| Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who | |
| Director: | Murray Lerner Paul Crowder |
| Producer: | Nigel Sinclair Robert Rosenberg Murray Lerner |
| Narrator: | Paul Crowder |
| Music: | The Who |
| Cinematography: | Matteo Passigato |
| Editing: | Paul Crowder Pagan Harleman David Zieff |
| Studio: | Spitfire Pictures |
| Distributor: | Universal Pictures |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who is a 2007 documentary film by Murray Lerner and Paul Crowder about English rock and roll band The Who.[1] The film features new interviews with band members Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Kenney Jones, and Pete Townshend, as well as Sting, The Edge, Noel Gallagher, Eddie Vedder, Steve Jones and others, as well as rare photos of the four members of the band, and archival live footage of performances dating back to 1964. A soundtrack accompanying the film also serves as a greatest-hits compilation for the band.
The two-DVD set includes footage not in earlier documentaries, including film from the 1970 Leeds University appearance, never-seen-before footage of a show in Copenhagen that shows Daltrey leaving the stage because the performance of the other members of The Who broke down into chaotic noise due to amphetamines – which resulted in a fight between Daltrey and Moon backstage and Daltrey being kicked out of the band temporarily – and a 1964 performance at the Railway Hotel when they were The High Numbers.
The film was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award. An exclusive three disc set was available only at Best Buy retailers with a third disc featuring the majority of their performance on 8 December 1979 at Chicago's International Amphitheatre.
The film is divided in four "sides" of two LP discs. The chapters are named after lyrics from The Who's songs, while "Overture", "When I Was a Boy", "Young Man Blues", "So Sad About Us" and "Music Must Change" are titles of The Who's songs.
The first "side" details the origins of The Who, including: their thoughts of World War II in their lives and on England in general; how and why The Who became a Mod band and some details of the Mod lifestyle; how the four members of the band got together; Kit Lambert's and Chris Stamp's influence on the band; and their first hit single ("I Can't Explain") and album (My Generation).
The second "side" focuses on the band's struggle to be successful; the Monterey Pop Festival; their experiences with psychedelic drugs and how they influenced Townshend's music and lyric writing; Meher Baba's influence on Pete Townshend's life; and the release of Tommy.
The third "side" details The Who's transition from the 1960s to the 1970s: Pete coming up with his newest project, the Lifehouse rock opera, which was later abandoned and its songs formed The Who's most successful album, Who's Next; Quadrophenia; Lambert's and Stamp's frictions between themselves and the band; Keith Moon's death and the band's decision to bring in drummer Kenney Jones, keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, and continue after Moon's death; The Who concert disaster (which 11 people were killed); and Pete ultimately dissolving the band.
The final fourth "side" does not focus much on the period between Pete's dissolving the band in 1983 and their return in 1996, but it details: Entwistle's financial problems after the break-up of the band; Daltrey and Townshend's decision to get The Who back together to help Entwistle; how they stole the show at The Concert For New York City; John's death in 2002; Pete's having to face allegations for possession of child pornography material; and how Entwistle's death actually changed Daltrey's and Townshend's relationship for the best.
"Six Quick Ones" is a collection of six more mini documentaries, giving each band member more individual air time and delving into specific elements of the Who's artistry. Together, these run close to 90 minutes.
The compact biographies of Roger, John, Pete, and Keith are all from the same pool as Amazing Journey proper and contain more performance footage, but with a specific intention of getting to the heart of what made each individual player sound the way they did.
"Who Art You" explores how the band joined the mod movement and its pop-art leanings. It includes bits of the commercial they did for Coca-Cola, which then lead to The Who Sell Out. This features commentary from Richard Barnes, author of many a Who-related book, including the quintessential photo book on the youth movement, simply titled "Mods".
"Who's Back" is a mini-documentary on the recording of "Real Good Looking Boy" for the Who's 2004 greatest hits compilation – Then and Now -, and it was captured by D.A. Pennebaker, the director who filmed Bob Dylan's Dont Look Back and filmed the Who for Monterey Pop, joined by Chris Hegedus and Nick Doob. The band asked bassist Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer to join Roger, Pete, Simon Townshend, Zak Starkey and John "Rabbit" Bundrick for these sessions.
21 more minutes are given to "The Scrapbook," deleted and extended stories from the documentary. These are in five segments:
"The High Numbers at the Railway Hotel" is nearly 8 minutes of the recently unearthed footage of the band in 1964 – what was left of the original film was in possession of Roger Daltrey – playing two R&B covers uninterrupted. This very early film was shot for a proposed film Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp wanted to make, a chronicle of an up-and-coming rock band that never happened. These 8 minutes are what's left of the uncompleted film.
There was a limited edition 3-DVD version. The third disc was Live in Chicago 1979, which was 90 minutes long.
See main article: Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who (soundtrack).