Customer Reviews

Live at Leeds

5 star:		(266)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The Feb 14, 1970 Leeds show which provided The Who with their
first official live album is widely regarded by collectors
as not only one of the group's finest-ever shows, but one of the
greatest live shows in rock history. The original album included
only 35 minutes of the 120 minute show, and was still one of the greatest live albums ever; in 1995 that length was
more than doubled for the CD remaster, but the "Tommy" portion remained in the vaults. Fans had to be content with the bootleg "Leeds Complete" in order to hear the whole thing, until now. Whether or not the piecemeal way the concert has been
released over the years is a cynical MCA ploy or not, now that
we finally have the whole thing, the show can finally be heard
in all of its awesome power and glory.

One of the reasons "Leeds" is prized among Who collectors is
that it is one of the best-recorded; the mix is superbly
equalized among all three instruments and Daltrey's vocals, and Townshend's guitar sounds especially full-bodied and wet. The performance is one of the tightest and note-perfect of that
period--without losing any of its heat or raw power--and the
audience is amazingly quiet and respectful, which almost gives
the show a "live in the studio" quality. A comparison with
"Live At The Isle Of Wight", the only other complete Moon-era
performance of "Tommy", is in order: although both shows are extraordinary, "Leeds" is superior for the above
reasons (although "Wight" offers arguably better versions of "Young Man Blues" and "We're Not Gonna Take It/See Me Feel Me").

For all of its dozens of incarnations, there is no doubt that
the best version of "Tommy" was when the band originally performed it live in '69-'70; the volcanic fire which erupts
from the group during "Sparks", "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me Feel Me" approaches levels of nirvana not known on the comparatively tame studio record, campy '75 film or horrifyingly
conservative Broadway version. And "Tommy" isn't even the highlight of the show--when the group pull all their muscle
together for "Shakin' All Over", "My Generation" and "Magic Bus"
at the end, the energy released is beyond cathartic. Oh yes,
this new 'deluxe' reissue also contains an expanded booklet
with more photos, liners, etc. So, it took 31 years, but one of the greatest live shows ever is now available in its entirety.
Now that we have "Wight" and "Leeds", how about Woodstock?
(NOTE: although the CD says that "crackling noises have been corrected", one can still hear a little bit of crackle from the worn tapes during "Tommy", esp towards the end--otherwise, the remix is superb).

When originally released, The Who's "Live at Leeds" was a quick glimpse of the lads pounding out the tough guy covers and original tunes live with astounding working class conviction. Even today, to listen to "Summertime Blues", "Substitute", or "Shakin' All Over" is akin to hearing these guys touch of the core of a Rock and Roll super collider. In their greatest moments, The Who achieved a chemistry during live performance that was as unique as it was astounding. Live at Leeds in 1970 caught some of those moments for the record, and was a nice portrait of the group before they stepped off into the Baba O'Riley years.

The newly released version only improves on the original by showing the group stretch themselves during their performances. "Heaven and Hell" and "Tattoo" respectively capture The Who performing material that is more challenging and, well, touching, yet every bit as rewarding as the more rocking numbers. There is no doubt that this album gives a clearer portrait of the musical range this group possessed, and is stronger for it.

Pete Townsend, who never sounded comfortable as a lead guitar player, clearly understands the strengths of his rhythym guitar playing here. Listen to him on "Amazing Journey/Sparks", two terribly underappreciated tunes from the rock opera "Tommy". Townsend's playing during this collage is amazing in it's straight ahead intensity, and runs the gamut from soft and ethereal to raucous and back. Together with Moon, Entwistle, and Daltrey, this number creates some of the most beautiful chaos I've ever heard. In short, Moon's playing throughout this album and on this song imparticular, is nothing short of remarkable.

The flip side of this coin is found in "A Quick One (while he's away)". Without going into detail, let's just say this mini opera is your basic high speed collision of Rock and Roll with Monty Python. The result being a gloriously silly song punctuated with rocking riffs.

I honestly don't know why they did not release this album like this in 1970, but it's here now. It's truly one of the greatest testaments of a live Rock and Roll performance this listener has ever heard. Strong Buy.

Here we have one of the greatest rock performances ever recorded. Period. From a personal standpoint, I find this newly remastered deluxe edition easily worth the money. Is this an essential purchase for the casual fan? Maybe not.

The original 1970 release contained six rock masterpieces which showed the rough side of the Who. Amazingly, given the growing public appetite for garish double live albums that was beginning to gain momentum at this time, the original Live at Leeds album was not even thirty minutes long. It was this release that came to be known as perhaps the greatest album ever recorded.

