The Who: The Kids Are Alright
And the disc is all right, too.
October 3, 2003 - In 1975, a 22-year-old American fan of The Who named Jeff Stein approached guitarist Pete Townshend about doing a documentary on the wild band's ways. Townshend initially rejected the idea but spoke with the band's manager and decided to do it.
So Stein and his editor Ed Rothkowitz compiled 17 minutes-worth of video footage of the band's U.S. appearances, including the band's legendary 1967 appears on The Smothers Brothers show, where they trashed their gear and destroyed Tom's acoustic guitar in the process.
The band found the whole thing hilarious, so Stein persevered. He spent two years seeking funding and footage from all over the world. He acquired video from the band's Woodstock appearance and even got 8mm footage from fans.
The end result was a hilarious look at one of the craziest and most influential rock bands of the 1970s. It would premiere shortly after the death of the band's legendary drummer Keith "The Loon" Moon. Since then, it's been released on video with seven minutes of footage removed, but for this DVD release, it's all back along with a cleaned up print, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtrack.
The disc, most definitely, is all right.
The Movie
The film opens with the band's infamous appearance on The Smothers Brothers show, performing "My Generation." They dressed like dandies and clearly lip synched, because Keith's drumming doesn't even come close to matching what he's swinging at. In the end, equipment is trashed and Keith's drum kit explodes right next to Pete, thus rendering him deaf in one ear. Actress Bette Davis fainted backstage while watching this mayhem.
From there, you have a mix of interviews and live performances, ranging from the 1960s to a special recording session in a studio in front of 500 people. Sadly, this recording would be the last performances with Moon, who would die of an overdose from the drugs he took to help him stop drinking.
The next clip is a 1965 performance of "I Can't Explain" from the British show Shindig, followed by the studio performance of "Baba O'Reilly." It's ironic that with all the footage he collected, Stein couldn't find a decent recording of The Who's most famous songs. The contrast in video quality is enormous, too, since Shindig was done in 16mm black and white film while the studio recording was done on 35mm film.
Many of the video clips are from the 1960s, so the quality is somewhat dubious. The interview segments are often better, at least in terms of appearance. Moon has some goofy interviews (well, what else would they be?) with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, where both are blitzed during the "interview."
There's also a ridiculous segment where the band is in the studio and they let Moon sing The Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann," which ends dismally. This segment shows Moon in tough shape, as he was over 30 and overweight, his years of wild living catching up with him with interest.
Interspersed with the Moon-acy is a lot of Pete Townshend, rock philosopher, thinking out loud on the importance of all things music. There's also one of the most famous segments ever involving the band's stoic bassist, the late John Entwhistle, where he takes down some of his gold records and uses them for skeet shooting practice.
It ends with a memorable performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again," complete with laser show. This would prove the last performance ever of the original lineup, as Moon would pass away a few months later.
If there's a complaint to be had, it's that there are too many interviews. I'd have preferred "Bargain" or "Behind Blue Eyes" rather than more of Pete's musings. Unlike Led Zeppelin, The Who would soldier on following the death of their celebrated, maniac drummer. All things considered, they probably shouldn't have. I'd much rather remember them this way than from the It's Hard album.
Score: 8 out of 10
The Video
The video is presented in anamorphic, 16:9 widescreen format with a stellar bit rate of 8.46MB/sec., and considering the source materials, it's fantastic. Obviously those 1965 black and white performances aren't going to look all that hot. That said, they don't look terrible, either.
Some of the live performances on stage were done in very poor lighting, so it's hard to see much of anything. Most of their 1970s interviews and the 1977 studio recording, in particular, look very good.
There does not appear to be any edge enhancement or ghosting around the edges. Black levels are solid is the newer clips, grainy in others. Bright colors hold up well with little grain. There are only occasional flicks of dust on the print, which shows a good clean-up job on the film.
You're not going to watch this for the video, anyway, but given the age and source material, it's quite good.
Score: 8 out of 10
Languages and Audio
Obviously it's all in English. There are four audio tracks: DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby two-channel, and a commentary track by director Jeff Stein. The audio has been remastered from the source material and it's super. It's not quite on par with the Led Zepplin DVD disc, but it's close.
As usual, the DTS track is the top performer. Some of the separation is really amazing. Pete Townshend's guitar is very strong in the right channel during some segments, because he stood on our right/stage left. But all five primary channels were cranking loud and clear. Even the LFE channel got in on the fun, adding a few touches of thump, just enough to add to the mix without diminishing it.
There are some segments, particularly "Young Man Blues" (which Stein found in a trash container) where the audio distorts, and pretty badly. In this instance you are better off switching to the Dolby Digital track, because the distortion is less pronounced.
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