strong catalogue of hits. This may have been moderately successful due to The Who's considerably older fan base, whose hearts and patience are more in tune with this concept, and their hunger to see these legends play in the flesh. As a younger fan that discovered the music of The Who long after it was considered current, I was disappointed in any number of ways by this.

In my opinion, 5:15 is the best song on the Quadrophenia album and I was at least looking forward to this, resisting every temptation to head for that fast-forward button. When it finally arrived, it came whored-up with glitz and flash. A ballsy, once propulsive song had been replaced with a Vegas-style spectacle, complete with far too much brass and not nearly enough sass.

Image Quality: "Is It In My Head"
Since both Tommy Live and Quadrophenia Live were released on DVD at the same time, it is hard not to compare them to one another.  This tour was staged seven years after Tommy, and the improvement in video equipment is considerable. Most of the scenes in the source material are crisp, with only a few shots lacking in clarity and having some “noise” evident.

There is a disclaimer on this disc stating that the show was recorded for the archival purposes of the band and never intended for public release. This fact certainly shows in the amateurish direction, sloppy editing, and lack of interesting camera setups and movement.

The transfer to DVD is definitely well done. The flaws in the source material aside, there is no evidence of any digital artifacting, halos, or pixilation.  Rhino has done a far better job with this than they tend to do with some of the other films in their library.

Sound Quality: "Helpless Dancer"
The sound is definitely a trickier bird. While things were remixed for the purposes of this disc to give us 5.1 Surround (and the production was quite good), again things suffer due to the source material. I suppose we could look to the disclaimer once more, but the recording done here was not good at all. The sound was pulled from the house PA mix and is just terrible. Much of it is wild, making Daltrey’s vocals sound echoey, even while the mics on the other singers are clear. The bass is undermixed and Entwistle’s best stuff gets lost in the din.

At times, the show sounds very good, but with the distracting narration between songs, I wouldn’t recommend letting this disc play as background music.

Disc Extras: "5:15"
There are only two extras on this disc, but both are definitely quite worthwhile. The first is titled The Quadrophenia Story and it is a brisk, almost eight-minute piece on the creation of the tour and the DVD with interviews by co-director Aubrey Powell and Townshend. They discuss some of the details involved in readying the archive tapes for public consumption and some of the editing changes (such as the vintage Who footage) done specifically for this release.

The second feature is the visual commentary with Daltrey and Townshend. Just as on the Tommy Live disc, the track superimposes either Daltrey or Townshend over the show discussing Quadrophenia. As on the Tommy Live disc, they discuss the genesis of the album and both the meaning of the songs as well as what inspired them. Where it differs from the Tommy disc (a much welcome change) is that they both discuss the show and the DVD itself in detail and at great length. As a matter of fact, Townshend himself admits that Quadrophenia probably didn’t work all that well as a live show. There is a wealth of interesting stories here and it's a definite must-see after you’ve watched the show.

The Bottom Line: "I’ve Had Enough"
The Who: Quadrophenia Live is what it is. It defies easy explanation and is sure to disappoint all but those who attended the show and know exactly what they are getting here. This is The Who presented poorly and definitely not at their best. Tommy Live is certainly more accessible and easier to enjoy than Quadrophenia Live, and that is coming from someone who considered the Tommy disc a disappointment.

This is for fans only, and those fans will get more pleasure from the commentary than they will the main feature. For those who want to explore and learn about The Who, this title should not be their first stop. Go check out The Kids Are Alright first.