2015 in review: lambert and stamp

(dir: James D Cooper) A fascinating subject for a documentary, illuminating a pair of men as influential in the rock 'n' roll era as Brian Epstein or Andrew Loog Oldham. These are the colorful figures behind the rise and super-empire of The Who.

The tricky bit with docs, though, is that they rise and fall on the quality of the interviews. Lambert is dead (and, though it's hinted the death was shadowy and probably drug-related, they never do tell us how or when), and Stamp is the sort of talker who skims across the tops of things, going sidetracked into vocal fillers (long chains made of "you know"s and "um"s) and off-shoots, using a lot of space to say frustratingly little. He needed a more disciplined interviewer; he definitely needed a more determined editor.

Another reason docs fail to rise up into greatness is because they're made when too many of the folks are still alive, and so everyone is treading carefully to avoid stepping on toes, a dynamic fully in play here. Toes were already well-smashed in olden times, one can sense, and we can see Daltrey in particular trying terribly hard to avoid hurting Stamp's feelings, and to avoid pissing Townshend off, as well, which speaks well of Daltrey as a human, but it makes for very weak copy. All those moments when we watch a dark piece of truth pass unheralded behind his eyes, a piece which he chooses not to speak... those are the very words we long to hear. Townshend comes across as a man who is choosing his words carefully not so much to misdirect his interviewer as to avoid looking too closely at something himself, some old truth or possibly a mendacious aspect of his own personal myth.

In any case, it's useful to know going in that this is not at all a history of The Who; you really need to have taken your Who 101 before you watch it to have the basics readily to hand. Probably a simple viewing of the Kids Are Alright, one of the best rock docs ever made, will suffice. And it won't hurt to have a working background in Carnaby Street history, to boot: for this, I heartily recommend (Timbers fan) Shawn Levy's brilliant Ready, Steady, Go!, a wonderful book.

IN SUMMARY: I'm very glad this film was made, because now this footage can be used again once all the main players are dead and buried, when it's time for the REAL story to come out. This is an exercise in the wrapping up of loose ends for the kids involved. In other words, it's not really for us, it's for them, particularly for Stamp, and possibly for Daltrey, an opportunity for him to make peace with his past, or at least to bury some demons a bit more deeply. And although I'm glad to see that the kids are alright, I'm still wishing for a deeper digging into the Carnaby Street doings of these two probably once-nefarious characters.