HiRez Poll Who, The - QUADROPHENIA (complete) [BluRay]

[atlantasteve]

I closed my eyes and waited until the final Townsend guitar fret at the end of Love Reign... And the sound went from back to front to back. Yes! I have to give it a 10 based on that decision alone. In any case, the rest of the album is brilliant.

 

[ar surround]

Another pissed off purchaser here! They are not going to get anymore of my money. I thought a complete 5.1 download was to be offered to purchasers of that set when it became available. Or was I just dreaming?

OK, OK, addicts always relapse! Despite my quoted rant, I went for the 5.1 BluRay disc. Though I still would have hoped for somewhat cleaner sound like we got with Aqualung, listening to the full opera is much better than just the excerpts on the DVD-A in The Director's Cut. This great piece of work is not meant to be cut up.

 

[MIDIQ]

Not one of my favorite albums. The first time I heard it I didn't like it very much, but it did grow on me to the point a voted 8 over all. Quite glad to have it.

 

[privateuniverse]

After giving Rumours a spin last night (and really loving it) I noticed in the polls that this placed higher. I was surprised to find this. Although it's been a while since I've played it, my memory was that I was somewhat underwhelmed by it. So tonight I gave it another spin to see why it was rated so highly. I was happy to find that the mix is significantly better than what I had remembered. For much of the album, things are spread out quite nicely. Townshend's synthesizer parts and Entwistle's horn parts are frequently positioned very nicely in the rears. However, I do feel that on the tracks that feature just the core guitar/bass/drums/vocals (such as "Drowned") the mix can be a little conservative. Plus there are a few places where there were some very odd mixing choices. At the very end of "The Rock" for example, things abruptly jump to the rears for an unpleasant effect.

As for sonics/fidelity, I do find this a bit disappointing. It doesn't have the depth and clarity that I would have hoped for, though it's not awful. The thing that I find most unforgivable here is how buried Entwistle's bass parts are. This wasn't the case on earlier versions of this album. Townshend himself has said that Entwistle was the lead guitarist in the band. The bass parts on "The Real Me" are an essential part of the song and they just don't stand out enough here.

On the positive side, the slide show is wonderful. Why more acts (I'm talking to you Roger Waters) don't put a little more effort into the visuals is beyond me. And of course the most positive thing here is the music. It's my favorite Who album. The band is firing on all cylinders and are on the top of their game. Not only is it my favorite Who album, it's one of my favorite albums by anyone. On that proverbial list of the ten albums you'd take to a desert island, this one easily makes my list. I saw them perform it seven times on the 1996/1997 tour and I was blown away every night. (One night, in Worcester, I was lucky enough to score front row seats in front of Entwistle. I was in heaven!)

I wish I could rate it a 10 because of how much I love this album (on music alone I'd give it a 17!) but because of the issues mentioned above I feel I have to dock it a couple of points. I'll give it a very enthusiastic 8.

 

[shokhead]

Thought it could have been much better. Just a tad on the tinny side. barely a 7 but I'd understand a 6.

 

[jsayers]

After giving Rumours a spin last night (and really loving it) I noticed in the polls that this placed higher. I was surprised to find this. Although it's been a while since I've played it, my memory was that I was somewhat underwhelmed by it. So tonight I gave it another spin to see why it was rated so highly. I was happy to find that the mix is significantly better than what I had remembered. For much of the album, things are spread out quite nicely. Townshend's synthesizer parts and Entwistle's horn parts are frequently positioned very nicely in the rears. However, I do feel that on the tracks that feature just the core guitar/bass/drums/vocals (such as "Drowned") the mix can be a little conservative. Plus there are a few places where there were some very odd mixing choices. At the very end of "The Rock" for example, things abruptly jump to the rears for an unpleasant effect.

As for sonics/fidelity, I do find this a bit disappointing. It doesn't have the depth and clarity that I would have hoped for, though it's not awful. The thing that I find most unforgivable here is how buried Entwistle's bass parts are. This wasn't the case on earlier versions of this album. Townshend himself has said that Entwistle was the lead guitarist in the band. The bass parts on "The Real Me" are an essential part of the song and they just don't stand out enough here.

On the positive side, the slide show is wonderful. Why more acts (I'm talking to you Roger Waters) don't put a little more effort into the visuals is beyond me. And of course the most positive thing here is the music. It's my favorite Who album. The band is firing on all cylinders and are on the top of their game. Not only is it my favorite Who album, it's one of my favorite albums by anyone. On that proverbial list of the ten albums you'd take to a desert island, this one easily makes my list. I saw them perform it seven times on the 1996/1997 tour and I was blown away every night. (One night, in Worcester, I was lucky enough to score front row seats in front of Entwistle. I was in heaven!)

