The Who: The Kids Are Alright

Jeff Stein's 1979 documentary presents The Who less as a band portrait than as an archive of energy. Concert footage, television appearances and interviews from the 1964 formation through 1978 are collided in non-chronological order; there is no narrator, no history lesson, only the band and images of its own chaos. Stein was very young when he made it, which explains why the selection is built through a fan's eyes rather than as a respectful biography. The film's weight comes from containing Keith Moon's last recorded performance with the group; Moon died before it was released, and the record acquired the character of a farewell in retrospect. The sound quality of the concert sections and the pace of the cutting are ahead of most music documentaries of the period. Who it's for: listeners of The Who and anyone interested in the performance side of the British rock scene of the 1960s and 70s. Who it's not for: those wanting an orderly, contextualised history of the band, who will find the narration-free montage logic scattered.