The Who Album: “Live At Leeds (Deluxe Edition)”

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.

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.

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.

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.