Now, there are three different versions of 'Live At Leeds' out there in fans collections. One has six songs, one has all the songs 'Heaven And Hell' through to 'Magic Bus' with 'Amazing Journey' and 'Sparks' inserted after 'A Quick One While He's Away', and the third and current version is the one i've listed above. So, this isn't the same 'Live At Leeds' that was released in 1970, and contained six songs, three of them cover versions. This isn't the same 'Live At Leeds' that has often be heralded as the greatest live album of all time or the same 'Live At Leeds' found in most fans Who collections. This is the third, and merely latest 'Live At Leeds', and still not 'correct', because of the limitations of the CD format. The Who's rendition of 'Thomas' as contained here, should really come after 'A Quick One While He's Away' leaving 'Summertime Blue', 'Shakin All Over', 'My Generation' and 'Magic Bus' as a clear encore. That's exactly how it happened on the evening, but no doubt is being 'saved' for a fourth version of 'Live At Leeds' which will no doubt ALSO be acclaimed as the greatest live album of all time. All four versions can't be the greatest! So, which one is? Are any of them? Well, I haven't heard every live album ever released of course, so i'm not even going to begin to make such a claim. I gave 'The Who' by 'Tommy', sorry 'Thomas' by The Who, sorry the 'pot opera' 'Tommy' by The Who, a grade of '7'. Does this suddenly get a '9' or '10' as performed here? The guitars are certainly louder, and Keith Moon goes supernova all through 'Amazing Journey'. I was fascinated listening to 'Amazing Journey' in particular. How often Pete was spurred on to ever greater heights by the playing of Keith, how Keith in fact drove a whole Who performance in a live setting. One other situation where this happens is 'Young Man Blues', more of which later.
Back to 'Tommy'. It originally got '7' from me. So, what does THIS version get? It misses four of the songs, and re-orders some of the other songs, the unfortunate result of which is that a clutch of short 30 second, 60 second pieces all appear together immediately after 'Pinball Wizard' when they didn't exactly do that on the original album. This 'electrifying' of 'Tommy' is welcome, the guitars are better, 'Amazing Journey' and 'Sparks' are both definitely better, but those both appeared on the mid-nineties 'Live At Leeds'. This version also includes ( most of ) the rest of 'Tommy'. Which, due to its very nature and structure, didn't allow much room for improvisation from the band in a live setting, but is appreciable all the same. The Who did a good job, although still don't transform a 7 into say, a 9. I give this 'Tommy' an 8. The highpoints are higher, but the re-ordering and dropping of certain songs means this isn't quite as cohesive as the studio 'Tommy'. Sure, 'Cousin Kevin' and 'Underture' were hardly highlights of 'Tommy', but they were part of 'Tommy'. Pete can change it if he likes, of course. Some changes for the better, some for the worse - both in performance and structure. Overall, this 'Tommy' is slightly better. Happy now? No? Ah, let's carry on anyway!
The first CD of this latest 'deluxe edition' is a wonderful thing, for the most part. One of the most enjoyable live albums i've ever heard, at least. 'Heaven And Hell' is an astonishing John Entwistle composition, and The Who are amazingly powerful in their performance of it. Doesn't sound a whole lot like 'studio' Who, by the way. Sounds better. 'I Can't Explain' is as fun as it ever was, and Pete's guitar chords and thrashes are certainly impressive and, um, loud! 'Fortune Teller' is a cover of a Benny Spellman song, and was also covered by The Rolling Stones and The Merseybeats. Another strong, powerful performance, especially guitar wise, but I don't much care for the tune, to use old persons 'speak'. 'Tattoo' is the sole song taken from 'Sell Out' and sounds a little ropey, to be honest with you. A little shaky, perhaps 'The Who Sell Out' wasn't easy to play live? When introducing the three song sequence beginning with 'Substitute' and ending with 'I'm A Boy' Pete jokingly says they are playing the three 'easiest' hits. That may well be the case, actually. I'd have loved to hear 'I Can See For Miles' performed instead of 'Tattoo', but then, I'm not The Who! They retained a fondness of 'Tattoo' well into the mid-seventies. Some of the harmonies and guitar are nice, Keith plays well, and I can't actually explain WHY I've just described this as a slightly 'ropey' performance. It almost certainly isn't, but it IS followed by 'Young Man Blues'. Maybe that's the reason. This is the single most astonishing piece of Who performance i've heard. I find it hard to believe anybody was performing live better than this at the time. This is faultless, and so damn exciting! There is a particular part I absolutely love. Keith and John have 'navigated' the opening stop start nature of the song, and then this fantastic sequence comes in, where they just sound SO astonishing, it beggars belief. And then? THEN! Pete comes in. And it seems, halfway through his soloing, he suddenly realises, a sudden thought pops into his brain, and the thought may well have been this, "FUCK! John and Keith are on form tonight. What the fucks going on? Better pull something a little EXTRA special out of my little bag of tricks." And so, he does! An absolutely wonderful guitar part comes soaring through, the rhythm section continue sounding absolutely super-human, and this all continues until the end of the song. I've not even mentioned poor old Roger, who by the way, turns in one of his best, if not HIS BEST ever Who vocal performance. Wow. Again, just 'wow'.
