Though this 90 minute DVD, The Who, The Mods, and the Quadrophenia Connection, is probably going to generate some interest among fans of the legendary British rock band, after watching it, most will get a feeling of 'ok, now what was the real point of it all?' . The idea here was to tie together the British 'Mod' movement of the late 1950's & early 1960's, with the early career of The Who, as well as The Kinks and The Small Faces, and later, how the Mod movement was documented in the album Quadrophenia. The first half of the DVD takes a quick look at all things Mod, and talks about whether the members of The Who were actually ever Mod's or not (most of the folks interviewed for the DVD seem to think that Pete Townsend was really the only Mod among them), and that The Kinks, and especially The Small Faces, were the only authentic Mod bands in the 60's. So, why make this film then? Well, that's one of the questions you'll ask yourself here, as well as why the producers didn't try to get any actual commentary from Townsend or Roger Daltrey. Thankfully, there's some great live footage of The Who spliced in here, as well as some from The Kings and The Small Faces, which makes for some thrilling moments early on, as the various people interviewed talk about the early career of The Who and their involvement with all things Mod. In most cases, it's stuff you've heard before, but perhaps not from these particular individuals, some of whom are associated with the band (Richard Barnes), influenced by them (members of the bands The Chords & The Purple Hearts), or involved in the music scene somehow (Alan Clayson, Ron Nevison, & Eddie Pillar).
The second half of the DVD takes a look at Quadrophenia, breaking down many of the actual songs themselves, as well as the movie which was based on the story behind the album, including many clips from the film. If you've seen the film and listened to the album, this might serve as a companion piece, complete with plenty of opinions on the storyline and whether the album as a whole worked or not. As a whole, this is a pretty entertaining DVD, though I'm not sure it really sheds much light on the whole Mod scene, and whether The Who did or didn't have much impact on it, but it does attempt to tie the two together and explain how Quadrophenia was Townsend's telling of the whole Mod era.
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