The Who: Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (TV Movie 1994) Poster

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10/10
A Dedication.
Cinema_Fan5 November 2005
This is an excellent visual soundtrack of one of Rock's greatest achievement's, The Who.

First formed around 1964 by Roger Daltrey, he enlisted bass player John Entwistle, Pete Townshend on guitar and Keith Moon on drum's.

Playing around the London clubs and any paying gig they could get for what seemed like year's, they were constantly on the road, playing the famous Marquee Club in Wardour Street with their regular Tuesday night spot.

With the writing skills of Pete the band were on the way forward. The first hit being I cant Explain, a song about teenage angst and frustration, a theme that Pete was to continue with most of his writing career. This movie illustrates the fact that this band, like the Stones for example, are long lasting survivors of the sixties music phenomenon.

With great and rare concert footage. Showing shows from the Marquee, Tanglewood and not forgetting the Charlton Football Club shows. Seeing Keith Moon performing Bell Boy is a real treat. it is a pity that there is not more footage of Keith, for example his BBC radio session's, but we will have to wait and see.

The playing here is exceptional, seeing them in their prime, you cannot help but be mesmerised by Keith's playing, totally unique. Sadly, Keith passed away at the age of 32, ironically by an (accidental) overdose of the medication that was trying to prevent him from drinking himself to death. He was replaced by Kenny Jones, the drummer from the sixties group The Small Faces. Kenny, being an old friend of The Who and growing up in the same districts in London as the other guys would and could be the only choice.

Kenny is seen playing the last eight songs on this movie. The spirit of The Who had died with Keith, but to be fair, due to contractual agreements no doubt, they have kept on performing even to this day as The Who, even after John's death in 2002.

This is a very good mixed and varied concert package of a Rock n' Roll Band that ruled them all, that lead the way and survived to tell the tale.
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Okay for a Who Documentary, better than pretty much anything else
cocaine_rodeo24 October 2002
Well, this could have been better. I really enjoyed it, but it definetley was missing somethings. Bottom line, it was The Who, and I knew it was going to be good any way, but this wasn't as good as i'd hoped. I'm glad they played some great underground hits, like "Water" (bet you've never heard of that one) and "My Wife", but they were missing a lot from their greatest album "Who's Next".

I am very glad that they had a great version of "Behind Blue Eyes", which is one of my favorite Who songs. But they didn't have other great songs, like "Baba O Riley", "The Seeker" (it wasn't off "Who's Next", but I still wanted to hear it), and especially "Won't Get Fooled Again", perhaps the greatest rock song ever, at least my favorite song (next to "Sympathy for the Devil", and Gimme Shelter").

Other than missing those three classics, it was a grand ole' time. They did great versions of "Can't Explain", "Magic Bus", "Boris the Spider" (one of the highlights of the video), and "Behind Blue Eyes". The Who and the Rolling Stones are my favorite band (oh, and Pink Floyd), so this was going to be good, hits or no hits! 10/10
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Good representation of Whostory.
sbamkmfdmdfmk25 October 2001
This video/DVD contains a lot of fantastic snapshots of The Who's performance history. The footage and sound are superb considering the sources they came from. As most Who fans know, the performances get less spontaneous and turn into arena rock once Keith Moon dies. Personally, I can't stand the '79, '82, and '89 shows that are in the video. Nevertheless, they are part of the history and are represented well. What this film does not tackle is the personal lives of the four members. It acknowledges some of their issues, but mostly things that happened on-stage. Also, some elements are curiously omitted: there's no mention of "Lifehouse", Townshend's aborted project around that period which evolved into "Who's Next", perhaps their greatest album. They had restricted use of cameras at the time, but there were later performances of those songs which are still not shown. Also, there's no mention of the Cincinatti Riverfront Coliseum tragedy where 11 fans were trampled at the door. Anyway, this is just nitpicking. All in all, this is a fantastic film. Highlights include Keith Moon's drumming in "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", the ensemble in "A Quick One", Townshend and Moon's awesome collaboration in "Young Man Blues", Entwistle's bass work and Moonie's vocals in "Bell Boy"... the list goes on and on.
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