Onto 'Substitute', another mighty live performance. All three of these hits arriving in the middle of this disc are wonderful, loud, exciting and practically definitive renditions of said songs. When I first listened to this album, I was particularly interested to see how they'd handle 'Happy Jack'. They handle it damn well, Keith is Keith, you know? I shouldn't have expected anything less. 'A Quick One' isn't a Who song i'm as familiar with as others here, but it sounds good! 'Summertime Blues' bears only a loose remsemblance to the 'Summertime Blues' we all know and love, but at the end of the day, it really IS just 'Summertime Blues'. Same comments apply to 'Shakin All Over'. The Who perform these old Rock n Roll standards damn well, and their performances transcend the songs to an extent, but this is still 'Summertime Blues', and this is still 'Shakin All Over'. It isn't musical nirvana, for me personally. By the time of 'My Generation' I get a little tired. To the credit of The Who, they transform 'My Generation' into a fifteen minute ROCK monster, and then do 'Magic Bus' to close, which is always fun to hear, especially in this 'Who+1' styled performance. So, 'Live At Leeds'? I suspect i'd have preferred the 'non' deluxe CD edition. But, even with the second disc, i'll still give this a 9. OK? Happy now? No? Ah, whatever!
Heaven And Hell / I Can't Explain / Fortune Teller / Tattoo / Young Man Blues / Substitute / Happy Jack / I'm A Boy / A Quick One While He's Away / Summertime Blues / Shakin' All Over / My Generation / Magic Bus / Overture / It's A Boy / 1921 / Amazing Journey / Sparks / Eyesight To The Blind / Christmas / The Acid Queen / Pinball Wizard / Do You Think It's Alright / Fiddle About / Tommy Can You Hear Me / There's A Doctor / Go To The Mirror / Smash The Mirror / Miracle Cure / Sally Simpson / I'm Free / Tommy's Holiday Camp / We're Not Gonna Take It
Back to 'Tommy'. It originally got '7' from me. So, what does THIS version get? It misses four of the songs, and re-orders some of the other songs, the unfortunate result of which is that a clutch of short 30 second, 60 second pieces all appear together immediately after 'Pinball Wizard' when they didn't exactly do that on the original album. This 'electrifying' of 'Tommy' is welcome, the guitars are better, 'Amazing Journey' and 'Sparks' are both definitely better, but those both appeared on the mid-nineties 'Live At Leeds'. This version also includes ( most of ) the rest of 'Tommy'. Which, due to its very nature and structure, didn't allow much room for improvisation from the band in a live setting, but is appreciable all the same. The Who did a good job, although still don't transform a 7 into say, a 9. I give this 'Tommy' an 8. The highpoints are higher, but the re-ordering and dropping of certain songs means this isn't quite as cohesive as the studio 'Tommy'. Sure, 'Cousin Kevin' and 'Underture' were hardly highlights of 'Tommy', but they were part of 'Tommy'. Pete can change it if he likes, of course. Some changes for the better, some for the worse - both in performance and structure. Overall, this 'Tommy' is slightly better. Happy now? No? Ah, let's carry on anyway!
