Customer Reviews

The Who: The Kids Are Alright [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(138)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After having seen several other major DVD opportunities get squandered (The Beatles's HARD DAYS NIGHT leaps to mind), it is an utter delight to watch/listen to this DVD. It is great on several levels: the original film was one of the best collections of live performances in the history of rock, the reissue has dramatically improved the look and sound of the film, and the Special Edition extra disc includes some truly wonderful features. This ought to be the model for all future reissues, such as when/if they reissue the Rolling Stones's TWENTY-FIVE BY FIVE.

Only a couple of years ago I was trying to explain to my daughter that in the sixties and seventies, the Who were full-fledged members of the rock Pantheon, as revolutionary and crucial as the Stones, the Beatles, or Led Zeppelin. For some reason, they went into a bit of a decline in the general musical consciousness (I found kids my daughter's age might not know of them at all, whereas they knew the other aforementioned bands quite well). Thanks to some timely re-released and a tragic tour that saw the death of John Entwhistle, their star truly seems to be on the ascendant again. This album is crucial for proving what all of us at the time knew: the Who was without question one of the very greatest live bands of all time.

The Who was an amazing band, full of paradoxes. Roger Daltrey was one of the great front men in the history of rock, and Pete Townshend a crack songwriter and arguably the most entertaining to watch guitarist of all time. Yet, the lead instruments in the band, almost unique in rock, were Keith Moon and his maniacally abused drum kit and John Entwhistle's bass, both of them among the top two or three of all time on their instruments, if not the best. They were a great rhythm section, but they jointly tended to take over the songs musically, unlike Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman for the Stones, who were content to stay rock solid in the background. Live, they were amazing, with Daltrey marching in place, swinging the mike around like David about to use his sling against Goliath; Pete Townshend dancing disjointedly around while doing his famous helicopter chording of the guitar; Keith Moon playing as if he were on eight different drugs, tossing his drumsticks ten and twenty feet in the air; and amid it all, like the quiet in the eye of the hurricane, John Entwhistle standing stock still, motionless except for his hands moving up and down his bass, playing the instrument better than anyone else ever had, or perhaps has since.

The film begins with a bang, with a famous appearance on The Smothers Brothers Show (an awesome show because it was so amazingly subversive, with Tom and Dick acting like total squares, but in reality leftists who loved exposing the public to acts like Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl, and bands like The Who and Cream). Unlike Ed Sullivan, Tom and Dick truly loved these bands, and the opening number/skit, a rollicking version of "My Generation" (with Roger Daltrey suffering so badly from a faux upper-induced stammer that was a badge of their identification with the amphetamine-crazed Mods that one isn't certain he is going to be able to finish each line). Each number brings new revelations or refreshes old memories. For instance, in "I Can't Explain" from SHINDIG! Keith Moon is sporting a T-shirt with a bull's eye on it, a full decade before Richard Hell would achieve notoriety in New York for wearing one when he was still with Television.

The numbers included in the film are both wide-ranging and representative. I suppose any Who fan will find many of their own favorites missing, but no one can complain that the numbers focus too much on one phase of their career. The selections are extraordinarily well balanced. One of the more poignant features is the fact that the performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again," which was performed specifically for the film so that they could have one really good performance on film of one of their most famous numbers, was the last time the Who ever performed in their original line up; Keith Moon would die only three months later.

The extras disc is truly worth having, with a feature on the restoration of the movie, and nice items like a tour of the Who's London, an interview with Roger Daltrey, and, my favorite bit, interesting versions of "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," that features only John Entwhistle's bass and visuals. There is no question about it: the guy could play bass.

All in all, one is going to come across very few music DVDs quite this good. I highly recommend it.

If you didn't already know better, you'd swear this was one of those masterful Disney Platinum Edition restoration and packaging jobs. Amazing things were done with both the video and audio to make a great movie even better. I have always enjoyed this movie, in the theater, on Laserdisc, but this DVD makes me feel like I'm seeing a whole brand new film. I can't believe how good the audio on the old TV clips sound, and the newer concert footage just couldn't be better. This much care for the fans and the end product put a lot of newer music releases to shame (not naming any names--Sir McCartney.)

This is the way a Rock movie should be done overall--songs play through and no one talks over them! The camera edits don't jump and cut every 3 seconds either. I love having the multi-camera angles on the two songs. Now I can just watch Keith and still not know how he plays like that. Even better is having solo OX bass audio to enjoy (he doesn't do that much in Baba unfortunately, but Won't Get Fooled is incredible.) I don't know who it was that ever started that nonsense about the Stones being the "Greatest Rock Band", but all the proof you need that it has ALWAYS been The Who--is right here.

No more DVDs should be allowed to be released before they live up to this quality standard.