In 1995, the original album was generously expanded to over twice its original length with the restoration of performances form the concert which showed the poppier and more experimental sides of the Who. It also sounded better than ever. This beautiful release only increased this album's already giant stature.

Now in 2001, we get the "deluxe edition" of this classic which now contains the complete performance of Tommy from this same show. One could debate the placement of Tommy out of its original performance sequence by placing the entire thing on disc two, but I don't really think that this is a problem.

Personally, while I have always had a great amount of respect for Pete Townshend's first masterpiece, I've always considered it overblown, pretentious, and slightly dated (I've always considered Quadrophenia to the the better of the two).

On its own merits, the previous incarnations of Live at Leeds were perfect albums for anyone with more than a passing interest in rock and roll or the blues. It is therefore appropriate that the original tracks be relegated to disc one. It makes for easier listening. These same casual fans may not really appreciate the pomp of Tommy on disc 2(although, in all fairness, it IS a really good performance).

In short, casual fans will definitely be more appreciative of the non-Tommy tracks and may be better served by purchasing the less expensive '95 reissue.

It seems like just yesterday when MCA reissued the `new' Live at Leeds (it was actually in 1995). Expanded to almost twice the length of the original album, it was reissued in two different packages: the first was a standard CD, the second was a limited edition album-sized package containing all the inserts from the original album. Now MCA has released yet another version of the infamous 2/14/70 concert from Leeds University. This time, it's being touted as the `complete' show (it's not, however) on two CDs, digitally remixed and remastered. Pete Townshend supervised the remix himself.

For the new `deluxe edition,' the label added the complete performance of Tommy. What they didn't do, is keep the show in its original running order. The Who tours of 1969-70 all featured Tommy in its entirety, but it came during the middle of the show, rather than at the end. The new liner notes reflect this. Diehard Who fans will be disappointed by this; but for those who don't know otherwise, this makes perfect sense. You can hear Tommy from start to finish without having to change discs. The other thing that keeps this from being complete is the omission of "Spoonful" in the middle of "Shakin' All Over."

If you're not a diehard Who fan, though, you can't go wrong with this new version. This album has long been considered one of the best live albums ever produced, and with good reason. The performance is outstanding, and the new packaging is cool too--even if the inserts are reduced to photos inside the booklet. There are new liner notes and photos, and the `crackling noise' that was deemed "OK" in the past has been corrected. Even if you have a copy of the original unedited show, the new deluxe edition of Live at Leeds is a required addition to any Who collection.

I have always considered The Who to be the greatest live band ever. Live at Leeds is a sure testament to that claim. However, MCA continually attempts to do the album justice by re-mixing, re-mastering, and releasing it until they finally have the perfect version. Unfortunately, the newest incarnation, Live at Leeds: Deluxe Edition, is far from perfect and while claiming to have been restored to its full concert length, the Tommy tracks have been placed on one disc and the non-Tommy tracks placed on the other. This is quite bothersome as Tommy was originally played before several non-Tommy tracks. Although the track listing has been altered, this isn't the biggest problem. It seems that too much noise reduction has been used and the tracks have an almost sterile sound (The 1995 release of Live at Leeds has better sound quality than Deluxe Edition). I recommend this release only to hardcore Who fans that collect for specifically archival reasons and I suppose for the packaging as well (which is quite nice). Otherwise, as another reviewer has said, go out and find the bootleg of the Leeds show entitled Live At Leeds: Complete. LALC has the original running order from beginning to end, with no edits. Basically it's just the original tape with no alterations made. The sound isn't so bright but it's very honest, raw and powerful. Here's my ratings:

LIVE AT LEEDS: DELUXE EDITION - *** (See above)
LIVE AT LEEDS (1995 Remaster) - ***** (Excellent sound quality and expanded to 15 tracks!
LIVE AT LEEDS COMPLETE - ***** (The original full length concert in brutal stereo! No edits!)

As an owner of both "Live At Leeds: Complete" (See previous reviews for an explanation of what this is) And "Live At Leeds: Deluxe" I have to say a few things about what some people are trying to pass as facts:

A. ALL THE SONGS THAT WERE PLAYED AT THE CONCERT ARE HERE! Some people claim that songs from Tommy are missing, the reason they are missing is THEY WEREN'T PLAYED AT THE CONCERT

B. EXCEPT FOR THE PLACEMENT OF THE TOMMY SET, ALL THE SONGS ARE IN THE CORRECT ORDER THAT THEY WERE PLAYED. Some people think that some of the songs from the Tommy set were moved around, they weren't, on TOMMY, FIDDLE ABOUT comes after PINBALL WIZARD, on LAL, FIDDLE ABOUT comes before PINBALL WIZARD

Ok, now that that's out of the way, on with the review!

