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The Who | A Quick One:

Album: A Quick One (aka Happy Jack)

LPs (vinyl) Sampled: "A Quick One" [Reaction-mono (UK), Polydor-mono (France), Polydor-<simulated>stereo (Holland), Polydor-stereo/mono (Japan-reissue), Polydor-stereo (Germany), Polydor-stereo (Italy), Polydor-mono (Australia), Polydor-stereo180 Gram stereo (Germany), Polydor-stereo reissue (Germany)] "Happy Jack" [Decca-mono (USA), Decca-stereo (USA), MCA-stereo (USA), MCA-stereo (USA-reissue)] "The Who" [Polydor-stereo (Germany-mostly tracks from "A Quick One")], SAS-stereo (Malaysia), "The Who" ("A Quick One") [Karussell-simulated stereo (Mexico)]

CDs (original mix) Sampled: "A Quick One" [Polydor-mono (Germany), Polydor-mono (Japan)] "Happy Jack" [MCA-stereo (USA)].

CDs (remix) Sampled: "A Quick One" [Polydor-mono (Germany), Polydor-mono (Japan), Polydor-mono (Russia), MCA-mono (USA)

CDs (2nd remix) Sampled: "A Quick One" [MCA stereo (USA)], "A Quick One" [Polydor stereo (UK) Promo], "A Quick One" [Polydor (UK)], "A Quick One" [Polydor stereo (Japan - 2006)]

LP Comments: The German version (most commonly found in the 1981 "Phases" box set) sounds beautifully and has the best overall sound quality. It features true stereo on all of the tracks, except "See My Way" (never released in stereo) and "So Sad About Us", which are both in simulated (the reverb/echo variety). The Italy & Malaysia versions seems to come from the same source material, but the vinyl quality is not as good, causing unwanted track noise (more so on the Malaysia version than the Italy). The Japanese version, while having mostly true stereo tracks as above ("A Quick One While He's Away" is in mono), has rather dull sound in comparison to the German version. The Holland & Mexico (Karussell label) versions are basically mono, with the echo/reverb effect to "simulate" stereo. The original stereo Decca (USA) pressings have some tracks in true stereo, mono and simulated stereo, most notably in true stereo is "So Sad About Us", which can only be found on this LP (and its lesser MCA reissues - which all sound pretty bad) as well as "The Best Of The Who Volume 2 (France). If you prefer mono version, the original Reaction (UK) sounds very good.

CD (original mix) comments: The MCA "Happy Jack" CD features the same configuration of stereo/mono/simulated stereo as its vinyl equivalent. However, it's derived from inferior copy tapes, so the sound quality suffers somewhat. The Polydor (Germany) is breathtakingly clean, but unfortunately 100% mono. The Polydor (Japan) adds an additional touch of bass (in comparison to the German version), that's unwarranted (unless that's your personal preference).

CD (remix) comments: The Polydor (Germany) and MCA (USA) are identical in terms of sound quality and the Polydor (Japan) adds that "value added" bass to the above (as do most of the Japanese Who CDs). All of these versions are a combination of <mostly> mono, true stereo (only on "Run, Run, Run" and a few of the bonus tracks) and a few simulated stereo (reverb/echo variety) tracks as well.

CD (2nd remix) comments: The new stereo mixes of: Run, Run, Run, Boris The Spider, I Need You, Cobwebs And Strange, Heatwave, So Sad About Us, Bucket T and Barbara Ann are great! The rest of the "A Quick One" stereo tracks seem to be taken from the mix-down tapes used for the great sounding German <stereo> Polydor LP and blend very well with the new mixes. "See My Way" is the simulated stereo version, perhaps with a bit more "reverb", but very clean. "Disguises", which was in mono on the 1st remix version, has been swapped with the stereo mix. "Doctor Doctor" is the simulated stereo version and "Happy Jack" is still in mono...

Of the remixed tracks, "Run, Run, Run" *runs* about 10 seconds longer, while the rest of them seem to be about the same as the previous releases.

Unfortunately, the CD is mastered WAY TOO LOUD !!! (This is more noticeable on the MCA version than on the UK Polydor promo - which I found "easier" to listen to.) All the softer passages are turned WAY WAY WAY up, so it sounds like someone is hitting your head with a hammer when you're listening to it. Music is *supposed* to have both loud AND soft passages, but this just has LOUD ones. "Batman" is actually even louder than the track preceding it ("A Quick One While He's Away"), so you need to turn the volume down!

