|
|
|
The Who: Quadrophenia Live in London
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Music Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (16th June 2014). |
|
The Film
 Pete Townshend’s liner notes for the song "Long Live Rock" on “Odds & Sods”—an album of The Who’s lesser known cuts and cast-off, first released in 1974—included an amusing and perhaps even belatedly-prescient little bit of music trivia about the origins of the band’s magnum opus rock opera, “Quadrophenia.” In the pages of the booklet that accompanied compilation of outtakes and B-side cuts so deep that they might even be considered "C-sides", he wrote, “I had an idea once for a new album about the history of The Who called ‘Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock’. That idea later blossomed into ‘Quadrophenia.’” It’s interesting to note that two tracks originally written for “Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock”, “Is It In My Head?” and the eventual album-coda “Love Reign O’er Me”, ultimately appeared on “Quadrophenia.” Perhaps even more curious is how the abandoned album about the band’s history, once intertwined with a contemporary iconoclastic landscape of that same time period, informed the personalities, and journey, of the rock opera’s central character, Jimmy Cooper. But what I find even more fascinating at this particular moment is how “Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock” would actually be a perfectly fitting title, or subtitle, for the new concert film, “The Who - Quadrophenia: Live in London.” “Live in London” captures the final night of the “Quadrophenia and More” tour, which frontman Roger Daltrey embarked on throughout 2012-13, in celebration of the titular album's 40th anniversary, with Pete Townshend, the only other surviving original member of The Who, and a massive backing band (among them, Pete’s brother, Simon Townshend). Filmed at Whembley Arena, on July 8, 2013, the concert as presented here on Blu-ray, is simply the entirety of the quintessential 17-track “Quadrophenia” played through, without a backstage break or any talking or gawking at the audience. Cut from the concert, and presented as a separate bonus feature, is the 6-song encore of the band’s greatest hits: “Who Are You”, “Baba O'Riley”, “Pinball Wizard” (from that other rock opera), and more—get the tour title now?—before closing with the now customary “Tea & Theatre”, off the 2006 album, “Endless Wire.” There isn’t much that hasn't already been written about the original “Quadrophenia” album, the group’s second rock opera; the story of a disillusioned and depressed boy as he grows up against the backdrop of the notorious Mods and Rockers riots of the middle-sixties in the UK. Written and released a few short years after “Tommy” (and obviously a few years before the film adaptations of either album), “Quadrophenia” is at once the result of a single creative force—Townshend, in transition from "Lifehouse" period, serving as composer/lyricist/guitarist and occasional vocalist on the record—and yet it is, owing to its autobiographical origins and their various incalculable musical contributions, the creation of all four band members: the aforementioned lyricist, plus Daltrey, and bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon, both of whom overdosed years ago (Entwistle in 2002; Moon way, way back in 1978). In certain circles—those same circles in which have written extensively about what even Townshend himself has called The Who’s masterpiece reside—the group’s sixth studio album is considered their greatest achievement as artists, and thus their greatest album (“Who’s Next” taking a very close second), and it is, arguably, even a contender for the best rock album of all time. At the very least, it's one of the most ambitious. A powerhouse of rock opera, and one of the first (and last) legitimate mashups of unruly rock and a long-form narrative of substance, which often approaches a sort of panoramic poetry. Undoubtedly, as with most declarative statements about something as subjective as musical taste, there’s a debate to be had about the group's greatest and rock’s best. It’s a debate that I don’t feel like engaging in, for a number of reasons. For one, it’s been ongoing for some 40 years now. What can I possibly add that hasn't already been said? Second, such a debate would prove meaningless in the context of “Quadrophenia: Live in London” anyway, because this is decidedly not the greatest album ever recorded, although—even (mostly) missing two of the original, long since deceased members of The Who—it just might be one of the greatest concert films ever shot. I don’t mean this isn't the album just in the sense that it’s a live show. Nor that, with Scott Devours in Keith’s place and Pino Palladino in John’s, it’s not really the original The Who of “Quadrophenia” fame on stage and screen (again, most of the time). All that should be obvious. No. I mean it in the sense that “Quadrophenia: Live in London” marks an evolution of the opera and its semi-autobiographical concept, integrating past and present far beyond the age-defying dominance of Daltrey and Townshend and their masterful musicianship. It’s hard to believe they’re each approaching 70—and Townshend’s tinnitus has left him deaf without his hearing-aids—because the show they put on features rock steady vocals that’d be impressive in their power for any frontman, let alone one who’s been shouting at the top of his lungs for close to five decades, and continuously glorious guitar work that is as tight as ever. Daltrey and Townshend have