"Quadrophenia: The Director's Cut"--Reviews

Yes they are.

 

Filled out profile. Don't think it's my system that's not resolving detail, although perhaps the cartridge is on the warmer side. The missing details are inexcusable, of course. It's just personal preference. The original mix is a bit odd. As someone says, thunderous. But the re-mix just feels more alive. Going to check out the "back to black" vinyl version of the remix and see if it gets me more oomph.

 

Received mine yesterday. With shipping it was $103.00 Canadian via Amazon.uk.. Demos are awesome, the 5.1 mix a bit of a letdown - even the Genesis 5.1s are better, imo. The book is fantastic, and the overdubbed drums don't drive me as crazy as I thought they would. I could complain, but I won't, because I'm glad I have it and agree or disagree with his choices, I love how much Townshend was involved with the whole project. It is a great summation of an album I've loved for almost 30 years. Next week is 'Instant Replay', and then an extensive cd buying hiatus for me (unless MPL gets off their ***).

 

I totally agree with your assessment of the 5.1 mixes. Aside from the songs Quadrophenia and Love Reign O'er Me, the rest of it is lacking bass drum in a big way. It's there in the first two songs I mentioned, but not the others!!! What good is The Real Me without sufficient bass drum coming through my subwoofer?? There seems to be no continuity in the tonality of these 5.1 mixes from song to song. Every song has a completely different amount of mids and bass! Waaay too much reverb on Daltrey's voice on much of it as well (not to mention too much mids on his vocals too. It almost hurts at times). Luckily, I borrowed this disc and didn't buy this set. The only cool thing about the 5.1 mixes is the end of the song Quadrophenia which is extended by quite a bit with a bit of Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere playing towards the end of the sound effects. I did get the demos though. Those are interesting, but they just make me want to listen to the finished versions afterwards. Keith and John brought so much to the songs that made it to the album, and after hearing the songs that didn't, I can understand why some of them didn't make the final cut!

 

Great book and a great package...why only a 5.1 EP? I wonder

 

You know, I have an early Dutch Track-pressing and I agree. There simply is not a world of difference between the remix and the original in terms of how the vocals sound, but Pete always makes it sound as if there was.

 

Has it been established by anyone if in fact the "5:15" 45 is the 1973 or the 1979 soundtrack mix?

 

Drum overdubs, somewhat tolerable except on:

"I've Had Enough" Demo

Were IMO, its simply a travesty.

 

I have not yet heard it myself, but as others have described it, it is the soundtrack mix.

FYI, it sounds like there's a chance the original mix of the album will be put on QCloud. I guess keep your fingers crossed.

I did suggest also putting the original mixes of the demos there. I won't hold my breath, but it would be cool if Pete would agree to it.

 

If Boo-Boo's has the Classic LP, grab it!!...That's a great sounding LP.

 

Interesting about the original mixes. Thanks for the heads-up on the possibility. If it happens, I'm guessing it might be the new mastering that is being used for the vinyl release?

 

My 2 pence on this box. I'm an original mix man all the way, but I found the book to be fascinating and wonderful to have - l learned a lot from it. The box version of the remix sounds quite good, even (this is just my opinion) more Who-like than the original, which is kind of monolithic in a way; and it sounds better - richer and clearer - to me than the earlier remix CDs. (Rog's voice, however, has what sounds like a tad more echo on it, and I agree with folks who don't see the improvement in this version.) Don't have surround, but will someday. The demos are cool, though I doubt I'll listen to them repeatedly. The box itself reminds me nicely of the LP set - it's not big and bloated like other recent boxes have been. So all around I'm very happy to have this. It is pricey, but I got it as an early X-mas gift to myself, so what the heck. As Quadrophenia is one of my all-time favorite albums, I wouldn't want to be without the Director's Cut. Haven't tried the Q Cloud yet. Again just me own opinion here.

 

I like the small def of a Quadrophenic on the back cover of the sountrack cover...

Tell the whole world why don't ya...

That was my plan, until last night, when this thread inspired me to dig out my vinyl copy to see what I had--assuming US MCA--only to see my copy is a German Track pressing, which I'd just read great things about in the other Quad thread, so now I want to spin that one first...

Anyone prefer the German track original to the Classic reissue? Assuming the German is clean and quiet....

 

German Track

A while ago I bought the Classic and compared it with my regular German Track!

Although it was a close finish I decided to sell the Classic!

 

German Track has always been my go-to for QUAD.... Great sounding pressing.

 

I wonder if anyone can remark specifically about how the new mastering is equalized differently than the 1996 edition.

 

Hmmm yeah.
I said on the other thread that the drums in general didn't bother me but I do agree with you-I listened to the old version and it's better without them. To me they take away from the guitar a bit and just sound corny.

 

What is interesting is how many members on this forum defend The Rolling Stones and Springsteen for re-recording instrumentation/vocals on archival material, but Townshend adds some new drums and harmony vocals and it becomes sacrilegious. I would prefer that archival material remain in its historically accurate state, but it doesn't appear Townshend went overboard here either. And frankly, I am more aggrivated with the overall content (no WHO outtakes/live material) than I am over some minor overdubs.

 

Out of my brain on the five fifteen...

I finally sat down in the sweet spot today for a focused listen to this German Track Quadrophenia pressing all the way through, I think--ashamed to say, being a huge Who fan since 1980--for the first time.

Man, what an epic journey, muscially, lyrically, and conceptually.

This pressing hit many fine highs, but I am left really wanting to try out the Classic to compare.


The last great Who album?

 

Roger Daltrey blames engineer Ron Nevison for that. He made a rather scathing comment a few years ago in an interview about a possible 5.1/surround mix of the album saying that whilst everything could be tweaked to sound fantastic, the vocals couldn't because Nevison recorded Daltrey's vocals on the multitracks plastered with reverb, so with no dry vocals to work with, they're stuck with the old vocal reverb which can't be undone.

 

I don't believe Daltrey is correct about that. There are certainly significant differences in vocal sound on the soundtrack and '96 remixes.

 

Yeah, but unlike in those cases, Townshend didn't do them. The drummer from his girlfriend's band did...

 

Couldn't disagree more. It was Roger who first complained about it, and he was right to. He's consistently buried under the instruments in the original mix. One of the easiest/best examples of this is "The Real Me".

No other record benefited more from the revisionist/90's remixing of the Who catalog than this one (though 'Tommy' comes a close second)...

 

Eh...I have issues with the original mix of Quad, but the vocals are not one of them.

And I still prefer the original mix of Tommy to the remix.

 

Did you have problems with "the drummer from Pete's girlfriend's band" contributing to Endless Wire, too?