A Quick One – THE WHO***

Run Run Run/Boris The Spider/I Need You/Whiskey Man/Heat Wave/Cobwebs & Strange/Don’t Look Away/See My Way/So Sad About Us/A Quick One While He’s Away

A Quick One was the disappointing second album from The Who in which the song writing credits are shared amongst group members. Fortunately, Pete Townshend would take a grip on proceedings, resulting in three brilliant follow up albums. (UK:4)

"The Who's second album is a less impressive outing than their debut, primarily because, at the urging of their managers, all four members penned original material Still, there's some great madness on Keith Moon's instrumental Cobwebs & Strange, and Townshend delivered some solid mod pop with Run Run Run and So Sad About Us. John Entwistle was also revealed to be a writer of considerable talent (and a morbid bent) on Whiskey Man and Boris The Spider."

"Townshend and Entwistle (never mind Daltrey and Moon) aren't exactly Lennon and McCartney in the song writing department. Pete actually, except for A Quick One, takes a major (although temporary) dive in writing with this collection of wimpy pop songs, albeit dressed up in the band's instrumental attack. He does get an A for effort for the title track, but I think it's overstating it quite a bit to call a nine minute track a rock opera."

"Oh boy, I just don't like A Quick One at all - I think it's pretty much of a mess; and, more importantly, in no way does it reflect The Who's gloriously aggressive live act of the time. At least John Entwistle came through with some winning tunes: Boris The Spider is fun; but gets a bit too much praise for just a silly, scary nursery rhyme."

"All in all, this album is quite low down on a Who buyers' guide simply because of its mixed bag of quality."

"This album certainly suffers in comparison to their great first album, but it is still fun and enjoyable. It slowly starts to lose steam coming into the second side, but it perks up again with the best song on the whole album - the title track."

"An absolute train wreck of an album. Churned out in double quick time to make a quick buck, disastrously all the band take a hand in the writing with cringe worthy results."