Disc one is pretty much the same shtick that came out in 1995, except the sound qualiy isn't as good, the songs are brilliant, especially Heaven And Hell, A Quick One [While He's Away], Magic Bus and My Generation. One or two more gripes before i continue:

A. About 2 minutes were editted out of My Generation
B. About 2 minutes were editted out of Magic Bus

The knowledge of these edits comes from being an owner of LALC

Disc Two:
Sound quality: Ugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The sound quality is really REALLY BAD on disc 2, when the other people said that it sound as though it was recorded through a tin can, they weren't kidding! And I think I know why this is, LAL has been released and re-released on LP, Cassette, CD, CD [remastered and expanded], CD [Deluxe] and Pretty soon, SACD and DVD Audio. Now, the entire concert [almost] is out, pretty soon, people will stop buying remasters of this concert, but Pete wants to continue to make money from the remasters so he made the audio crappy so he could fix it and re-release it again later.

It's really sad that the audio is so crappy, on LAL:C, the set from Tommy is AWESOME!!!!

Get this Album if you ABSOLUTELY MUST, it's a WHO essential, but to tell you the truth, i would recommend the 1995 Remaster over this, the set from Tommy will be released again later, you can count on Petey to do that.

People tend to love or hate the Who. Some of their best music--'The Who Sell Out,' 'Quadrophenia'--is somewhat inaccessible, and what were once cutting-edge studio techniques and methods have aged poorly in certain cases. The singles from their best studio album, 'Who's Next,' are overplayed on classic rock radio, and their inability to resist trotting out the oldies on overpriced reunion tours, the conversion of 'Tommy' to a Broadway musical, and the cynically commercial decision to sell the rights to some of their best hits for use in Hummer commercials and as TV-show themes have certainly cut into the Who's 'hip factor' in the current era.

This is why 'Live at Leeds' should be essential listening for anyone wondering what was so great about the 'orrible 'Ooo. Here we have the group at their live-performance peak. Townshend is often slagged as a weak guitarist when compared to the other guitar titans of his age (particularly Jimmy Page and Clapton), but what those critics fail to consider is the amazing athleticism of his live performances and the aural power of his windmilling riffs between empty space--space Page would have filled up with mindless noodling. If being able to play notes fast made one great, you'd have a poster of Yngwie Malmsteen on your wall (haven't heard of him? Well, that's sort of the point). Even Page himself expressed embarrassment about the endless and pathetically self-indulgent half-hour guitar solos on the recently released CD/DVD 'How the West Was Won.' Townshend can play hot leads when he needs to, but he rarely does, given the depth and sensitivity of his songwriting and the presence sidestage of the Ox, John Entwistle, arguably the best rock'n'roll bassist ever, one of the few of his era capable of making the bass a lead instrument. Daltrey was coming off of his canonization at Woodstock and finally had both the confidence and the vocal range to become a commanding front-man, and Moon's drumming is wild, improvisational, and inimitable. On 'Live at Leeds' they are in peak shape, and the raw energy of the set overshadows the occasional flub (usually on the part of Daltrey or Pete, who tended to screw up while leaping around or posturing for the audience while Moon and the Ox concentrated on playing). High points on the deluxe re-issue include a brilliant medley of 'My Generation/See Me Feel Me/Listening to You/Sparks', 'A Quick One', and a simply smokin' 'Young Man Blues.'

Despite the misgivings of some hardcore Who-philes about breaking up the concert's original set order, in which 'Tommy' usually came at the midpoint rather than as the finale, putting 'Tommy' alone on a separate disc seems to me a wise choice, as it favors folks who haven't had the pleasure of hearing the rock opera performed live in its entirety. It's certainly fair to be critical of the Who's commercialism in the last fifteen years, but the fact is that this 2-disc re-issue set is probably meant more for folks who are just discovering the Who, rather than longtime Who-philes and collectors (a serious Who collector would have had a bootleg of this thing for years anyway). Besides, if it's that damn important to you to hear the set as it was originally played, burn it on to your computer and rearrange the tracks yourself. Personally, I'm thrilled to have a remastered, soundboard quality CD of 'Tommy' live, and will probably never listen to the studio version again because of it.

If you're someone looking to find out what the Who was all about, this is definitely the best bang for your buck, for two chief reasons: it covers a wide period of 'Who-story' from 'My Generation' through 'Sell Out' and 'A Quick One' on up to 'Tommy,' and it gives you the live Who--certainly the most energetic and compelling live act of their era, and arguably the best live rock act of all time--at their peak.

When it comes to declaring your favorite classic rock and roll band, one sounds like a wimp or, at the very least, one who really dosen't have a true personal opinion if you pick the Beatles of the Rolling Stones. These two bands are so firmly rooted in the Rock godhead that even making them subject to such a decision feels like heresy. That's why God gave us The Who.

