Live at IOW DVD (Remastered): Jambase

[Tom]

On line at:
www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=5540

About one year after Woodstock, a massive 600,000-person rock festival took
place on the United Kingdom's Isle of Wight. At 2:00 a.m. on August 30,
1970, The Who took the stage for a raucous set. This powerhouse moment in
rock history has been captured on the newly restored and remixed DVD release
of The Who--Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. The packaging of the
disc claims the 85 minutes on the DVD is The Who's "complete" performance
despite the fact that the band reportedly exited the stage at 5:00 a.m.
Either there were exceptionally long banter or pee breaks in this set, or
some of the music is missing from the DVD.

This is not what one might expect from a 1970 rockumentary. I don't know if
it's because the camera crew was British or because the film was edited
years after the fact, but those glorious, elongated 1970s close-ups on a
guitarist's frenetic fingers are unfortunately nowhere to be found. In fact,
the camera angles are rather unorthodox, relying primarily on an interesting
stage left profile shot of the band and rarely cutting to the strangely
obstructed frontal wide shots.

Of course, this would all be a big deal if the music wasn't so amazingly
explosive. This gig found The Who in their prime, and they eagerly tore
across the stage with their badass blend of rock and blues. Although the set
includes a lengthy but somewhat truncated version of their rock opera Tommy,
the real highlights are the incredibly energetic opening tracks of the set.
From the opening salvos of "Heaven and Hell," and continuing through the
thunderous mod sounds of "I Can't Explain" and the scorching rage of Mose
Allison's "Young Man Blues," it's obvious that this band was operating in
high gear. The set climaxes on a rowdy, ten-minute version of the
sexually-charged "Water," featuring some rare improvisation from guitarist
Pete Townshend.

This release provides the added options of both Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound and
DTS Digital Surround, enabling the listener to plop himself right inside of
Keith Moon's drum kit. While the sound is impressive, it also reveals an
interesting truth about The Who. As a chemically-enhanced Moon pounds his
kit, a bare-chested Roger Daltrey preens back and forth, and Townshend jumps
across the stage and windmills his guitar on exaggerated chords, one man
stands stoically dressed in a skeleton costume. He is the late John
Entwistle, and the enhanced sound of this DVD brings forward his vast array
of mind-numbing riffs that propel the band forward and are often overlooked
in the visual shuffle of his hyperactive compatriots.

The DVD is closed out with a 40-minute interview of Townshend, where he
candidly reflects on his dislike of his bandmates, his hatred of the
hippie/Communist movement, and his discomfort with his famous career.
Watching an aging rock star bitterly gripe about his incredibly successful
life is a fascinating and bittersweet way of ending a DVD release that truly
captures Townshend and company at the peak of their immense powers.

Brian Ferdman
JamBase | Worldwide

[Ineedanewname]

Tom said:

. I don't know if
it's because the camera crew was British or because the film was edited
years after the fact, but those glorious, elongated 1970s close-ups on a
guitarist's frenetic fingers are unfortunately nowhere to be found.

I don't know what the hell having a British crew has to do with anything. I would have assumed Murray Lerner brought his own American crew over with him - and if not, the UK film industry is globally famous for the quality and skills of it's technical staff.

Also, let's not forget, The Who were a band. Elongated "glorious" shots of Townshend's fingers would not only have seemed excessive, but would now look to be the perfect example of dated and badly stylised film making.

On the other hand, where the 'fingers' issue is concerned, THE worst Rock film has to be Jimi Plays Berkely. Filmed by Americans who decided the audience would be most interested in seeing close-ups of Jimi's face for virtually the entire performance.

Infact, I've seen numerous examples of filmed music events from the late 60's/early 70's - recorded by Americans - where the cameramen appear to be on some kind of bad acid and all too willing to share the experience.

[Papillon]

The said:

I don't know what the hell having a British crew has to do with anything.

I noticed that too. Must be the usual sub-standard people who work for that tinpot little organisation the BBc that he's on about.

[mapleleafsfan]

if you look at pretty much anything that was filmed back in that era....i dont care what country the crew was from it was pretty much all the same...not that good.