Quadrophenia
The Who
Track
Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist and principal composer, has since 1968 followed Indian spiritual master Meher Baba, who died in 1969. One of his teachings is that god is like an infinite ocean. To drown in that ocean is to become one with the divine - an idea central to the songs on , the last great Who album.
Ostensibly is a musical account of a few eventful days in the life of a confused teenager - Jimmy, a mod and Who fan - in 1964. But Townshend, who wrote the songs, also used them to explore the more spiritual questions he had started to address with the 1969 "rock opera" .
Water imagery flows through the album from the opening track, , which states four recurrent melodic themes - each representing a member of The Who - to its anthemic closer, . The reign/rain pun is clearly intended, and sounds of rainfall, thunder and waves are painstakingly integrated with the music.
One of the album's pivotal songs, , was originally intended to stand alone. Townshend has said it was inspired by Meher Baba, and conceived as a prayer. Roger Daltrey sings it on the album, but since the late 1970s, Townshend has taken the lead vocal live.
is designated "Pete's Theme", but depends for much of its impact on Daltrey's soaring voice. It is similar in meaning to : "This refers to Meher Baba's comment that rain was a blessing from god; that thunder was god's voice. It's another plea to drown, only this time in the rain," Townshend has said.
Whether or really are "rock operas" is moot, but "Wagnerian" does describe the latter, with its leitmotifs and the orchestral power of Townshend's layers of synthesisers, John Entwistle's one-man brass section, and Keith Moon's thundering percussion.
was intended to provide The Who with an extended bravura piece to replace in live shows However, in 1973 and 1974, when the band's classic guitar, bass and drums line-up was dependent on backing tapes to reproduce the brass and keyboard parts, the equipment repeatedly malfunctioned. In 1996 Townshend, Daltrey and Entwistle - Moon died in 1978 - engaged a large backing band, and toured the whole album as it was meant to be heard live.
Entwistle died in 2002, but Daltrey and Townshend have performed a number of times as a multimedia show.
was made for quadrophonic sound - a new idea in 1973 - and is available in 5.1 Blu-ray Pure Audio. It should be played loud. This is music to drown in.
