Today, October 27, marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Who’s classic 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia, and to celebrate the milestone, the band has debuted a new Dolby Atmos mix of the album that’s available now via streaming services.
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The new mix was created by longtime Who audio engineer Bob Pridden and lauded Dolby Atmos engineer Richard Whittaker at Whittaker’s Starboard Audio studio in London.
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Whittaker, who also worked with Pridden on a 5.1 surround sound mix of Quadrophenia about a decade ago, explained why doing a Dolby Atmos mix of the album was particularly challenging.
“[I]t’s pretty much a continuous piece of music,” he noted. “In order to faithfully recreate this, with the current technical restraints within the mixing process of Dolby Atmos … the whole album had to be mixed in one enormous Dolby Atmos Pro Tools session. The individual songs were then edited/ID’d during the Dolby Atmos Mastering process.”
Widely considered one of The Who’s best albums, Quadrophenia was set during London’s mod scene of the mid-1960s and tells the story of Jimmy, a working-class teenage outcast and Who fan, grappling with four different personalities, each one reflecting a member of the band—Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, and John Entwistle.
The double-LP set peaked at No. 2 in both the U.S. and U.K., and featured such classic tunes as “The Real Me,” “5.15,” and “Love Reign O’er Me.” The album yielded no hit singles in the U.S., although “5.15” reached No. 20 on the U.K. chart.
A well-received film based on Quadrophenia was released in 1979 and The Who has mounted multiple tours where they showcased a full performance of the album, sometimes performing with special guests.
Meanwhile, The Who has also announced plans to release half-speed-mastered vinyl versions of Quadrophenia and its 1975 follow-up, The Who by Numbers, on February 2, 2024, with both records available for pre-order now.
The new master of Quadrophenia will be issued as a two-LP set pressed on 180-gram black vinyl, featuring the album’s original gatefold sleeve design and packaged with a 44-page booklet.
The half-speed master of The Who by Numbers will be released as a single 180-gram black-vinyl disc, packaged in the original sleeve.
Both albums will come with a certificate of authenticity.
Quadrophenia LP Track List:
LP One
Side One
I Am the Sea
The Real Me
Quadrophenia
Cut My Hair
The Punk and The Godfather
Side Two
I’m One
The Dirty Jobs
Helpless Dancer (Roger’s Theme)
Is It in My Head
I’ve Had Enough
LP Two
Side Three
5:15
Sea and Sand
Drowned
Bell Boy (Keith’s Theme)
Side Four
Doctor Jimmy (John’s Theme)
The Rock
Love, Reign O’er Me (Pete’s Theme)
The Who by Numbers LP Track List
Side One
Slip Kid
However Much I Booze
Squeeze Box
Dreaming from the Waist
Imagine a Man
Side Two
Success Story
They Are All In Love
Blue Red and Grey
How Many Friends
In a Hand or a Face
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