I wish I could rate it a 10 because of how much I love this album (on music alone I'd give it a 17!) but because of the issues mentioned above I feel I have to dock it a couple of points. I'll give it a very enthusiastic 8.

Great review and I hate to beat a dead horse, but the bass is mixed down way too low and for this band and bassist it's an unforgivable crime, imho.

 

[bossfan]

Got it listening now.. Outstanding. A 10 all the way around.

 

[sbrom]

Perfect in every way except one. As others note it needs more of Entwistle's bass. Knock off a point for that and I vote 9.

 

[Bill Mac]

Thought it could have been much better. Just a tad on the tinny side. barely a 7 but I'd understand a 6.

I agree 100%. I gave the Quadrophenia 5.1 mix a 6. As many times as I've played the 5.1 mix it just doesn't sound that great IMO. A wasted opportunity IMO.

Bill

 

[marpow]

I gave it a 10, because I love it and sounds great. My eye sight is still great, cuz I can read and my ears are fine tuned and hearing quite good, actually.

 

[Pibroch]

Also, just got a chance to listen to this -- lots of changes from the CD/Vinyl I've heard so far. Some alternate vocal tracks used, and "Is It In My Head?" has a completely different drum take. I'm sure that's not news to anyone, I've not skimmed this entire thread. Guitars could be louder. I'd still give it a 9 though. Everything sounds clean and very nice. Some extra little guitar here and there too.

 

[par4ken]

I'm defiantly a Who fan but never really cared much for this album, the only real highlight is "Love Reign O'er Me". Surround wise it's a typical 5.1 mix, not nearly immersive enough for me, I suspect that the 2.0 decoded would be more satisfying. The disc does have a few amazing surround moments but they don't carry all the way through. In"Helpless Dancer" the vocals jump from speaker to speaker, very cool but I want more stuff like that! I do love Blu-Ray "Pure Audio" disc's and would recommend this disc as you also get the original 1973 stereo version in hi-rez and a new 2014 mix as well, a great value for the money. Based on musical content and surround mix I give it 7.

 

[fredblue]

i've seen people here and on the SHF/FBk etc say they find the low end diminished and never recalled having much of a problem but today i went through the 5.1 on the computer with a semi-fine tooth comb to cut the mixes' hair (!).. and blow me down but the mix has some interesting things going on, chiefly with the Centre and LFE but the mix as a whole can best be described (imho) as excellent but inconsistent.

there is cool content in the LFE (including lots and lots of lovely bass) but it is often fairly significantly dialled down. on several tracks a boost of +10dB helps ("The Real Me" for example). is this an authoring or LFE bug or as intended by the mix engineer?

there is also sometimes some amazing content "hidden" in the Centre channel, such as dry lead vocals some of the time on some tracks ("The Real Me" again is an interesting one) however like the LFE it too is sometimes really low level and what do we get instead but lead vocals mixed into all other channels at nigh-on equal power which gives certain tracks a kinda diffuse quality whereas other tracks have lovely pinpoint surround soundstaging. strange..

to knock anything off hurts.. i adore the band and the album.. and the surround mix has many many highlights with all sorts of fabulous stuff flying around the room (so many cool sound effects pop up in the Rears, sometimes to startling effect!!) and not every song is affected by the lower Centre & LFE level thing.. but i feel sufficient time has passed now (!) to get over the excitement of getting the whole thing in surround and since we can change our votes at QQ (brilliant!) it can't be a "10" anymore.. downrated to a "9". a high "9" but still a "9". think i may have been spoiled by too many perfectly balanced old DV Quads..

 

[ar surround]

there is cool content in the LFE (including lots and lots of lovely bass) but it is often fairly significantly dialled down. on several tracks a boost of +10dB helps ("The Real Me" for example). is this an authoring or LFE bug or as intended by the mix engineer?

Ah ha...so that's why The Real Me on this mix sounds de-balled...One of my main complaints about it.

 

[ashr1565]

So here's a possible hot take, but I think this is the one-and-only definitive version of Quadrophenia. This album was so made for surround sound, fits it like a glove. Bob Pridden wasn't afraid of screwing around with the balance and imaging compared to the original album, and I know some people hate that but I've seen multichannel mixes hurt by slavish devotion to the original mix(Close to the Edge...) so I can appreciate it. Quad Quad(haha) is daring and crazy, the drums thunder like I've never heard before on any Who album, bar maybe SACD 5.1 Tommy. I only have the 1973 mix as reference but to me this bluray is crystal clear for audio quality too. So much I've never heard before...

Does it have problems? Sure, you NEED to crank the sub up because the .1 channel is too quiet for its own good, that's a minor issue though. The last word on I've Had Enough is too quiet and they swapped the vocal take on Helpless Dancer, so the line *Something in our story's wrong* stops short which I hate, but the mixing is very creative through the whole thing - it seems like as it goes on it gets more inventive. The Real Me and Cut My Hair are a bit conservative mixwise but by I'm One the rears and stuff are getting worked out nicely. And there are times when guitar and stuff come from center that really made me sit up.