long considered "Quadrophenia" a favorite to perform, which is probably why they'd mounted several revivals before the 2012-13 tour. Others might say these re-stagings are a near necessity, since the original tour was borderline disaster, plagued by technical glitches with the backing tracks, and notable for the infamous Cow Palace show, where Moon passed out, overdosed fittingly enough on animal tranquilizers, an hour into the set and was replaced by a teenage fan in the audience. The troubled live history of "Quadrophenia" makes it all the more impressive that "Live in London" is the clearest and most controlled The Who, surviving-members distinction be damned, have ever performed the album outside of the studio. The new stage show itself is executed beautifully, with visuals—designed by Daltrey, furthering the collaborative aspect and meta-narrative of “Quadrophenia”—that chart Jimmy’s journey, and the band’s history, through the additional years since conception, culminating in a show-stopping instrumental on “The Rock” illustrated by images of former band members in their final days, as well as cultural touchstones up to modern times. Among the touchstones: a headline declaring the murder of John Lennon; the fall of the Berlin Wall; the death of Princess Diana; and a pastiche of 9/11 pictorials, including the tumbling Twin Towers, and the eventual aftermath that is the wars in the Middle East. Even more disarming than that montage is a surprisingly skillful use of technology in other parts of the show, via the massive HD backdrop and fine-tuned sound-mixing, which reunites Daltrey and Townshend with Entwistle and Moon on two, separate, tracks. “5.15” brings back the famed bassist, and a particularly badass solo, seamlessly blended into the concert from older footage of a previous show; it is impressively mixed live and proves an accompanying Devours quite talented in his own right. (Devours was a stand-in for The Who’s officially-unofficial drummer, Moon's Godson, Zak Starkey, who had injured himself and was on leave during the European leg of the tour.) In a similar bit of tech wizardry, Moon appears, to deliver muddled vocals and the magnificence of chaos-incarnate, on “Bell Boy.” Which brings me back to the title of the aborted album, “Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock”, and how it's actually a fine fit for the subtitle of this concert film. Of course, there's the legacy and reunion of long dead rock icons through tastefully implemented tech. But almost five decades on, with members fallen to the wayside, it's also a testament to Daltrey and Townshend, who prove perfectly capable even in latter days to instill that righteous, even dangerous, defiant and rebellious energy from their youth all the way through to the end. Musical misanthropes lament the death of rock—on the radio, especially, but elsewhere, anywhere, in the industry, be it by way of award shows or billboard charts, as a whole it sometimes seems. With shows like “The Who - Quadrophenia: Live in London”, rock lives on for just a little longer. What’s left of The Who do their best to remind why they're Brit Rock royalty; leave little doubt their intention to reign as long as they can; or are more than worthy of that little provocative proclamation ironically meant as a potential album title four decades ago. Rock is dead—long live rock! “The Who - Quadrophenia: Live in London” offers the entirety of “Quadrophenia”, played through. In place of chapters, the disc includes a useful set list, which includes the following: – “I Am The Sea” – “The Real Me” – “Quadrophenia” – “Cut My Hair” – “The Punk And The Godfather” – “I’m One” – “The Dirty Jobs” – “Helpless Dancer” – “Is It In My Head?” – “I’ve Had Enough” – “5.15” – “Sea And Sand” – “Drowned” – “Bell Boy” – “Doctor Jimmy” – “The Rock” – “Love Reign O’er Me”
Video
In interviews for this most recent staging of “Quadrophenia”, Roger Daltrey discussed his distaste for the aesthetic of many modern stage shows and concert films, particularly the disconnect created from the editing and craning camera angles employed by the current crop of directors working in the genre. Daltrey served as designer on the “Quadrophenia and More” tour, creating the various visual concepts on the backdrops and the stage. He essentially served as co-director with Chris Rule on the resulting “Live in London” film. Townshend and Daltrey are placed in intimate tight close ups and medium length shots for a majority of the show. This effectively puts fans not in the audience but on stage, with wides worked into the production via an integration of archival material on the big HD displays behind the performers, or even layered over the screen through overlapping fades and composite edits. Universal Music’s 1.78:1 widescreen 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 high definition transfer, sourced from HD video, is tack sharp, with the “on stage” camerawork providing plenty of opportunities for oft-revealing detail. Colors are bright and vibrant, with darker shades and shadow employed judiciously in turn with the moody subject matter, blacks are deep, and contrast quite pleasing, as is the overall quality of the encode. The archival footage—opening shots of ocean waves, vintage newsreels, footage from previous concert, etc.—is of varying quality, often much softer than the live stage material and occasionally speckled by print damage or video noise inherited from the source. Fortunately, the rest of the presentation appears free of any major damage, compression problems, processing, or encoding errors.
