A Quick One is the second studio album by the English rock band the Who, released on 9 December 1966. In the United States, where the song "Happy Jack" was a top 40 hit, the album was released in April 1967 under the title Happy Jack with a slightly altered track listing.
Unlike other albums by the Who, where guitarist Pete Townshend was the primary or sole songwriter, A Quick One features significant songwriting contributions from all band members, with lead vocalist Roger Daltrey contributing one song, and bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon each contributing two. The album also included a cover of the Holland–Dozier–Holland song "Heat Wave" and ends with a musical suite titled "A Quick One, While He's Away", which served as an inspiration for later rock operas that the Who would become known for.
Background
The Who's second studio album departs from the R&B emphasis of their debut, My Generation. Manager Chris Stamp had signed a deal with New Action Publishing which advanced £500 to each band member for contributing two songs each to the new album, though Roger Daltrey only wrote one ("See My Way"). Because the other members were new to songwriting, Townshend also ended up helping them demo their songs.
Compositions and recording
A Quick One was recorded at IBC Studios, Pye Studios, and Regent Sound in London in the fall of 1966 by co-manager and record producer Kit Lambert. During one of the early October sessions Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix, newly arrived in London, to meet the group and seek a recommendation for amplifiers. Townshend suggested both Hiwatt and Marshall, only to regret having endorsed such "powerful weapons" to the unknown guitarist he had not seen play live yet. Recorded by the Who during the first week of October at IBC, it is a pounding hard rocker with a flashy, feedback-inflected guitar solo that marked an evolution in the group's sound. A longer stereo version from a Track Records sampler was later rediscovered and included on the 1995 expanded CD release. and was still performed decades later: in later years John often wore a spider necklace, and would have a spider web design inlaid on the body of his custom-made Alembic bass guitar (the latter is pictured on the cover of Entwistle's 1981 solo studio album Too Late the Hero).
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 spoken by the group's Liverpudlian roadie "Lurch" for just that purpose. The line "let us come and sitar with you", complete with a raga-esque answering line, refers to George Harrison's concurrent infatuation with the Indian instrument. The break also features a recreation of a night out at the hip London club Scotch of St. James, with Lambert heard ordering a table for four among other sound effects including clinking glasses. Recorded along with "Boris the Spider" at Pye on 4 October, it is also notable for a prominent harpsichord part played by Entwistle.
John Entwistle would later cite "Whiskey Man" as the first song he ever wrote. It tells the story of a drunkard whose best friend is a man he sees only after drinking heavily. The drunkard is eventually locked in padded room in a sanitarium, and he laments not being able to share the room with Whiskey Man or even call him. The song was cut at CBS on 3 October, with Entwistle playing French Horn in addition to bass. The track was recorded at Pye sometime prior to 29 September, with each band member playing a wind instrument: Townshend played the penny-whistle, Entwistle the trumpet and French horn, Daltrey the trombone, and Moon the tuba. Townshend remembers the group having great fun marching around a single mono microphone in the studio as it taped. The Merseys (released in July 1966), Shaun Cassidy, Primal Scream, the Breeders, Daytona, and the Jam have recorded studio versions. The Who's version of the track was recorded at IBC sometime in October.
"A Quick One, While He's Away" is a nine-minute suite of six connected song fragments telling a story of infidelity and reconciliation, the first foray into an extended form that led to the rock operas Tommy (1969) and Quadrophenia (1973). After experimenting with a tentative rock opera named Quads (for which the songs "I'm A Boy" and "Disguises" were written) plus a jokey attempt at the format called "Gratis Amatis", Lambert asked if a more serious attempt could be considered to fill up about ten minutes of needed space on the album. with the front cover depicting the band playing their instruments, as the titles of some songs from the album come out of the instruments: "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. 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. A track listing, a couple of paragraphs touting the band, an advertisement for their debut studio album, and a technical blurb are also crowded onto the back cover of the US release.
Release
A Quick One was released in the UK on 9 December 1966 as Reaction 593 002. It promptly climbed to number 4 on the official Record Retailer chart during a run that lasted 17 weeks, cementing the group's continued success in their home country. In the US it was retitled Happy Jack and released in April 1967 as Decca DL 74892, with the title track taking the place of "Heat Wave". Thanks to the "Happy Jack" single becoming their first top 30 US hit, the album eventually peaked at number 67 on the Billboard album chart that summer.
Critical reception
The album's release prompted a full-page, track-by-track review by Chris Welch in Melody Maker, where he enthused it was "incredible" and fulfilled the band's promise. He concluded "here is a collection of compositions and treatments that captures the Who essence, humour, cynicism, nervous drive, violence, and delicacy", and praised every track. Retrospectively, Rolling Stones Steve Appleford said in 1995 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". The album was later described as "fascinatingly quirky" by the magazine. Ritchie Unterburger at AllMusic gave the album four-and-a-half stars, noting it was not as impressive as the debut but saw the band "grapple with more complex melodic and lyrical themes", finding praise for "Cobwebs and Strange", "So Sad About Us", and both Entwistle numbers. Rolling Stone ranked the album number 383 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, published in 2003, and 384 in 2012.
Track listing
A Quick One
Source:
The mono version fades out sooner, giving it a total running time of 9:12.
Happy Jack
- Later US releases from 1974 to 1995 reinstated "Heat Wave" in its original position, while "Happy Jack" was moved to after "A Quick One, While He's Away".
Personnel
The Who
- Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, trombone on "Cobwebs and Strange"
- Pete Townshend – guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "A Quick One, While He's Away", tin whistle on "Cobwebs and Strange"
- John Entwistle – bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Boris the Spider" and "Whiskey Man", co-lead vocals on "A Quick One, While He's Away" and "So Sad About Us", French horn on "Whiskey Man", "Cobwebs and Strange" and "See My Way", trumpet on "Cobwebs and Strange"
- Keith Moon – drums, backing vocals, lead vocals on "I Need You", tuba on "Cobwebs and Strange"
A Quick One personnel
- Chris Stamp – executive producer
1995 credits
- 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
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Chart performance for A Quick One
! scope="col" |Chart (1966–67)
! scope="col" |Peak
position
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;" |163
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |Canada RPM Top 25 LPs
| style="text-align:center;" |13
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;" |2
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |Swedish Kvällstoppen Chart
| style="text-align:center;" |19
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |UK Disc and Music Echo Top Ten LPs
| style="text-align:center;" |3
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |UK Melody Maker Top Ten LPs
| style="text-align:center;" |4
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |UK New Musical Express Top 15 LP's
| style="text-align:center;" |3
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |UK Record Retailer LPs Chart
| style="text-align:center;" |35
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |US Record World 100 Top LP's
| style="text-align:center;" |27
|-
! scope="row" align="left" |West German Musikmarkt LP Hit Parade
| style="text-align:center;" |15
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
! scope="col"| Chart (2026)
! scope="col"| Peak<br /> position
|-
! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| 51
|}
See also
- Album era
- British invasion
- British rock
- Pop art
- Swinging London
References
- A Quick One: 1995 reissue insert (MCAD-11267).
External links
- A Quick One liner notes – Song-by-song liner notes for the album
- Guitar tablature