Customer Reviews

Classic Albums - The Who: Who's Next

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you love the Who, this is one of the best documents about them, even though we have to spent part of our dwindling lives listening to Dave Marsch's drivel instead of Pete's during the too-short duration of the video.

For insight into the music itself, this tape showed me things I had heard for years, but never really grasped, like how Keith Moon would play riffs instead of drum patterns, and how much energy the Who had. Listening to the un-mixed tracks from "Goin' Mobile" are incredible.

Pete Townshend is always generous when talking about his music, and no less here. For an avid Synth fan like me, who worships "Baba O'Riley," what a real treat to see Pete's ARPs at work, and how he created the groundbreaking, unique, and staggering synth backing that makes the songs on Who's Next the great works they are, despite what Roger Daltrey thinks.

There is too much "Won't Get Fooled Again" in this documentary. They are always cutting back to it, and Pete does an acoustic version that while fun, is not really necessary. Other music on the record is slighted at the expense of the bigger hits.

The whole Lifehouse disaster is dealt with; mainly Pete's inability to articulate his vision.

Who's Next is one of the greatest, if not the greatest record in Rock history and this tape helps explain in.

I'd like to start by saying I really enjoy all the Classic Albums series documentaries. If you get the chance, check out some of the other titles, like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, etc.

Also, to point out, this is a documentary on the Making of an album, not a concert video...although there are some live concert clips and music videos, all found on The Kid's Are Alright.

On to the review: Overall, this makes an excellent companion to "The Kid's Are Alright" for Who Fans. If you're a fan of the Who's Next album, you'll get an inside view of how and why the songs were put together, told mostly from the viewpoint of Pete, Roger, and John themselves.

Hearing Pete's original demo for Won't Get Fooled Again is really cool, although it has a totally different feel than the end product, as Pete plays all the instuments on the demo, with a half-time beat...very interesting.

The introspect into the routing of the organ thru the synth shows how groundbreaking and essential the use of keyboards were to these songs. However, most of the time is spent on "Fooled Again", and I would have liked to have seen something on the organ track for Baba O' Riley (for those who would like more info on this, I found a cool link: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equip-baba.htm) There also used to be a page with someone's recreations of these tracks, but it no longer exists :(

I also like Pete's candor with the interviewer (one of my favorite lines is when he's listening back to the organ solo on Fooled Again and kind of chuckles to himself and calls it "brilliant" -which it was, really), but most of all, I enjoyed hearing the individual tracks being solo'ed up to hear them isolated from the rest of the mix. As a musician myself, this is like finding the Dead Sea Scrolls! I think it's pure magic to hear the individual components, and how they all work together to form the classic music that we've all come to know and love for so many years now.

This is a wonderful hour-long documentary on the making of "Who's Next" and its origins in the Lifehouse project. There are very good interviews with Pete, Roger, John, Glyn Johns, Chris Stamp, Dave Marsh and others. As with other shows in the Classic Albums series, there are some cool moments at the mixing board with the original multitrack recordings, showing how the final mixes were put together (for instance just Roger's voice and Keith's drumming during "Behind Blue Eyes.") There is some great live concert footage, including several numbers from the 1976 tour. Some excellent explanations of Pete's approach to sequencing for the groundbreaking synthesizer parts on the album. Finally, a few brand-new performances (Pete singing "Pure and Easy" at the piano and "Won't Get Fooled Again" with just an acoustic guitar.)

If you love Who's Next you will find this DVD to be well worth the money.

This dvd provides many insights into the Who's classic album, "Who's Next", from it's genesis as Townshend's failed "Lifehouse" project to the finished product we know today.
The dvd includes several acoustic solo numbers performed by Townshend exclusively for this release (by far this dvd's strongpoint). My only fault with this title is the length and hence it being incomplete. It only runs an hour with no bonus material added. Only a handful of songs from the album are viewed in any depth, consequently the documentary seems incomplete. It leaves the fan wanting & expecting more. Obviously there is no commentary from Keith Moon presented here, but it would have been great to see more video footage showing Moon & his bandmates in the studio. All in all a very good dvd for the devoted Who fan. However, its not the best place to start for the novice. I would recommend the 5 star 2 dvd set of "The Kids Are Alright" as your first Who dvd purchase.

Just when you think a Who fan knows everything there is to know about there favorite group there is always more to the story. Who better than Pete to tell the story like no one else can. This DVD tells the tale of how Who's Next came to be and how it was supposed to be part of a much bigger and much misunderstood project called Lifehouse. The best songs were put onto Who's Next and are reviewed here very carefully by the band members. There is also a tribute to Keith Moon. A great finale is performed by Pete on his acoustic. The sound and picture on this DVD is incredible. I rate and recommend this DVD very highly and consider this to be a welcome addition to my collection to The Who as well as my DVD's.

Most agree that Who's Next is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. That is reason enough to get this DVD. But it is much more than that if you're even a casual Who fan. If you have been singing "Teenage Wasteland" because you were (or are) a teenager that gets wasted, then check out Pete Townshend explaining the real meaning behind the song Baba O'Riley in this DVD. Or see Pete show how he created the synthesizer sounds for Won't Get Fooled Again - on the original equipment he used back in 1971! He also gives unique insight on how the album was created from his "Lifehouse" concept.
As a Who fan, I was actually surprised at how much insight both Pete and Roger offered in this DVD.
Good prices on used copies are well worth it too.

