Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

This DVD is a compilation collection of clips stretching across many years of The Who performing.  There are many problems with the footage, not the least of which is that I wish there was information with each clip on where & when it was from.  Some of the clips were familiar to me as I'd seen them before either in other collections or on MTV.  Others were new to me.  They are not in chronological order either, so it's not as if the footage starts of in their early years and ends in the 1980's.  Everything jumps around and it's clothing and hairstyles that generally gave me an idea of about when the clips were filmed.

The Who: Who's Better, Who's Best opens with My Generation.  This is black and white footage, I would guess from the early 1960's.  It appears to have been restored and rather well.   Both the picture and sound are very clear.  There are times that there are lines through the picture, but that seems to have something to do with the medium itself as otherwise the picture is quite good.  Performance is good and includes destruction of the amplifiers.

However, by the next song I realized the quality of My Generation had to do with the source material rather than anything that the creators of this compilation did.  I Can't Explain is another black & white video and the picture here isn't anywhere near as good.  There are moments when it washes out.  It is fairly clear, though, and has minimal interference or dirt.  Sound is excellent once again.

Anway Anyhow, Anywhere is the first color clip. This is club or concert footage.  Again, the picture is decent except for some washing out with the lighting.  The sound is great for the most part, although there are a few spots where it gets a bit muddy and suffers with some reverb.

The song Substitute brings the footage back to black & white.  It's a studio performance clip apparently recorded for a television show without an audience.

The Kids Are Alright is black & white footage filmed in a park somewhere. The picture does appear faded and there are more problems with scratches and dirt. The quality of the sound suffers as well as it has a bit of vibration to it but isn't too bad.

I'm A Boy came from some television show (possibly Beat Club?) and both the sound quality and picture quality are excellent.

The first song that seems to indicate an early music video format the way I remember from the MTV days is Happy Jack.  Although it's in black & white, it has the band acting out roles where they are attempting to break into a safe

Pictures of Lily is another song that looks like it came from the same television show as I'm A Boy. I got a good laugh here at how ridiculous Keith Moon looks trying to play the drums in a lacy shirt with long sleeves hanging quite long.

One of the biggest disappointments in the collection is Magic Bus. It starts out with so much promise as it has the band traveling in a bus with open sides decorated with hand-made signs. Unfortunately, that earlier footage cuts to a performance that is quite dark and hard to see. The lighting isn't all that good and fades out before the song is over.

You Better You Bet was a music video I remembered and represented quite a jump in years, although it's still in black & white.  I Can See For Miles regresses a bit in years although it is still in color.  This was another performance for a television show.

Pinball Wizard, I'm Free, and See Me, Feel Me appear to be from the same concert performance sometime during the Tommy era. Roger Daltrey has the long hair going for him.

Join Together is a song I haven't often heard performed live.  This suffers from scratches on the color print. It appears to be a television performance, still in the Keith Moon era although it seems to be late.

Who Are You is a recording the band performing the song in a studio setting.  This is where my kids learned that this was not originally written and recorded as the theme song to CSI.

Won't Get Fooled Again is taken from another concert; late 1970's would be my guess. It's in color and you can see some of audience up front.

Don't Let Go the Coat and Another Tricky Day are videos from the post Keith Moon era with Kenny Jones on the drums.  Finally, there is Eminence Front which is a music video I remember. This shows them getting ready for a concert, setting up, sound check, and finally the performance. It was filmed during the 1982 tour.

Looking at the DVD, it lists the last three videos as "extra features".  I don't know what makes these three "extra features" as they are included in the sequence of clips.  The "jukebox" feature just lets the viewer scramble the clips into a different sequence.

There's nothing else on the disc, so if you are looking for some rare performances by The Who, what's here might be of interest to you.  I wouldn't recommend it to most people as there are much better DVDs by The Who to see.



EXTRA FEATURES:

· Don't Let Go the Coat
· Another Tricky Day
· Eminence Front
• Jukebox





© 2010 Patti Aliventi

Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD