Pete Townshend

The original Who's Better, Who's Best: The Videos was a handy laserdisc consisting of 17 videos, an inordinate number of them overlapping at least in part with material from the movie The Kids Are Alright – which was OK, as the latter was never widely available as a laserdisc…

I distinctly remember the day that I became interested in music. Sure, I'd always enjoyed listening to the radio, but was never concerned with more than the top 40 hits. The summer after my junior year in high school (1980) however, my best friend Steve called me up and asked if I wanted his extra ticket for the upcoming Who concert. I knew that they played Pinball Wizard and, oh, that other song… so I said what the heck and went to my first concert. Now Steve told me they were good seats, but everyone always claims to have good seats.

The Who retired following their 1982 farewell tour but like Frank Sinatra's frequent retreats from the stage, it was not a permanent goodbye. Seven years later, the band – Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle; that is, Keith Moon's replacement Kenny Jones wasn't invited back – embarked on a reunion tour, and ever since then the band was a going concern. Perhaps not really active – they did not tour on a regular basis, they did not record outside of a version of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" for the 1991 Elton John and Bernie Taupin tribute album Two Rooms – but they were always around, playing tribute gigs and reviving old projects, such as a mid-'90s stab at Quadrophenia, before truly reuniting as an active touring band after the turn of the century.

The Who's masterpiece "Quadrophenia" comes on a direcor's cut edition! This box set consists of 4CDs (SHM-CD), a DVD, a 7-inch vinyl single, a 100-page hard cover book, a set of six photos and memo(s) housed in a card envelope, and a Japanese booklet. CD1&2 feature the original double album with the latest remastering. CD3&4 contain 25 demo tracks from Pete Townshend's studio archive, including songs that weren't included with the finished album. Japanese editions exclusively feature SHM-CD format.