The Who - A Quick One (Reaction 1966) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

A Quick One is the second album by English rock band The Who, released in 1966. It is widely regarded as having been a pivotal album for the group, due to the departure from the R&B / pop formula featured on the band's first release. Part of the marketing push for the album was a requirement that each band member should write at least two of the songs on it (although Roger Daltrey only wrote one), so this Who album is the least dominated by Pete Townshend's writing.

The album was also the band's first foray into the form of rock opera, with "A Quick One, While He's Away", the title track of the LP, a nine-minute suite of song snippets telling a story of infidelity and reconciliation. The album was intended to be pop music, a sonic participant in the pop art movement. The cover was designed by the pop art exponent Alan Aldridge.

A Quick One includes the very first songs John Entwistle wrote for The Who, albeit in reverse order. "Boris the Spider" was written after Entwistle had been out drinking with Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. They were making up funny names for animals when Entwistle came up with "Boris the Spider". Since Entwistle had trouble singing "r"s, he double-tracked the vocals on "Whiskey Man", singing "fwend" and "flend", hoping they would come together as "friend". "Boris the Spider" quickly became John Entwistle's most popular song and was still performed live decades later. "Heat Wave" is a cover of a song by Martha and the Vandellas that was very popular in the UK at the time. "A Quick One, While He's Away" was Townshend's first move toward the production of the rock operas that he is so much noted for. Though it is a simple medley of song fragments, the band came to refer to it as their "mini-opera". One of Keith Moon's contributions, "I Need You," was originally titled "I Need You (Like I Need A Hole In The Head)." Moon thought The Beatles spoke in a secret language behind his back, and this song was his way of getting back at them. Although Moon denied that a vocal part in the song was a John Lennon imitation, Entwistle said, in fact, that it was. "Cobwebs and Strange" was originally called "Showbiz Sonata." Entwistle claimed to have written the melody, but it actually comes from a song from the UK television series Man From Interpol. Unquestionably, the drums come from Keith alone. Daltrey insisted that Moon should sound like Buddy Holly´s drummer Jerry Allison on "See My Way", but was rather unhappy with the results. One particularly notable track on this album is the mod/pop number "So Sad About Us". Though it is difficult to accurately gauge such phenomena, this song has likely been covered more frequently than any other song on the album. (According to Allmusic, it is "one of the Who's most covered songs."). Wikipedia

Track listing:

A1. Run Run Run

A2. Boris The Spider

A3. I Need You

A4. Whiskey Man

A5. Heat Wave

A6. Cobwebs and Strange

B1. Don't Look Away

B2. See My Way

B3. So Sad About Us

B4. A Quick One, While He's Away

Produced by Kit Lambert