Nearly every DVD released these days screams "Special Edition", only to prompt a puzzled "And this particular edition is 'special' because...?!" reaction about 95% of the time. On occasion, however, the movie studios slip up and actually make good on the full promise of digitized audio/video restoration. The 2003 DVD version of director/superfan Jeff Stein's labor of love rockumentary about the Who, "The Kids Are Alright" is a perfect example of "promise fulfilled". If you are only familiar with the once-in-a-blue-moon VH-1 screening, with its tattered print, muffled audio and 600 commercial interruptions, you are in for a real treat. Fans of the film won't notice a lot of difference on the early archival footage; you have to consider the source (usually fuzzy b&w T.V. kinoscopes), although audio on these clips has been noticably upgraded. The restoration shines brightest on the late 70's footage that Stein staged and photographed exculsively for the film; image and sound are breathtaking, particularly for the performances of "Baba O'Reilly" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". With the passing of John Entwistle, this footage has become even more of a precious document, showing the original classic lineup in majestic performance probably only months before Keith Moon's unfortunate demise. A plethora of extras on Disc 2 will please the hardcore Who devotee. A must-have for classic rockers.

"The Kids are Alright" is everything a rock documentary should be, edging out the Beatle's "Anthology" and the Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter". The Who in their prime were a devastating band, fueled by Keith Moon's relentless energy. Watching Moon's chronic alcoholism progress from each period is painful to see. This director's cut is superior in every way to the edited VHS version. The bonus DVD has a revealing interview by Roger Daltry that clears up many Who myths.

The producers of The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" final debut on DVD went all out to compose a masterpiece.

This is everything one would want in a DVD package. They don't call it "Special Edition" for nothing!

1. Nice hardcover slipcase to put your DVD cover in.

2. A nice booklet of photos, commentary from the director and producer, and liner notes of each track.

3. 2 DVDs... the first containing the movie in glorious hi-def. color/B&W, 5.1 surroundsound. Also includes audio commentary by director Jeff Stein, and subtitles of where each performance comes from.

4. The second DVD filled with "extras". Contains a "Restoration process" documentary, 6 camera angles of the tracks "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", those 2 songs with just Entwisle's bass track, 2 quizes with prizes!, hidden gems, as well as an interview with Jeff Stein, photos of the Who, and an audio/visual comparision between the VHS (old) version of TKAA and the DVD version.

As for the movie itself what can I say? The ultimate rock and roll documentary. Even if you are not a big "Who" fan, you can appreciate the band more by watching this documentary. The color is superb, the sound is phenomenal for old footage. Oh and I almost forgot, the producers restored the movie to its orignal theatrical length!

The perfect DVD!

A++ all the way.

I saw "The Kids Are Alright" in the theater when it was first released, and the video version suffers only from the amputated "A Quick One While He's Away" number from the infamous Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus. Probably had something to do with the Stones' fickleness (Jagger reportedly felt upstaged by The Who). Jumping from the hilarious "My Generation" on the Smothers Brothers show in '67 to "Baba O'Riley" in '77 and back to 60s footage ("I Can't Explain", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", etc.), the film is a Who fan's look at this astounding band, in all their contradictory glory. The movie doesn't try to delve into the tensions of the group's history, or try to unmask Keith Moon's hollow rave-ups and jests. Any Who fan would know these things going in. The real fun is in watching episodes from various phases of Who history, all jumbled and crashing up against each other. There's humor here, too: Moon's deadly hilarious "interviews" with Ringo Starr, a montage of his hotel smashing days, and John Entwistle's skeet shooting of gold records. One thing clearly stands out in "The Kids Are Alright": The Who were one of the premier live bands of rock & roll, and it was ironic that the film (for which several numbers, including a savage "Won't Get Fooled Again", were specially recorded) marked the end of the band as most people knew it. When Moon died in '78, the lunatic spirit that propelled The Who for so long was gone. Long live The Who. A restored, re-mastered version of this film is long overdue.

While perusing through channels one Friday night in 1996, my attention was grabbed by one channel inparticular. On this station, there was this madman on a dimly litten stage, beating the hell out of his double-bass drum, Premier drum kit. As I watched further on in this movie, I learned this psycho had a name: Keith Moon. Flipping over to the Preview Channel as fast as I could, I learned this movie's name was "The Kids Are Alright": a rockumentary of the rock band, The Who. Once the movie had finished, I knew I had to get it somehow on video. Looking from place to place, but always coming up empty-handed. Until one day (with the right connections), about a month ago, I acquired this gem of film history. By viewing it, I noticed that I had only seen about the last 45 minutes the first time. While watching the movie, I became amazed by the power of the Who's performances. From the confident "My Generation" from the Smothers Brother's Show to the barely audible "I Can't Explain" to the thrashing, almost heavy metal of "Sparks" to the speechless performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again", the Who show the trance they could put on the audience. This movie has everything a Who fan could want: live performances, clips of Keith Moon's maniac antics, and band description of themselves. Not being from the generation of normal Who fans, this movie is probably what made me one. The masterpiece that only the Who could produce with the help of Jeff Stein: "The Kids Are Alright." I can't wait till it comes out on DVD.

