The Who guitarist and chief songwriter Pete Townshend has said he believes ‘Quadrophenia‘ is ‘the last definitive Who album’, and along with 1969’s ‘Tommy‘ and 1971’s ‘Who’s Next‘, is one of only three albums the band recorded which he describes as ‘landmark’.
MusicRadar quotes Townshend at yesterday’s media launch of the reissue of ‘Quadrophenia’, during which he gave a frank assessment of The Who’s recording career.
“We didn’t make that many albums, in fact I would say that we only made three landmark records; ‘Tommy’, ‘Who’s Next’ and ‘Quadrophenia’,” Townshend said. “I’ve always felt that ‘Quadrophenia’ was the last definitive Who album. I’ve always regarded it as a very ambitious album, but what got away was the story.
“Whenever we’ve played the songs live since they feel new, so we wanted to bring the album, the actual recorded music, into the 21st century and have that feel new as well, which is why I spent the best part of the last year working on the remastering.
“But to me, it felt to me like it was the end. The reason I’ve spent so much time working on this new edition is because it’s an epochal record, the last great album by The Who.”
The new 5-disc CD and DVD edition of ‘Quadrophenia’ is due for release on November 15th.
An incredible album. Possibly The Who’ s best studio release. Live At Leeds is, of course, the best rock album of all time..in my humble opinion.