I noticed after my post yesterday that there was complaint that I did not include the Who. So I thought that I should address that. It isn't that I wouldn't want to go see the Who live. Because believe me I would have loved to see them live when they were in their prime. But really while I do love the Who. I really love "Quadrophenia" both the 1973 album and the film. The rest of their catalog is amazing and I do enjoy it.
But what really touches me and touched me in 1987 when I discovered the album for the first time at at used record store in Bellingham Washington. is "Quadrophenia". It just spoke to the disaffected 17 year old that I was.
There was just something about this crazed kid flying around London and Brighton, high on pills and wanting to fit in but being unable too. I think it was the first time in my life that I identified so much with a character in a song or songs. Which is a little odd because it isn't like I had that much in common with Jimmy but it seemed to be just enough for me to really lose myself in the album. In fact I bought the album based entirely on how cool it was. Between the cover and that it unfolded into a picture book.
But what really touches me and touched me in 1987 when I discovered the album for the first time at at used record store in Bellingham Washington. is "Quadrophenia". It just spoke to the disaffected 17 year old that I was.
There was just something about this crazed kid flying around London and Brighton, high on pills and wanting to fit in but being unable too. I think it was the first time in my life that I identified so much with a character in a song or songs. Which is a little odd because it isn't like I had that much in common with Jimmy but it seemed to be just enough for me to really lose myself in the album. In fact I bought the album based entirely on how cool it was. Between the cover and that it unfolded into a picture book.
It just makes me sad to even look up pictures of the set because I do not have it anymore and that kind of kills me just a little bit. I think that of all the different collectible things that I have owned and lost over the years this is the one that I really do regret losing the most. I think part of what makes it so special is that when I stumbled upon it in the record store I didn't even know that such a thing even existed. So that really added to the impact of it. There was just something magical about the whole thing. I realize that I am probably really romanticizing the whole thing but there was a lot that happened that summer that made things feel that way. It was just that kind of summer. The first summer away from home for an extended amount of time. I was away from my friends with only a couple of people around who know me from Salem and that seemed to really make a difference to me. So give the album a listen and let me know what you thought of it.
