Possibly the last remastered and reissue of The Who's past work would be their 1979 soundtrack to the wonderful documentary of The Who's career. I actually started to get into The Who shortly after the release of "Who Are You" in 1978. Ironically, Keith Moon passed away shortly after the filming of this brilliant documetary of The Who's career. I received the double vinyl album on Christmas of 1979, and found it to be a great introduction to the early work of this band. Of course, I quickly went off the deep end and had to purchase everything this band has done, including most of the solo works! This reissue, just released this past month, will satisfy the appetite of many die-hard Who fans as well as anyone who would like to know more about this band.
To best describe "The Kid's Are Alright" would be The Who's greatest hits... live. The makers of this documentary knew that the real attraction to this British powerhouse was their live performances. Most know that The Who liked to smash up their instruments and most everything else in site at the end of their performances during the mid 60's. There are really very few recorded records of this "activity", and most are on film and video. The true jewel of this cd can be found with "My Generation". Recorded during late 1967 on "The Smother's Brothers Comedy Hour", the track contains plenty of humor (courtesy of Moon, Townshend, and Tommy Smothers) and the bombastic ending of guitars, amps, and drums smashing up. Keith Moon's placement of cherry bombs inside of his bass drum are also rumored to have started Pete Townshend's rapid hearing loss, and it's all here in one three minute song! The cd shifts between the 60's and 70's quite regularly, which gives the release plenty of personality. Screaming teens can be heard on "I Can't Explain" direct from the British music show "Ready, Steady, Go". The recording is low quality, but it's one of the better performances of this early Who song. "Young Man Blues", taken here from late 1969, even beats out the version that The Who recorded on "Live at Leeds". Townshend's blues inspired guitar solo is probably one of his most memorable. The late 60's is when The Who really started to come together as a great live band while touring for "Tommy". Three songs from their classic Woodstock performance are added here. "Pinball Wizard" is a great addition since it never appeared on the original Woodstock movie. Daltrey's voice is at near perfection during this performance. John Entwistle's "My Wife", recorded live in 1977, contains much more raw energy than the studio release. Also included is "A Quick One", performed here at The Rolling Stone's "Rock and Roll Circus" from 1968. Once again, The Who's rendition of this early "rock opera" shows why some of their studio recordings sound tame in comparison. For the first time on cd, the medley "Join Together/Roadrunner/My Generation Blues" is included on this reissue. Recorded in 1975, the "gritty" performance was typical of the band's ability to ad-lib solos and just jam together when they had to. The absolute best performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again" is included on this release. If you are like me, it's very hard to listen to any other recorded version of this song since this one is inspired and powerful. Daltrey's screaming is amazing in depth, and the playing is tight and clear. Recorded live for the film, it features the last performance of Keith Moon playing drums for The Who. The Who would enter the 80's and beyond without him, and his influence would be missed.
The sound quality of this reissue isn't considerably better than the orginal MCA release, but the addition of an extra track, detailed liner notes, and pictures is a welcome addition to my cd collection. Anyone who respects The Who should also try to rent the dvd or video of the documentary also. The true personality of the band was never captured so well as this release. Be prepared to laugh when watching!