Audio
UME offer three audio options on the single disc Blu-ray. The disc defaults to an English LPCM 2.0 stereo track (48kHz/24-bit); English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) mixes are also available. Near as I can tell, in spot checking the two 5.1 tracks at specific points, there’s no difference between them once volume level matched, and I’m sorry to say, but neither of the multi-channel mixes offer a considerable upgrade over the already crisp, clear and surprisingly robust lossless stereo. Fans of The Who have been wanting a 5.1 “Quadrophenia” for a long time—especially after the truncated Director’s Cut DVD-Audio tease—and they can finally get it on the Blu-ray Pure Audio release of the 1973 studio album, which has not one but two 96kHz 5.1 surround mixes supervised by Townshend. The Pure Audio disc is available separately, or in a big deluxe box with the concert on DVD and Blu-ray, and a double disc set of the live album on CD. Unlike the remastered studio album, the “Live in London” concert film isn't really geared, at least specifically, towards multi-channel, and Daltrey’s on-stage-not-in-the-crowd credo has kept the rears, usually occupied by roaring rowdies on many other concert discs, relatively quiet. Each track is loud, perhaps even aggressively so, with powerful vocals, rich bass, and rousing horns among the many great guitar riffs and synthesizer runs. There's appropriate balance in a majority of the show, although there's the occasional drowning out of certain players at the most frenetic and energetic at spots on both of the surround tracks (not so on the stereo). "Live" sounds like its being played at you, rather than around you. Which is good. That's the only way filmed concerts really make sense to me—in stereo—because music in the other channels, even from something that was faux-quadraphonic in origin, sounds somewhat odd and even misplaced at times. Not so in "Live in London", the waves wash over the soundscape in the opening moments, even in 5.1 the effect for the concert appears to be focused at the fronts. As is almost always the case when presented with equally excellent options, stereo vs. surround will really come down to personal preference. I stuck with the default stereo my first time through and was more than satisfied, but it’s nice knowing the other options are there to revisit if I want.
Extras
Now for the “And More” part of this show. Severed from the played through “Quadrophenia”, which comprises the the 85-minute concert film, are some of The Who’s greatest hits—what Townshend tells the audience is “therapy”, before he segues into “Who Are You” and five other songs. Presented as a separate, extra feature, found under bonus performances (1.78:1 widescreen, 1080p; 37 minutes 3 seconds) in the menu, the 6-track encore includes the following songs, each with a choice of LPCM 2.0, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, or Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio: – “Who Are You” – “You Better You Bet” – “Pinball Wizard” – “Baba O’Riley” – “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – “Tea & Theatre”
Packaging
Universal Music bring “The Who Quadrophenia: Live in London” to Blu-ray—and a variety of other formats—in a frankly staggering number of packages. The one herein reviewed is the basic Blu-ray release, which houses the concert film on a single region free BD-50 in a simple eco-Elite keep case, with an 8-page booklet containing artwork and production credits.
Overall
Simply amazing. “Quadrophenia: Live in London”, the 2013 home-turf performance of The Who’s rock opera masterpiece, finds Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend in fine form, even as they’re both (nearly) at the age of 70. Through some tasteful and skillful technical wizardry they’re even reunited with bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon, both long since deceased, for a song apiece. The concert captured on this Blu-ray is fantastic, full of that righteous and even dangerous energy that the group was famous for—and the disc looks good and sounds even better.. you bet. The rest of, best of “And More” encore offers a nice bonus as well. Highly Recommended.
|
|||||
|