DVD Review of The Who / Who's Next

Eagle Rock Entertainment Classic Album Series Documentary

Apr 7, 2009

This 60 minute DVD focuses entirely on the story behind and the making of one of rock's greatest albums: 1971's Who's Next by The Who.

Of the myriad documentary and concert films about the band The Who, particularly in the last decade (not coincidentally since 3 of their songs became television themes for the CSI series), one little gem stands out for its focus, as a tribute to one of rock’s greatest albums: 1971’s Who’s Next.

While the aforementioned films (The Kids Are Alright-1978, Maximum R&B 1995, Amazing Journey-2007) are all excellent and thorough overview/histories, Eagle Rock's DVD entitled The Who/Who’s Next (Classic Album Series) is a close-up look at a single moment in The Who’s history, the album that moved them from simply stardom to a bona fide place in the Rock and Roll history.

Pete Townshend's Lifehouse Project

Having completed rock’s first opera, Tommy, in 1969, toured it, and blown away the 500,000 folks at Woodstock in August, 1969, The Who’s guitarist and writer Pete Townshend was looking for a follow-up, something even bigger than the highly praised double album. His answer was Lifehouse.

Lifehouse was Townshend’s vision of a world beyond Tommy’s “deaf, dumb and blindness," a futuristic place that only rock and roll could save, via a single musical note. It was a vision Townshend could not relate to either his bandmates or those close to The Who, like producer/managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp.

An hour in length (perfect for an MTV show) The Who/Who’s Next DVD focuses a great deal on this aspect of the band’s career, because the songs on Who’s Next were those Townshend wrote for Lifehouse. The project never really got off the ground, despite Pete’s desperate attempts, which included a live-in audience at The Young Vic theatre, witnessing several shows meant for a film.

Lifehouse Songs Become Who's Next

In the end, many of the best songs were used for Who’s Next, and they quickly became anthemic classics for which the band is still known: "Baba O’ Riley", "Behind Blue Eyes", and "Won’t Get Fooled Again". Townshend used timely technological innovations, particularly the synthesizer, to give this album a sound like nothing previously heard.

Interviews with all the major players, Stamp, engineer Glyn Johns, soundman Bob Pridden, as well as the surviving members of the band, are what make this documentary DVD special. None of the personal commentary can be seen on other films about The Who; all of the interviews were clearly filmed for this project, a rarity.

Strong Interviews with The Who & Major Players

Especially interesting are Glyn Johns’ demonstration of the recording process, using the original tapes, as well as singer Roger Daltrey’s commentary on the song that should have made the album, "Pure and Easy,"one the band’s very best. Even better is Townshend’s demonstration of how he wrote the famous organ/synth riff for "Won’t Get Fooled Again." Included as well is solo acoustic performance of the song.

One special treat is the inclusion of an interview with bassist John Entwistle, not long before he passed away in 2001. A relatively quiet man, Entwistle seems to be getting a kick out of reminiscing over the recording of Who’s Next.

For rock aficionados in general, and fans of The Who in particular, Eagle Vision’s The Who/Who’s Next (Classic Album Series) DVD is an absolute must for their collection.

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