THE WHO

A Quick One




The Who's second album, A Quick One has appeared in many distinct forms since its original release in December 1966. The original U.K. album featured all tracks in mono. Some tracks appeared in stereo when the album was released in the U.S. as Happy Jack in May 1967. (The title was changed both to capitalize on their new hit single, which was substituted for "Heatwave," and to avoid the risque double entendré implicit in the original title; "Heatwave" does appear, in mono, on the later U.S. CD issue of Happy Jack).

A third distinct verson of the album is the strereo edition first released by Polydor in Germany in the late 70's or early 80's. This stereo LP is considered the best-sounding version available to date, and was included in the Polydor box-set Phases in May 1981.

Finally, MCA in the U.S. and Polydor in the U.K. released a remastered and expanded version of A Quick One in June 1995. This version included ten bonus tracks taken from singles, the Ready Steady Who! EP and the Who's unreleased archive material. Unfortunately, most of the original LP tracks were offered yet again in mono, albeit with cleaner digital sound, even though stereo versions of most of these tracks are completely unavailable on CD (or LP in most areas). Current reports are that A Quick One may be released yet again as a true stereo CD thanks mainly to the lobbying of hardcore fans.

The table below gives an idea of what is available. The table was created from the best information available to me, as I do not own all of the material mentioned below. As always, corrections are most welcome. More information on mono/stereo variations of Who material will appear here in the future.

AQO1=original U.K. album
HJ=Happy Jack LP
AQO2=German Polydor stereo LP
AQO3=1995 remaster
AQOWHA=the song "A Quick One, While He's Away"

AQO1 HJ AQO2 AQO3
Run Run Run monomonostereostereo
Boris The Spidermonostereostereo mono
I Need Youmonostereostereo mono
Whiskey Manmonomonostereo mono
HeatwavemonoNA stereomono
Cobwebs & Strangemonostereostereo mono
Don't Look Awaymonomonostereo mono
See My Waymonomonomono mono
So Sad About Usmonostereomono mono
AQOWHAmonomono stereomono

© 1997, 1998 seanrock@webtv.net (Comments, corrections, questions welcome)