10. In spite of its problems it really was like hearing it for the first time again. The Rock and Quadrophenia benefit a lot from having more room to breathe with five channels, too... Incredible disc.

Bought it this year though, if only it wasn't $90 shipped... this thing has gone up in price.

 

[skherbeck]

After ripping this disc years ago, I put it on a shelf in another room, and FORGOT about the disc AND the rip, lol... last night while browsing my hard drive I rediscovered it and gave it a first listen. The musical content is killer. The surround mix has plenty of discrete activity throughout (although some songs are more conservative than others), and the surround elements are not merely limited to horns/ keyboards... you also get some nice rhythm guitars and some cool panning effects from time to time (such as the vocals moving around the room on "Helpless Dancer"). I agree with others who have mentioned the levels from song to song can be uneven... for example "Quadrophenia" is quite a bit lower in level than most of the other songs (although that is easily remedied in Audacity if you rip your discs). The bass tends to be a little weak on many songs, but again, a boost here and there of the LFE channel in Audacity helps quite a bit (I think on "The Rock" the bass is isolated in the center channel, so I just boosted that channel and it sounds great). The only thing I'm a bit disappointed with is the closing track, "Love Reign O'er Me", which I was really looking forward to... it just sounds a little underwhelming to me, maybe a little muddy? The synthesizers on the track are a bit buried, as are the lead vocals. Luckily, there's a dry lead vocal in the center channel that can be boosted, so that helps. It's still a good sounding track... I guess I just had higher expectations after hearing how great some of the other tracks sound ("The Real Thing", "Quadrophenia", "I'm One", "5:15", among others). I'm glad I have this as part of my Who surround collection (along with the Tommy blu-ray and various DIY mixes from Rockband stems). I think I prefer the Tommy mix over this one, though (with the recommended channel swap putting the drums in the front left). I'll give Quadrophenia an 8.

 

[HDave]

Just mentioned to Banana man Snood that I was going to part with this because of poor fidelity on the 5.1 mix, which is why we are here (Multichannel fanatics). The stereo sounds great in comparison, seeing as I rarely play it.
Reminds me of the Songs from the Big Chair Blu Ray which also has clarity issues. And having to adjust speaker levels to compensate doesn't bode well with me. When my system plays the stereo mix flawlessly the problems are with placement and volume levels from the mixing of the 5.1. I confer with Keenly and jaypfunk on this one and lowered my vote from a 7 to a 6.
Great band live though 1975 when they still were in their prime.

 

[quicksrt]

Some early pressings of the BR disc had the printed layer of the disc pealing of the damn thing. Like total breakdown of the disc seal. I held off on buying it until that dust had settled. Prices dropped on the used market to $14.99 for still sealed copies, but of held out wanting to make sure I got one from s different batch. Paid $35 but mines find. It’s become a tad expensive since.

Btw, I think it’s a 9, and the new stereo mix is wonderful - but I wonder if it’s just a fold of the 5.1 to 2.0?

 

[fthesoundguy]

What the heck happened with this release? This is supposed to be an iconic album and it just does not sound that way. This album is made for surround and I feel that its been treated very unfairly and not with the respect it deserves.

The one good thing is that there is a decent amount of surround action and great placement, which helps immensely. There were also a couple of pans that caught my attention. The “me’s” at the end of The Real Me was pretty cool. The vocal panning during Helpless Dancer was really well done and the thunderstorm at the beginning of Doctor Jimmy was decent. There were also a couple of pans that were too fast and obviously automated (that guitar slide at the end of Love Reign O’er Me is REALLY bad).

This album is not balanced well at all. Lots of times, the synths in the rear right sound way louder than the ones coming out of the left. Just when I think my settings are off somewhere, then something comes at the correct volume on the left, but only for a moment! For a lot of this record, it seemed like my head was leaning to the right a bit. I went back after listening and made sure my system was calibrated properly it bothered me that much. On I’ve Had Enough, the surround Left is a bit louder than the right and then it switches mid song and its the opposite. Vocals are off in some songs (really noticeable during The Dirty Jobs) and instruments are buried in others (Bell Boy, there s a two hit keyboard part that is just a bit too low once the full band comes back into play). The horns during Drowned are way too high in the surround right. Really manic mix and unfortunate. If I have to rip the disc and go into a DAW to fix these issues, some points should be taken off for that.

I’m a little disappointed because this does not sound that clear or good too. Nothing pops out and everything just sounds messy. That upper midrange just sounds weird on some songs. You can definitely hear it on almost every cymbal hit as well as the attack on the toms. It sounds like it was mixed with the early 70s limitations and not in 2014. I’m guessing the tapes were maybe in rough shape, but the tools are still available to help it out. SW mixes are at the top of the class because he still has that feel of whatever year that album was created in, but still can make everything sound so clear and improved at the same time. Unfortunately, this disc is just kinda blah to me.

