Who Footage Unearthed for New Documentary

Two years ago, filmmaker Murray Lerner sat down with Roger Daltrey to discuss plans to make the definitive movie on the Who. "Roger said, 'The problem is that so much of our footage has been widely seen,'" Lerner says. So for Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who, Lerner scoured archives around the world, solicited fan footage via the Internet and tapped into the underground-bootlegger network. The search turned up remarkable treasure, from the earliest known live footage of the band (from 1964, shortly after Keith Moon joined) to a performance of the rarely played "I Can See for Miles" and a mid-1970s TV interview with Moon taped as he played pinball at home. Most exciting is newly unearthed film from their legendary 1970 Valentine's Day gig at Leeds University, recorded as Live at Leeds. "It's from a guy who claimed he found it at the bottom of a barrel," Lerner says. "He was a Leeds student at the time." The documentary – which features new interviews with Daltrey, Pete Townshend and famous fans including Eddie Vedder and the Edge – hits theaters in the fall.

This story is from the June 14th, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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