The Kids Are Alright

Anytime they're playing music, or Keith Moon is being belligerently drunk: 80. Anytime Townshend is playing up for the camera: 40.

The Who kick ass, just like this movie.

This doc is all over the place but I love me some Who and will take it wherever I can get it.

Greatest rock 'n roll movie of all time. Favorite performances: We Won't Get Fooled Again, Young Man's Blues, and a very special version of "A Quick One While He's Away" taken from the unreleased Rolling Stones performance film The Great Rock 'N Roll Circus.

Another one of my favorite documentaries on one of my favorite bands.

Rewatched. For me, the best filmed rock performance pretty much ever is The Who playing A Quick One While He's Away at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus gig. This is as good a setting to see it as any. Early Keith Moon is a sight to behold as well - how he stays on beat doing the shit he does I'll never know.

There's not much rhyme or reason to the construction of this movie; it's all interviews, TV appearances, promotional films and live performances thrown together. Only occasionally will there be some thematic link between one piece and the next. The Who was an exciting band with a sense of humor, so most of the material is golden. But why wasn't there anything from my favorite album, Quadrophenia? 9+ minutes of "Won't Get Fooled Again" and not one second of "Love Reign O'er Me"? Bah.

A strange film because labels such as "portrait" or "inside look" at the band seem inaccurate. It's more of a look at how the Who presented themselves through this period, with Townshend as the spokesperson and Moon as comic relief. Daltrey and Entwistle seem hardly there. It's also clumsily edited together at times, but the strength of the Who as performers, with a sometimes literal destructive energy, is fascinating to watch.

A great portrait of a great band. It doesn't make much sense as a documentary, and John gets little face time, but there are some superb performances and entertaining archive snippets.