The fact that I have to crank my LFE up to get anywhere near the proper bass frequencies is really frustrating. There’s apparently some center issues as well that I cannot address because I listen off the discs. Again, If you have to manipulate the channels to get it to sound proper, more points off.

I have a weird theory. The songs that sound really off to me are the ones that were on the incomplete edition. Could it be that they didn’t remix/remaster those when they got everything together? Most of the songs on the that release sound off to me compared to the other tracks. The two albums were mastered by different people (according to Discogs) which would explain the upper midrange weirdness on mostly those songs…

This is a 6. I do not get the excitement of playing this album when I pop it into the player unlike some other albums. Listening to this 4 times for this review was more like a chore. I’m sure i’ll listen to it a few more times down the road, but i’ll end up being disappointed when it starts playing, which sucks because it’s one of the Who’s landmark albums and my personal favorite of theirs.

In 2020, I don’t think I can recommend this album because of how expensive it is ($75+ from everywhere I saw it for the standalone). I had to find a very rough Live in London 5 disc edition that was all cracked and broken (luckily the discs were all ok) for $42 shipped. Even at that price, with an additional live album, i’m a little disappointed I spent that much on this.

Highlights: Helpless Dancer

 

[ar surround]

What the heck happened with this release? This is supposed to be an iconic album and it just does not sound that way. This album is made for surround and I feel that its been treated very unfairly and not with the respect it deserves.

The one good thing is that there is a decent amount of surround action and great placement, which helps immensely. There were also a couple of pans that caught my attention. The “me’s” at the end of The Real Me was pretty cool. The vocal panning during Helpless Dancer was really well done and the thunderstorm at the beginning of Doctor Jimmy was decent. There were also a couple of pans that were too fast and obviously automated (that guitar slide at the end of Love Reign O’er Me is REALLY bad).

This album is not balanced well at all. Lots of times, the synths in the rear right sound way louder than the ones coming out of the left. Just when I think my settings are off somewhere, then something comes at the correct volume on the left, but only for a moment! For a lot of this record, it seemed like my head was leaning to the right a bit. I went back after listening and made sure my system was calibrated properly it bothered me that much. On I’ve Had Enough, the surround Left is a bit louder than the right and then it switches mid song and its the opposite. Vocals are off in some songs (really noticeable during The Dirty Jobs) and instruments are buried in others (Bell Boy, there s a two hit keyboard part that is just a bit too low once the full band comes back into play). The horns during Drowned are way too high in the surround right. Really manic mix and unfortunate. If I have to rip the disc and go into a DAW to fix these issues, some points should be taken off for that.

I’m a little disappointed because this does not sound that clear or good too. Nothing pops out and everything just sounds messy. That upper midrange just sounds weird on some songs. You can definitely hear it on almost every cymbal hit as well as the attack on the toms. It sounds like it was mixed with the early 70s limitations and not in 2014. I’m guessing the tapes were maybe in rough shape, but the tools are still available to help it out. SW mixes are at the top of the class because he still has that feel of whatever year that album was created in, but still can make everything sound so clear and improved at the same time. Unfortunately, this disc is just kinda blah to me.

The fact that I have to crank my LFE up to get anywhere near the proper bass frequencies is really frustrating. There’s apparently some center issues as well that I cannot address because I listen off the discs. Again, If you have to manipulate the channels to get it to sound proper, more points off.

I have a weird theory. The songs that sound really off to me are the ones that were on the incomplete edition. Could it be that they didn’t remix/remaster those when they got everything together? Most of the songs on the that release sound off to me compared to the other tracks. The two albums were mastered by different people (according to Discogs) which would explain the upper midrange weirdness on mostly those songs…

This is a 6. I do not get the excitement of playing this album when I pop it into the player unlike some other albums. Listening to this 4 times for this review was more like a chore. I’m sure i’ll listen to it a few more times down the road, but i’ll end up being disappointed when it starts playing, which sucks because it’s one of the Who’s landmark albums and my personal favorite of theirs.

In 2020, I don’t think I can recommend this album because of how expensive it is ($75+ from everywhere I saw it for the standalone). I had to find a very rough Live in London 5 disc edition that was all cracked and broken (luckily the discs were all ok) for $42 shipped. Even at that price, with an additional live album, i’m a little disappointed I spent that much on this.

Highlights: Helpless Dancer

soundguy, you pretty much identified all the issues I too have with this release. It’s a shame but I think this is the best we’re going to get. I gave it a generous 8, but it‘s only that high because of the well earned reputation of the material. Thanks for your review.