The Who – Amazing Journey

First published November 2007

Just back from a screening of the new Who documentary ‘Amazing Journey’ followed by a Q&A chaired by Jeremy Clarkson (yes, really). Even if (like me) you think ‘The Kids Are Alright” is one of the top 3 pop movies you still need to see this film. Why ? It continues past Moons death up to the present day. It illuminates the relationships between Townshend, Daltrey, Entwhistle and Moon in a way that TKAA did not. And most importantly it has some great previously unseen footage. The absolute jewel is The High Numbers doing ‘I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying’ at the Station Hotel, Harrow in 1964, followed by a brief snatch of ‘CC Rider’ both in superb quality. Daltrey is punk-hard in shades, Moon is all floppy and puppy-eyed, Entwhistle stoic and Townshend completely wired.

During the Q&A Daltrey claimed that the footage had been shot by Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp and recovered from a skip following an office move. The whole film is worth it for this three minutes alone. Dedicated Who fans will have seen some of the other footage – Monterey, Woodstock, Isle of Wight, Coliseum – but there’s lots that’s new here. My only reservation is that very few songs get played in full, which I find frustrating.

More info at http://www.thewhomovie.com