A rockumentary with a better story than most, and a better way of telling it. It comes at the Who via their chalk-and-cheese managers: Kit Lambert, a gay, Oxford-educated composer’s son, and Chris Stamp, a charming “East End spiv” (and brother of Terence). The duo originally planned to make a rock movie, plucking a rebellious group from the London mod scene and documenting their exploits. Instead, they accidentally struck gold. Lambert and Stamp’s roles went further than management (about which, they admit, they knew nothing) it emerges, particularly in Lambert’s contentious grooming of Pete Townshend as the group’s songwriter. One advantage with these wannabe film-makers is rare footage of the early years – including the night they discovered the band. Having said that, this documentary has few cinematic ambitions of its own. It is more of an oral (and aural) history, than a slavish discography. The key surviving members – Stamp, Townshend and Roger Daltrey – talk about their generation with little outside perspective and barely a mention of Woodstock, Quadrophenia, or even trout farming. Considering Keith Moon was the template for rock’n’roll excess and Lambert knew everyone from the Rolling Stones to Princess Margaret, you wonder what juicy stories they took to their early graves.
