The Who's Managers Exposed In New Documentary
Watch clips of Lambert & Stamp, the film of the men who bought The Who for £250.
KIT LAMBERT AND CHRIS STAMP were the men who discovered The Who – purchased them, in fact, from previous manager Pete Meaden, for £250 – and oversaw the group’s transformation into the boldest, brashest noise in ’60s pop. In terms of their backgrounds and personalities the pair epitomised the cultural free-for-all that brewed the decade’s revolutionary fireworks: Lambert (pictured above, with The Who’s Keith Moon and Pete Townshend) the Oxford-educated son of composer Constant, Chris Stamp the working-class brother of cockney actor Terence. As revealing interviews with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey in a new documentary by James D Cooper underline, the pair were a right handful – as volatile and, ultimately, troubled as The Who themselves. And yet under their tutelage the band’s confidence grew and their horizons broadened.
Here’s Pete Townshend on how cleverly and sensitively Kit Lambert managed his creativity...
And here’s Townshend on how The Who hit the skids in 1968, and Lambert’s role in the vindication that was Tommy. Warning, fans of Magic Bus, Dogs and Call Me Lightning – Pete’s a bit down on these “really mediocre songs”...
Lambert & Stamp is in cinemas from Friday May 15 with nationwide one-off showings on Tuesday May 19. Find out more here. The film is reviewed in full in the next MOJO magazine, out May 26.