L.A. Times on Amazing Journey

[Brian Cady]

http://tinyurl.com/2dw8a8

Rock docs celebrate Tom Petty, the Who
By Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

...By contrast, "Amazing Journey," which runs something like half the length of the Petty film, scants the music -- it comes only in flashes. Yet it stills feels musical, visually -- the Who dressed and moved as if to make it clear to even someone as deaf as Tommy (though not, of course, as blind) that this was rock. If I were going to try to sell someone on the greatness of the band, I would sooner send them to "The Kids Are Alright," Jeff Stein's 1979 nonlinear film scrapbook, which -- though it skips around in time and is short on information -- better communicates the majesty of the band. But the new film fills in a lot of gaps.

Co-directors Paul Crowder and Murray Lerner concentrate on the talk. Pete Townshend, who in the past has strained to distance himself from rock 'n' roll and almost compulsively belittled bandmate Roger Daltrey, has relaxed some. He is like a man who has quit struggling against his marriage -- and has decided that this is his life and, all told, a good one. Indeed, "Amazing Journey" makes a case for the then-they-were-two Who as a band that deserves your continuing interest -- something of a feat, given that you have just seen them at the height of their powers. For a band whose watchwords were aggression and chaos, their story in the end is surprisingly sweet and moving.
 
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com

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