A Quick One

A Quick One (1966) was the second album released by rock band The Who. American record company executives released the album under the title Happy Jack, rather than the sexually suggestive title of the UK release, also due to Happy Jack being a minor hit in the U.S.

Related Topics:
1966 - Rock - The Who

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This is widely regarded by fans to have been a pivotal album for the group, due to the departure from the hard rock / blues formula featured on the band's first release. Part of the marketing push for the album was a requirement that each band member should write at least two of the songs on it, so this of all the Who albums is the least dominated by Peter Townshend's writing.

Related Topics:
Hard rock - Blues - Peter Townshend

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This album was also the band's first foray into the form of rock opera, with "A Quick One While He's Away", the title track of the LP, a nine-minute suite of song snippets telling a story of infidelity and reconciliation. (The Who would later go on to write and record the first full-scale rock opera with Tommy and then offer up another with Quadrophenia).

Related Topics:
Rock opera - A Quick One While He's Away - Tommy - Quadrophenia

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The album was intended to be Pop Music (capital 'P'), a sonic participant in the Pop Art movement. The front cover is a Pop Art depiction of the band playing their instruments. The back cover 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 ad for their first album, and a technical blurb are also crowded onto the back cover.

Related Topics:
Pop Art - First album

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The blurb reveals the recording technology of the time by announcing "This is a high-fidelity record! For proper reproduction use RIAA or a similar Record Compensator setting."

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The album was recorded at IBC Studios, Pye Studios and Regent Sound, in London, England in 1966. Kit Lambert produced.

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