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"The Who:
Tommy and Quadrophenia Live"
|
 |
Reviewed
by: |
Wayne
Klein |
| Genre: |
Concert |
| Video: |
1.33 Full
screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
Approximately
400 minutes |
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
11/15/05
|
| Studio |
Rhino Home
Video |
| Commentary:
|
Visual Commentary
Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry |
| Documentaries:
|
Documentaries
|
| Featurettes:
|
"The Quadrophenia Story"
|
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Photo gallery
|
| Cast
and Crew: |
Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, John
Entwhistle, Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, Simon Clarke, Elton
John, Patti LaBelle
|
| Written
By: |
Pete Townshend,
John Entwhistle, Keith Moon |
| Produced
By: |
Michael
Pillot |
| Directed
By: |
Lawrence
Jordan |
| Music:
|
Pete Townshend,
John Entwhistle, Keith Moon |
| The
Review: |
Once upon a time rock operas were
the thing and Pete Townshend wrote the best of them. Why did
they tour again? It was the money. $ 75 million to be exact
and the trio were all having money problems of sort of another
which inspired them to tour vs. completing a new album. "Tommy",
"Quadrophenia" and the incomplete "Lifehouse" all showed Townshend
expanding his musical view to create long narratives with
a central story. Made into two successful films "Tommy" and
"Quadrophenia" hadn't been performed in their entirety live
since the band broke up in the 80's. These performances are
drawn from the 1989 tour which featured the late Ox himself
John Entwhistle still playing with his other surviving bandmates.
On the last tour he was sorely missed luckily through the
power of DVD we can enjoy this show.
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| Image
and Sound: |
When the show was recorded on videotape
DVD had yet to come to market. Given the age of the videotape
(now 16 years old) and the production, the show looks pretty
good. The image quality isn't as top notch as we might get
with digital video today and there's a lot of image softness
that occasionally creeps in but, on the whole, the show looks
pleasing. The 5.1 surround sound mix is terrific putting you
at the concert. The only thing missing is the smell of pot
(and you can supply that yourself if you've got a mind to).
|
| The
Extras: |
On the "Tommy" disc we get a photo
gallery that includes photos from vintage photos as well as
some from this performance of the show plus vintage posters
set to the "Overture" from Tommy. "The Quadrophenia Story"
features Townshend discussing the creation of the rock musical
and features Aubrey Powell the creative co-director of the
theatrical production of the show done live.
There’s also a third disc that consists of the band’s
greatest hits live. One features the band in 1989 playing
in Los Angeles doing a set consisting of everything from “Substitute”
to “Who Are You?” as well as a selection from “Who’s Next?”
their classic album. The “Quadrophenia Encore” consists of
many of the same songs from a different performance. The 1989
Giants Stadium features the band’s encore of two songs from
“Tommy” “The Acid Queen” and “Pinball Wizard” as well as the
Townshend solo hit “A Little is Enough” from 1980’s “Broken
Glass” album. ***
Two documentaries are included as well including one
on Billy Idol who plays Cousin Kevin in “Tommy” and “Ace Face”
from “Quadrophenia”. Also, there’s a sneak peak at the “My
Generation” documentary coming from the producers of Bob Dylan’s
“No Direction Home” documentary. It’s actually more of a trailer
for it. It’s a pity that an excerpt wasn’t included as part
of the documentary section. ---
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| Commentary:
|
"Tommy",
"Quadrophenia" features a visual commentary with Townshend and
Daltry appearing on screen. While it might be watched once or
twice most fans will watch this for the musical performances
which are exceptionally good. Townshend gives quite a bit of
background on why the show came about. Daltry does as well although
he doesn't hold back on his feelings about things (Daltry feels
that Townshend was sensitive about his hearing-well he had bad
hearing loss due to all their concerts. He also feels that Townshend
underrates himself as a lead guitarist and that's certainly
true but I suspect the real reason he only plays acoustic here
is that he felt that he needed to play loud if it was electric
guitar (and it also saved his hearing as well). A warning is
that Townshend and Daltry use four letter words during their
commentary track so leave it off if you've got little ones around.
By the way, Townshend pretty much plays acoustic throughout
the concert but he doesn't play it exclusively occasionally
opting to play electric if the music needs it. *** |
| Final
Words: |
I was surprised to see visual commentary tracks for both
rock operas. Overall a terrific package
of live performances,commentaries and interviews need I say
more.
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