The first CD of this latest 'deluxe edition' is a wonderful thing, for the most part. One of the most enjoyable live albums i've ever heard, at least. 'Heaven And Hell' is an astonishing John Entwistle composition, and The Who are amazingly powerful in their performance of it. Doesn't sound a whole lot like 'studio' Who, by the way. Sounds better. 'I Can't Explain' is as fun as it ever was, and Pete's guitar chords and thrashes are certainly impressive and, um, loud! 'Fortune Teller' is a cover of a Benny Spellman song, and was also covered by The Rolling Stones and The Merseybeats. Another strong, powerful performance, especially guitar wise, but I don't much care for the tune, to use old persons 'speak'. 'Tattoo' is the sole song taken from 'Sell Out' and sounds a little ropey, to be honest with you. A little shaky, perhaps 'The Who Sell Out' wasn't easy to play live? When introducing the three song sequence beginning with 'Substitute' and ending with 'I'm A Boy' Pete jokingly says they are playing the three 'easiest' hits. That may well be the case, actually. I'd have loved to hear 'I Can See For Miles' performed instead of 'Tattoo', but then, I'm not The Who! They retained a fondness of 'Tattoo' well into the mid-seventies. Some of the harmonies and guitar are nice, Keith plays well, and I can't actually explain WHY I've just described this as a slightly 'ropey' performance. It almost certainly isn't, but it IS followed by 'Young Man Blues'. Maybe that's the reason. This is the single most astonishing piece of Who performance i've heard. I find it hard to believe anybody was performing live better than this at the time. This is faultless, and so damn exciting! There is a particular part I absolutely love. Keith and John have 'navigated' the opening stop start nature of the song, and then this fantastic sequence comes in, where they just sound SO astonishing, it beggars belief. And then? THEN! Pete comes in. And it seems, halfway through his soloing, he suddenly realises, a sudden thought pops into his brain, and the thought may well have been this, "FUCK! John and Keith are on form tonight. What the fucks going on? Better pull something a little EXTRA special out of my little bag of tricks." And so, he does! An absolutely wonderful guitar part comes soaring through, the rhythm section continue sounding absolutely super-human, and this all continues until the end of the song. I've not even mentioned poor old Roger, who by the way, turns in one of his best, if not HIS BEST ever Who vocal performance. Wow. Again, just 'wow'.
Onto 'Substitute', another mighty live performance. All three of these hits arriving in the middle of this disc are wonderful, loud, exciting and practically definitive renditions of said songs. When I first listened to this album, I was particularly interested to see how they'd handle 'Happy Jack'. They handle it damn well, Keith is Keith, you know? I shouldn't have expected anything less. 'A Quick One' isn't a Who song i'm as familiar with as others here, but it sounds good! 'Summertime Blues' bears only a loose remsemblance to the 'Summertime Blues' we all know and love, but at the end of the day, it really IS just 'Summertime Blues'. Same comments apply to 'Shakin All Over'. The Who perform these old Rock n Roll standards damn well, and their performances transcend the songs to an extent, but this is still 'Summertime Blues', and this is still 'Shakin All Over'. It isn't musical nirvana, for me personally. By the time of 'My Generation' I get a little tired. To the credit of The Who, they transform 'My Generation' into a fifteen minute ROCK monster, and then do 'Magic Bus' to close, which is always fun to hear, especially in this 'Who+1' styled performance. So, 'Live At Leeds'? I suspect i'd have preferred the 'non' deluxe CD edition. But, even with the second disc, i'll still give this a 9. OK? Happy now? No? Ah, whatever!
Heaven And Hell / I Can't Explain / Fortune Teller / Tattoo / Young Man Blues / Substitute / Happy Jack / I'm A Boy / A Quick One While He's Away / Summertime Blues / Shakin' All Over / My Generation / Magic Bus / Overture / It's A Boy / 1921 / Amazing Journey / Sparks / Eyesight To The Blind / Christmas / The Acid Queen / Pinball Wizard / Do You Think It's Alright / Fiddle About / Tommy Can You Hear Me / There's A Doctor / Go To The Mirror / Smash The Mirror / Miracle Cure / Sally Simpson / I'm Free / Tommy's Holiday Camp / We're Not Gonna Take It
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