It's been out for a week already, so I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the unbelievable release of a restored and enhanced version of the famous Who documentary The Kids Are Alright on DVD. It's truly an Entwistle/Alembic fest the likes of which I've never seen before.
I've been really busy on a project for the last week, but just took a half hour and checked out some of the incredible stuff on the supplemental disc, part of a slightly more expensive Special Edition 2 disc version.
Don't be fooled again (sorry, couldn't help it)- be sure to get the 2-disc special edition rather than the single disc Deluxe Edition.
The pictures and sound are restored and remastered to modern standards, and the second disc includes a side-by-side comparison of the DVD version vs. the old home video version.
But you'll really enjoy one of the really unusual features. For most people, the highlights of the film are in-the-studio live versions of Baba O'Reilly and Won't Get Fooled Again. They're unbelievable and feature the Who at their finest hour, just post the Who Are You? period, with Keith Moon at full steam on the drums. I didn't know this before, but this is the last filmed performance of The Who before Keith's death. This is also has the famous laser show scene (still my favorite after 20 years of advances) and Pete Townshend's flying leap across the stage as the lights slam back on. John is playing his trademark Alembic Exploiter with the spider webs and is standing in front of his wall of Sunn cabinets.
That's all fantastic, but the Special Edition disc has an Entwistle special feature which features an isolated audio track - what you see is John playing BO and WGFA as in the film, but it's just his camera (they overlaid Oxcam in the corner!) and just the sound of his playing. In case people have asked you what does a Series bass sound like?, you can show them this definitive video. There are also multi-angle versions of these songs, so you can see what each of the cameras saw under your own control.
It's pretty interesting to watch him playing. The sound is mostly a direct feed from the bass with a little bit of the rest of the track bled in for context. The performance on Won't Get Fooled Again is pretty amazing. You can see him blow a riff at one point and make a face, and even see a little smile when he unleashes a fantastic torrent of notes. Because it's a direct feed, you don't really realize how loud it must have been on stage until he hits some notes at the end and they start feeding back when he releases the strings.
There are many more fantastic scenes, many Alembics, and it's never looked better. It's sad to think that John and Keith are gone, but they will never be forgotten and you can't find a better tribute that this.
