I watched this DVD (Special Edition) last night. It is an enhancement or re mastering of Jeff Stein's 1979 film of the same name, and it achieves a higher quality of the sound, the restoration work has made the picture quality much richer and sharper, whilst footage cut from the film (eg., the clip from The Rolling Stones' Rock 'n' Roll Circus) has been returned. What it shows is the way the band expanded the boundaries and vocabulary of pop music in the late 60s and early 70s.

It is is not a chronological telling of the Who's career told in terms of TV performances or video clips of hits. There’s no narrator. There appears to be no clear order to the music. Stein’s film is a salvage project, a patchwork of rare television appearances, 8mm footage, early promos, seamlessly integrated and re-cut Woodstock images, and live performances the director captured in 1978.

It is conceptual in that you see The Who in their different styles: R&B ravers, Mod poppers, blues aficionados, rock opera stars, and hard driving anthem blasters. What we are offered is a band with their roots in pop visual culture and mod London, who were in great danger of becoming a vaudeville stage act smashing guitars and drums.

Townshend's music saved them, until the musical decline after the classic Who's Next, when they abandoned their exploratory music in the mid-'70s, settled into their role as arena rockers in pursuit of the dollar, became a money-making machine and slowly disintegrated as a musical group.

This loosely assembled archival footage is more a scrapbook than a history, as the Lifehouse Project is not explored, nor is any mention made of Quadrophenia even the DVD finishes with a studio performance of the Who Are You in 1978. It's a pity since Townshend 's anchoring the band with his furious windmills, propulsive rhythms, and a songs, formed the complex, contradictory heart of the Who. The Lifehouse project eventually developed into The Lifehouse Chronicles.

The DVD (Special Edition) is close to the Jeff Stein original film, which has become one of the most celebrated documentaries in the history of rock. The restored version doesn't offer many extended excerpts or unused performances. Most of the two-disc set's supplementary material is dedicated to detailing what went into the restoration— it's interesting material---and it almost context-free for history or insight into the band's development. This is less a film about rock 'n roll, than of film of rock’s dynamic performers.

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