The Kids Are Alright

by

The Who

Edit

The Who's "The Kids Are Alright," is the 1978 soundtrack album to what is a very good biopic of the band. The album collects mostly live performances of many of The Who's best known songs. The live versions are, for the most part, harder edged than the original studio versions. The Smothers Brothers Show version of "My Generation," for example features Keith Moon detonating his drum kit with explosives at the end of the song. He didn't tell anyone ahead of time that he was going to do it, which made it one of rock's classic moments (the expressions of the other band members in the movie is priceless).

The Who's definitive live album remains "Live at Leeds" (especially the expanded version), but "The Kids Are Alright" holds its own well enough. It also features the final public performances of Moon, recorded shortly before his death. One word of caution: If you are planning to purchase this CD used, the original release essentially had no CD booklet accompanying it. Make sure that you're getting a later version, which at least partially restored the extensive and colorful booklet that accompanied the original lp.

"The Kids Are Alright" is the original soundtrack from the documentary of the same name. It's a mixture of studio- and live recordings from various stages of the Who's career.

There are a lot of great recordings, though some suffer from poor sound quality. Some of the very last live recordings to feature original drummer Keith Moon, show that the band was still on top, when Moon sadly passed away. His playing on "Sparks" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" is impressive.

Though the sound is far from perfect I also enjoy the version of "A Quick One" from the Rolling Stones'"Rock 'N' Roll Circus".

Though there is lot of great music, I somehow feel that the CD does not work as an album. Too much variety in sound and sound quality - the music is taken from very different stages of their career - and the shifting from live to studio and back again gives an overall uneven impression.