I've heard all the of Who's major albums many times, have read the Dave Marsh history of the band as well as biographies of Moon and Townshend, have a live concert bootleg, find the post-Moon albums disappointing, have seen plenty of concert footage (of which there is never enough), and saw the boys perform Quodrophenia in 1996. That said, this DVD contains something for just about every level of Who fan. What I would have wanted is more footage from 1971-2, when the Who recorded the album and went on tour. There's no footage of the band in the studio making the album. Perhaps no such footage exists. But we do get some scenes of Pete working on the synthesizer parts. It's amazing to see how far technology has come. What took up a whole room of equipment in the early 70s can now fit on a Casio keyboard. The concert footage of "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley," which is shown repeatedly, is from the late 70s film the Kids are Alright. Novice fans might not be able to tell. Entwhistle's concert performance of "My Wife" looks to be from 1972, perhaps the closest the DVD comes to showing the Who at their peak. Still, this making-of DVD contains many pleasures. I had never heard Pete's "Won't Get Fooled Again" demo, which demonstrates that he was a one-man band (as those who have heard "Who Came First" can attest). I've always wanted to see Pete playing piano, and here the DVD obliges by showing him perform some of "Pure and Easy." Also nice here is Pete's solo, acoustic rendition of "Won't Get Fooled Again" near the end of the disk. I also liked it when the album tracks were isolated to emphasize the voice, bass, drums, or guitar parts. It's almost touching to see Roger get giddy over Keith's drum playing on "Behind Blue Eyes." Anyone who is familiar with the Who will know a lot about the Lifehouse project, and one can read liner notes of the "Who's Next" reissues to learn even more. This DVD goes heavy on the blockbuster songs "Baba O'Riley," "Won't Get Fooled Again," and "Behind Blue Eyes." "Bargain" and "Getting in Tune" are only played as background music clips, and "Love Ain't for Keeping" isn't mentioned at all. The commentary is good. Pete is the kind of guy incapable of giving a boring interview, and this DVD is no exception. It's particularly nice to see him talk without having to explain for the millionth time why the Who smashed their instruments--a question by the way, to which he has given various answers. The rivalry between Pete and Roger is also preserved when Pete jokingly refers to Roger as a "furry animal." In short, it's always great to see the Who, whether live or on tape. I would have liked this DVD to have been 2 hours or more, but it does give a good overview of perhaps the best rock album of the 1970s.

As a major fan of the Who i brought this documentary without knowing what the "Who's next" album was. (Please, Please listen to that album if you haven't! I also reviewed it! It is a very, very good album!) Obviously the "Who's next" album has to be (in my opinion) one of the best WHO albums.
This documentary is worth having!! Not only does it interview Roger, Pete and John it has a whole chapter on the late great Keith Moon but behind the scenes as well. If you know Pete, you must love how he describes things in great detail (he really should write a book!) and he certainly describes (in a very enjoybable way. i love his smile by the way! he must smile more often!!) the orginal 'lifehouse' ideas for the base of this album. My favorite thing Pete says is when he smiles and describes Roger in the video "Won't get fooled again." John, oh John. I love John. The late John is interviewed in this documentary very well. I love his insights especially about the trumpets on his song "My Wife" and all about the song "My Wife." I don't really remember the names of the other people (managars) but kit lampart is talked about how he was very important in the creation of this cd, and chris stamp as well. Irish Jack a roadie i believed is interviewed. Oh yea this guy Bob is interviewed who helped on "Baba O' Riley". Roger Daltrey has to be my favorite (well i guess actually Pete and John are very good as well) person interviewed because he's so damn funny! I love when he laughs, joking about Bob and stuff. (As a side, I love how Roger says, "Theater" look for it) Besides all the wonderful interviews there is music video (long clips) to go with each song. There is a lot of clips of the WHO singing. i especially like, "Behind blue eyes" video clip. "Join Together" is another great video they show here and the video is pretty much shown all the way. Pete also gives his versions of "Pure and Easy" (which by the way is the first time i heard that song so i orginally thought Pete sang that song)and "Behind Blue Eyes."
This documentary is a must have for any WHO fan and as you can see i was an "up an coming" WHO fan at the time I watched this DVD and I LOVE(D) it!! If you love GREAT music go out and buy "Who's Next" CD, rent (or buy) this documentary and sit and you could be set for life!! You'll love it!

For anyone who thought that The Who was just Pete, this is a must. Townshend and Daltrey had very different interpretations of Behind Blue Eyes, and it's Daltrey's interpretation that appears on Who's Next. And, Entwistle and Moon add a dimension to Pete's music that Pete never would have included. There's no doubt that Pete is the most important member of this band, but this is truely a group effort. It's inspiring to see how much repect Daltrey has for Townshend and Moon. Hearing Moon and Entwistle isolated from the rest of the music makes in clear just how innovative and talented these musicians were. Townshend still says that he feels like this "is the one that got away", which has to make Who's Next the most billiant failure in rock music. My only regret that this disk is only an hour long. A story this rich and complex deserves more time.

I'm a fan of the Classic Rock DVD series. The two best titles I have seen are the Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" and Elton John "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" titles. This installment about The Who's "Who's Next" album was a bit of a disappointment to me. It's more about the background of the album than the recording process as in the FM and EJ discs I mentioned earlier. Too much filler and too little insight to the actual recording of the album. I was very excited to get this item but rather let down after viewing it.