The only problem with this picture is that it relegates The Who to no better than number three in the universe of British Invasion greats, let alone the world of Rock in general, and, as one of their biggest fans, I require more for my very favorite quartet of English pop musicians. To compensate for this position in the shadow of the Beatles and the Stones, I grant The Who one of only two bands to produce an honest to gosh work in a classic form, the Opera, using the Rock idiom. In fact, they did it twice with both `Tommy' and `Quadrophenia' in creating an opera with not only a genuine Rock band and instruments, but with one of the legendary bands of the British Invasion era. In case you are wondering, the only other work I believe is worthy of this distinction is Spooky Tooth's `Ceremony'.

Now that we have established that I believe The Who to be just slightly lower than gods, I have to up the ante and claim that `Live at Leeds' is hands down one of the very best live Rock and Roll albums ever recorded. My recollection of the story surrounding the production of the album is that Pete Townshend and his chums toured England and the world for several months and recorded every note at many different stops with the intention of creating a live album from the very best takes. The problem was that when they sat down in front of the hundreds of recordings, they simply had no idea where to start, what to include, and what to throw out. So, the packed up all their recording gear to record a single concert at Leeds, England, a rather ordinary city of industry and working class people. I believe the result could not have been better.

This album was recorded about a year after the release of `Tommy', but it contains only one long selection from that seminal work. The other thirteen cuts span their entire output up to, but not including the album `Who's Next' which always, in my mind, marked a change in the Who's basic style from Live band to Studio band, especially after the loss of Keith Moon. The only cut I cannot place on one of their classic albums is the first, entitled `Heaven and Hell', written by the greatly missed John Entwistle, released on the B side of the `Summertime Blues' single. Every other cut is pure gilt edged Who, with the original four lads at their ear-splitting, heart-pounding best.

In case you may not know it from this great distance in time, The Who were one of the very greatest live performing bands in their era, and I saw them live just after the release of `Tommy', about a year before this album was recorded and, I can honestly say that they are one of the very few live performances which lived up to the intensity one generally associates with a live Rock show. In this same period, I saw Jim Morrison and the Doors, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton with Derek and the Dominos, and while the experience of seeing all of these legendary performers was satisfying, it was often less than electrifying. The original The Who including Keith Moon was electrifying in live concert.

One of the very best things I like about the original The Who as a group is that it is almost perfectly balanced between the talents of the four. Leader, lead guitar, and principle songwriter Pete Townshend leaves the limelight on stage to singer Roger Daltrey, who does the greatest impression I know of what we all believe to be the performance of a rock star. John Entwisthe is the anchor, who keeps everything nailed down on base, while Keith Moon is the force which threatens to spin off into the second balcony. Keith Moon may not have been the very best rock drummer, but I dare anyone else to venture an alternative for that title with some very serious evidence. Moon was hands down the fastest, getting a faster beat with single sticking than most professional drummers can achieve with double sticking.

Even a conservative evaluation of this album must place it among the top five live rock albums of all time. For Who diehards, this is pure gold.

I owned "Live at Leeds" on vinyl many years ago, with no inside liner notes and a measly six tracks. Even so, it was a great listen. Now that it has expanded by eight additional tracks and grown a basketload of liner notes, a masterpiece has gotten even better. The Who were a great live band in their heyday. Full of both energy and sonic wallop, they were perhaps the greatest early heavy metal band, even if their studio albums didn't sound like like it. Stripped of the fussiness of Pete Townshend's studio perfectionism, the band flat out rocks live. Recorded in 1970, "Live at Leeds" still counts as one of the greatest live albums ever. It is also a sad reminder that rock music just doesn't have this kind of power anymore.

The Who's "Live At Leeds" album was recorded and released in 1970, in between the release of their two best LPs - "Tommy" and "Who's Next". The LP only had 6 tracks on it originally and even when the album was first transferred to CD in the late 1980s it still only featured the original 6 tracks. The new, remastered version is awesome. Considered by many rock music lovers - not just avid Who fans - to be one of, if not THE, best live album ever recorded. The Who's performance is electrifying and here we also get 8 extra tracks. I don't know who was responsible for remastering this disc, but whoever did it has done a fantastic job because this is probably the warmest sounding CD I've ever heard. All the warmth and ambience of an analogue recording is present and the sound just seems to leap out of your hi-fi speakers. For a three-piece band, the Who had a massive sound but were also very clever at dynamics. This is a cracking live album of one of the greatest British rock bands captured during what was arguably their best and most awe-inspiring period. No lover of good rock music should be without this CD - along with "Tommy" and "Who's Next", this album ranks among the Who's finest.