Like some other reviewers, I saw "The Kids Are Alright" when it debuted in theaters in 1979; in fact, I saw it in a theater about a dozen times (and several times on HBO) before it made it to video. What's missing from all video releases is the first 4 minutes or so of "A Quick One," a 2-minute interview with Townshend in which he describes how he wrote that song, and a 1-minute montage of interview clips with all four band members between the Monterey "My Generation" and "Won't Get Fooled." A further mystery can be found in the closing credits, when we're shown a list of songs that appeared in the film. Among them are "I'm a Boy," "Heat Wave," and "I Can See for Miles," none of which are anywhere to be found in the movie. Were these cut before the film went into wide distribution? (Also, the credits say Rick Danko appears in the film. Presuming this is the late Danko of The Band, where is he? In the 50-60 times I've seen this movie, I've never spotted him.) Let's hope that when this film makes it to DVD, it's in the form of the original cut that contained all this music. Let's also hope that the DVD uses the original videotape source material for the Smothers, Pontiac Stadium, etc. segments that were originally shot on video, rather than that washed-out video-to-celluloid process used in the theatrical release. A pretty big wish list, I know, but I can dream, can't I?

Having never seen this film before, I was in no position to be impressed by the improved sound or video quality. And having read many of the reviews I was in a sweat of anticipation to finally see this film. Sometimes reading such positive reviews can create over-expectation, and this is what I was most concerned about. I've had that with Roger Waters' In the Flesh and also Pink Floyd's Pulse. This expectation was all the greater as I rate Who's Next as the single greatest album of all time. There is not a note in the wrong place. How can you better that?

So it was with some trepidation I shoved in disk 1. This was made even worse by my 9-year old daughter occasionally coming into the room to laugh at the 'gay guy' singing. This standing joke began with them seeing Mick Jagger in Rock 'n Roll Circus and my kids now routinely mock every 60s band I watch - but it doesn't stop them watching in fascination.

In the end I wasn't disappointed. Quite the contrary. Usually, no matter how good a performance is I rarely watch it all the way through at one sitting - there's just too much else to do. This time I did, and even more rarely it left me wanting much more by The Who.

I've always been very selective about The Who - I don't have much of their pre-Tommy stuff, except a compilation, or their post-Quadrophenia.

But this film demonstrated that they are not a by-numbers band. I hadn't expected them to be an improvisational band, but this DVD has several renditions of the same song and each was worth watching, and were better than the studio version. I've already seen 30 Years of Maximum R&B, and was really divided as to which one to buy. Now I see I need both, as well as Live at the Isle of Wight and maybe even the Royal Albert Hall.

My philosophy with other bands is just to have one DVD to see what they're like live. But The Kids Are Alright shows the evolution of the band - as only 60s bands seemed to evolve. Their early 60s music is quite different to late 60s, and their early 70s music is similarly quite different. Only the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Traffic and Pink Floyd evolved quite as much.

The film also clarified another thing for me - the praise heaped on John Entwhistle. You cannot appreciate his talent unless you see him play.

This remarkable album is not a greatest-hits collection. Rather, it, like the film to which it is a soundtrack, is director/Who fan Jeff Stein's impression of the Who. The stage power, the personal issues, the artistic ambition, are all delivered in the film by cut and pasted concert footage, video clips, and interview snippets. This cd presents just the music (except for Tommy Smothers' introduction to "My Generation") There are exciting though tinny songs of the early Who from British TV. There are riveting Tommy numbers from Woodstock. There are amazingly powerful early '70s non-album songs that rival those on _Live at Leeds_--"Young Man Blues" in particular is stunning. There is no _Quadrophenia_ material, and a cover of "Roadrunner" and a rather dull version of "Join Together" which bears no resemblance to the studio version are deleted for the cd. The real killers, though, the real jewels in the crown, the real essence of *The Who* are the songs recorded live in concert at Shepperton Studio especially for this film: "Baba O'Riley" "My Wife" (I think)and "Won't Get Fooled Again" "WGFA", especially, is their greatest moment on a legal recording. Jeff Stein in fact asked them to perform the song over, to get a more "definitive" version of it for the film. Townshend snapped, "What do you want me to do? Die onstage? Or whack that mf-er that keeps yelling "Magic Bus" over the head with my guitar?" But they did the encore, which is the version recorded here. Call this collection the "impressionist" view of The Who, if you want, but it preserves many memories of seeing this film at the midnight movies during high school for me. A great oddity, emphasis on "great".