Comparing the three different releases - the Polydor (UK) promo sounds slightly warmer than the standard Polydor (UK), which sounds about identical to the MCA (USA).

The 2006 Polydor (Japan) CD is a hybrid of true stereo original mix tracks from the 2006 reissued I'm A Boy CD and the above stereo remixed tracks with the "LOUD" mastering. The results are mixed, with the normal mastered tracks significantly outshining the loud mastered tracks. Tracks from: "Run, Run, Run" to "Don't Look Away" are with "normal" mastering, then tracks: "See My Way" to "Doctor, Doctor" are loud mastering, then the rest of the album switches back to "normal" mastering. I'm assuming the Japanese compilers preferred the normal mastered tracks and used the "loud mastered tracks" where they didn't have true stereo tracks available. (They could have used additional true stereo <normal mastered> bonus tracks which were available from the 1995 release, but probably wanted to maintain a consistent sound for a group of songs, vs. bouncing back and forth between songs.)

Please note that the initial pressings,  the packaging is *identical* to the previously released (1995)  MCA CD. The dates, the run times, *everything* is the same. MCA corrected this with a new sticker (see previous page). So, if you are looking for this version - make sure it has the right sticker on it.

The Polydor version has been issued a new catalog # for Europe - Polydor 589800-2 (no word on a Japan release at this time).

Summary: This is a great album when listened to in true stereo. While the (2nd remix) mastering sounds good from a tonal perspective, it's louder than any other CD I've ever heard, to the detriment of the enjoyment of the music.

If you try to "piece" a stereo version together from LPs, you will need a combination of sources. By using the Polydor (Germany) vinyl for the majority and the Decca-stereo (USA) for "So Sad About Us", you combine the most and best sounding LP true stereo tracks.

The 1st remix CD is problematic as most of the songs used, were not remixed, just remastered. However, the bonus tracks sound good

If you like the mono version, find the original Polydor (Germany) CD copy.

Other Comments: Oddly enough, Polydor reissued this LP in Germany for a 180-Gram (audiophile) pressing and a regular vinyl issue of the same. However, both of these use the original Decca/MCA "Happy Jack" tapes, not the great sounding German Polydor tapes. They also have a "hidden", uncredited bonus track of "Happy Jack" stuck at the end.

Most notably, the vocals on the mono mix of "Run, Run, Run" is significantly different than the stereo mix of the same.

It was also recently discovered that Keith Moon did not write, "Cobwebs and Strange". The original <Tony Crombie> song can be found on 1960, "Man From Interpol" soundtrack (see "Related" section) as the track, "Eastern Journey".

Track Listing: UK (Original): Run, Run, Run, Boris The Spider, I Need You, Whiskey Man, Heatwave, Cobwebs and Strange, Don't Look Away, See My Way, So Sad About Us, A Quick One While He's Away.

USA (Original): Run, Run, Run, Boris The Spider, I Need You, Whiskey Man, Cobwebs and Strange, Happy Jack, Don't Look Away, See My Way, So Sad About Us, A Quick One While He's Away.

1st Remix: Run, Run, Run (stereo), Boris The Spider (simulated stereo), I Need You (mono), Whiskey Man (simulated stereo), Heatwave (mono), Cobwebs and Strange (mono), Don't Look Away (mono), See My Way (mono), So Sad About Us (mono), A Quick One While He's Away (mono), Batman (stereo) , Bucket T (mono), Barbara Ann (mono), Disguises (mono), Doctor, Doctor (mono), I've Been Away (stereo), In The City (stereo), Happy Jack (acoustic version - mono), Man With Money (stereo), My Generation/Land of Hope and Glory (stereo).

2nd Remix: Run, Run, Run (stereo + ~10 seconds longer), Boris The Spider (stereo), I Need You (stereo), Whiskey Man (stereo), Heatwave (stereo), Cobwebs and Strange (stereo), Don't Look Away (stereo), See My Way (simulated stereo), So Sad About Us (stereo), A Quick One While He's Away (stereo), Batman (stereo) , Bucket T (stereo), Barbara Ann (stereo), Disguises (stereo), Doctor, Doctor (mono), I've Been Away (stereo), In The City (stereo), Happy Jack (acoustic version - mono), Man With Money (stereo), My Generation/Land of Hope and Glory (stereo).

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