A Quick One

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A Quick One
A quick one.jpg
Studio album by The Who
Released 9 December 1966
Recorded September – November 1966
Studio IBC Studios in London,
and Pye Studios in London
Genre
Length 31:48
Label Reaction/Polydor (UK)
Decca, MCA (US)
Producer Kit Lambert
The Who chronology
Ready Steady Who
(1966)Ready Steady Who1966		 A Quick One
(1966)		 The Who Sell Out
(1967)The Who Sell Out1967
Singles from A Quick One
  1. "Happy Jack"
    Released: 2 December 1966
  2. "Boris the Spider"
    Released: 1967

A Quick One is the second studio album by English rock band The Who, released in 1966. The album was also released under the title Happy Jack on Decca Records in the United States, where the song "Happy Jack" was a top 40 hit.

Composition and production

The Who's second studio album departs from the R&B emphasis of the first. 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, though Roger Daltrey only wrote one (See My Way), so this is The Who album least dominated by Pete Townshend's songwriting. It was recorded at IBC Studios, Pye Studios, and Regent Sound in London England in 1966 by record producer Kit Lambert.

"Boris the Spider" was written after John Entwistle had been out drinking with Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. They were making up funny names for animals when Entwistle came up with the song. The chorus utilises vocals that influenced the vocal style of death metal singers.[citation needed] "Boris the Spider" quickly became Entwistle's most popular song, still performed decades later: in later years he often wore a spider necklace. "Happy Jack", though quirky, remains a favourite.

"Heat Wave", the only cover-version and the only reversion to the group's soul influences, a song by Tamla's Holland-Dozier-Holland team, was replaced by "Happy Jack" on the original US release but included on the 1974 double album repackaging of A Quick One and The Who Sell Out.

"A Quick One, While He's Away", the title track of the LP, is a nine-minute suite of song snippets telling a story of infidelity and reconciliation, a first foray into extended form that led to the so-called "rock operas" Tommy and Quadrophenia.

Keith Moon's "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 that, in fact, it was.[1]

"Cobwebs and Strange" was originally called "Showbiz Sonata", though Entwistle claimed that the melody came from the UK television series Man From Interpol.[1]

The mod/pop number "So Sad About Us", according to AllMusic, is "one of the Who's most covered songs".[2] The Merseys, Shaun Cassidy, Primal Scream, The Breeders and The Jam have recorded studio versions.

Each band member played a wind instrument on "Cobwebs and Strange": Townshend played the penny-whistle, Entwistle on the French horn, Daltrey on the trombone, and Moon on the tuba.[citation needed]

Cover art

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,[3] with the front cover depicting the band playing their instruments, as the titles of some songs form the album come out of the instruments in the form of onomatopoeiae: "Cobwebs and Strange" for Moon (top left), "Whiskey Man" for Entwistle (bottom left), "See My Way" for Daltrey (top right), and "A Quick One, While He's Away" for Townshend (bottom right). The back cover of the UK release is black, with the title and track listing across the top, and a colour head-shot photograph of each band member with the letters of "The W H O" superimposed individually over their faces.[4] The back cover of the US release is a black-and-white photo montage of the band members accompanied by a short personality sketch of each (infamous among Who fans for Keith Moon's humorous assertion that he was keen on "breeding chickens"). A track listing, a couple of paragraphs touting the band, an ad for their first album, and a technical blurb are also crowded onto the back cover of the US release.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[6]
MusicHound 3.5/5[7]
Q 4/5 stars[8]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 3/5 stars[10]

Rolling Stone magazine's Steve Appleford said that the album's cheerful pop style has an authentic quality with trifles like "Cobwebs and Strange" that are reconciled by "absolutely perfect, poignant pop tune[s]" such as "So Sad About Us".[9] Mark Kemp was less enthusiastic in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) and called it "a decent but flawed collection of experimental pop and rock".[11]

In 1981, Robert Christgau included the album's American version in his "basic record library".[12] Rolling Stone ranked the album #383 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, published in 2003.[citation needed]

Track listing

All songs written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.

A Quick One

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Run Run Run"   2:43[a]
2. "Boris the Spider" (John Entwistle) 2:29
3. "I Need You" (Keith Moon) 2:25
4. "Whiskey Man" (Entwistle) 2:57
5. "Heat Wave" (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Edward Holland) 1:57
6. "Cobwebs and Strange" (Moon) 2:31
Side two
No. Title Length
7. "Don't Look Away"   2:54
8. "See My Way" (Roger Daltrey) 1:53
9. "So Sad About Us"   3:04
10. "A Quick One, While He's Away"
  • I. "Her Man's Been Gone"
  • II. "Crying Town"
  • III. "We Have a Remedy"
  • IV. "Ivor the Engine Driver"
  • V. "Soon Be Home"
  • VI. "You Are Forgiven"  
 9:10

1 The mono version fades out sooner, giving it a total running time of 2:33.[13]

1995 credits[14]
  • Design [original vinyl sleeve]: Alan Aldridge
  • Design, Art Direction: Richard Evans
  • Executive-Producer: Bill Curbishley, Chris Charlesworth, Robert Rosenberg
  • Liner notes: Chris Stamp
  • Producer: Jon Astley
  • Producer [original recording]: Kit Lambert
  • Remix, reMastered by: Andy Macpherson, Jon Astley

Happy Jack

Jigsaw Puzzle

An early version of the Who's second album was to be titled Jigsaw Puzzle.[1] Its preliminary running order consisted of the following tracks:

Personnel

Sales chart performance

Album
Year Chart Position
1966 UK Chart Albums 4[15]

Certifications-France-Gold[16]

Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1967 "Happy Jack" Billboard Pop Singles 24[17]
1966 "Happy Jack" UK Singles Charts 3[15]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/song/t3563653
  3. ↑ Liner notes to the CD reissue
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ AllMusic review
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Kemp 2004, p. 871.
  11. ↑ Kemp 2004, p. 872.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Discogs - A Quick One reMastered CD 1995 MCA records (MCAD-11267) US
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ "Certified Awards Search". SNEP. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Bibliography
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • A Quick One: 1995 reissue insert (MCAD-11267).

External links

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