The Who: Who's Next
by Bob Smeaton
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: John Entwistle, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, The WhoDirector: Bob Smeaton
Brand: Eagle Rock Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Product features:
- Featuring: Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Pete Townshend, The Who.
- Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC.
- Language: English.
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
- Run Time: 60 minutes.
Movie Reviews of The Who: Who's Next
Movie Review: Great concept for a documentary. Great Album
Summary: 5 Stars
I took a chance and got this DVD because "Who's Next" is really one of the greatest albums of all time, and one of my personal favorites.
I came away with some real insights into the Who. First, these were fantastic musicians. Second, Townshend is really a great musical talent. Third, you realize that music just isn't at the same level any more. Not because there are not great musicians around, but rather the art form itself has changed. It is because this current generation has moved onto other musical forms. The concept album doesn't speak to younger generations. Too bad, because The Who show what power great rock music can have. It truly is a great art form.
When I heard this album in college, I was blown away. From Baba O'Riley - which is not about getting wasted, but rather is about wasted life - to Won't Get Fooled Again, the quality of the music is amazing.
You will get to see acoustic performances of several songs, a discussion of the Lifehouse concept which led to Who's Next (you could call it Townshend's Smile), several engineers discussing the individual tracks and how the totality of the music was created, and interviews with Townshend, Entwistle and Daltrey. This documentary makes you realize just how much work goes into creating great music.
Truly, a terrific concept for a documentary. I would recommend this wholeheartedly.
Summary of The Who: Who's Next
Who's Next is viewed by many as the greatest testament to the songwriting talent of Pete Townshend and the musical power of The Who. When the album was released in 1971 it climbed to the Number 1 spot on the British Album chart and remained in the Top 50 for over three months. In the UnitedStates, the album went Top 5 on the Billboard chart and remained in the Top 40 for five months. The story of how The Who came to record the album is told by group members Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle, together with contributions by those who were close to the group during the making
of this classic album. The songs recorded for the Who's Next album and featured here, include such classics as Won't Get Fooled Again, Baba O Riley and Behind Blue
Eyes. We are also given an insight as to the importance of the late great
Keith Moon to the success of The Who, and hear how his larger-than-life personality often overshadowed his musical contribution to the group.
Included in this documentary program are previously unseen performances of songs from the album that prove the longevity and lasting appeal of Who's Next, a true Classic Album.
Originally produced for cable and home video as a documentary project, the Classic Albums series offers in-depth profiles of enduring rock and pop albums built around first-person interviews with the artists, producers, and musicians that created them. Their strong sonic debt makes their DVD issues problematic, since the segments aren't intended to replace the original audio recordings, only to expand on them. If you haven't heard these albums, nearly all of them landmarks in late-20th-century pop, then this isn't the place to start. If you know the originals, however, these smartly written, well-produced documentaries can open up a richer understanding of the genesis for each album.
Who's Next proves a terrific candidate for this deep-focus approach: in songwriter and chief strategist Pete Townshend, we're presented with one of the most thoughtful, articulate rock gods extant. His own capacity for self-analysis, as well as an underlying empathy for the band's original Mod fans, translated directly into the band's songs. Townshend's sense of daring had already yielded a more conspicuous rock landmark with Tommy, the "rock opera" that preceded what eventually emerged as Who's Next, which seemed comparatively straightforward, an album of songs without an obvious narrative thread. In fact, Townshend had sought to carry the theatrical underpinnings of Tommy to a higher, interactive level by creating a sprawling stage piece, Lifehouse, that would use the theater space and the involvement of fans to expand on the studio conception that yielded his saga of that deaf, dumb, and blind kid.
Who's Next thus emerges as something of a mirror for the listener--for Townshend, the reductive but still potent remnant of a grand, white elephant, for the rest of the band simply their best album. Surviving members Townshend, bassist John Entwistle, and vocalist Roger Daltrey provide generous comments on the history of the project, and interviews with managers, press agents, and writers, including biographer Dave Marsh, all reinforce the sense that, however chimerical Lifehouse itself proved, it produced a rich set of songs honed by the live performances they received during the project's chaotic development as a de facto theatrical laboratory. --Sam Sutherland
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