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Stuck in the past, unplugged, Quadrophenia, Tommy, Chuck Berry, and the Like




I know of people who never bought any other Who albums who consider Quadrophenia to be the greatest
album of all time.  It sort of brought Pete up to date into the seventies and out of the sixties. 
Had he been able to pull off that sort of songwriting he would have been The Man.  Townshend underrated,
then, the accomplishment of Quadrophenia.  You know, when it came out, I said to myself, "yep, got another
Who album, yep, it kicks ass and rocks harder than the last, yep, he's still batting 1000, yep, this
is a better album than the last.   He would have 
totally dominated all that he surveyed.  Tommy would have merely been a launching off point rather than
the thing he was most known for.  Hey I don't know how it would have been done.  It is just a model in
my mind.  

It kind of reminds me of Abbey Road in that it was an indicator of what was to be had both groups 
really stayed focused and forged ahead undiminished... Both Quad and Abbey Rd. have a really timeless sound, 
whereas I think Tommy sounds dated, though I really do love it as much as all the other right honorable
devotees on this list.  

I know I have spent the last goddam month or more harping on all of this.  I just kinda wanna say
that there were specific reasons that I loved the Who in the first place.  I think any group with the
willpower can re-invent themselves and be as good as they ever were.  I know the examples are few and
far between.  What made them good back then makes new bands good now.  You can reach out and touch it.
STP will be a longer lasting band than Pearl Jam 'cause 1) the dude knows chords and how to put them together
in a song 2) drummer knows some WILD time signatures and makes it look easy 3) 2nd album better than the first
and I am wicked biased against believing this is ever possible, but it happened.

Same goes for Nirvana, Soundgarden and a few others.