Live at Leeds
Live at Leeds (1970) is The Who's first live album, and is their only live album that was released while the band was still recording and performing regularly.
It is thought by many to be the best live rock album of all time["Hope I don't have a heart attack". Telegraph.co.uk (June 22, 2006). Retrieved on January 3, 2007.][ Live at Leeds: Who's best... The Independent (June 7, 2006). Retrieved on January 3, 2007.][Hyden, Steven. THE WHO: Live at Leeds. PopMatters.com (January 29, 2003)][ The Who: Live at Leeds. BBC - Leeds - Entertainment (August 18, 2006). Retrieved on January 3, 2007.][ Live at Leeds. Rolling Stone magazine (November 1, 2003) (Retrieved on June 24, 2008)] and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die from www.rocklistmusic.co.uk (Retrieved on June 24, 2008)] It is also included in Q magazine's list of Loudest Albums of All Time
Background
After releasing Tommy in mid-1969 The Who went on an extended world tour to promote it, and returned to England at year's end with a desire to release a live album from the tour. However, they disapproved at the prospect of listening to approximately 80 hours of accumulated recordings to decide which would make the best album; it was rumoured that Townshend burned the tapes (to prevent bootlegging), a rumour squashed later by Daltrey in an interview.
Two shows were consequently scheduled, one at the University of Leeds and the other in Hull, for the express purpose of recording and releasing a live album. The shows were performed on February 14th (Leeds) and 15th (Hull) 1970, but technical problems with the recordings from the Hull gig — the bass guitar had not been recorded — made it all the more necessary for the show from the 14th to be released as the album. Regardless of great approval of the Leeds gig by many fans and critics, the band members believed the recordings at Hull sounded better, as the acoustics projected better in the more spacious venue.
Perhaps because of these circumstances, or perhaps because The Who were hyped up from their international success with Tommy, or perhaps simply because The Who were in their prime at the time of recording, Live At Leeds turned out to be a wildly popular recording.
Packaging
The album cover looks like the simple cover of a bootleg LP of the era: it is of plain brown cardboard with "The Who Live At Leeds" printed on it in plain blue or red block letters as if stamped on with ink. The original LP's cover opened out, gatefold-style, and had a pocket on either side of the interior, with the record in a paper sleeve on one side and facsimiles of various memorabilia on the other, including a photo of the band from the My Generation photoshoot, handwritten lyrics to the "Listening to You" chorus from Tommy, a receipt for smoke bombs, and the early black "Maximum R&B" poster showing Pete Townshend windmilling his Rickenbacker.
The label was handwritten (apparently in Townshend's hand), and included instructions to the engineers not to attempt to remove any crackling noise. This is probably a reference to the clicking and popping on the pre-remastered version (notably in "Shakin All Over") which was from John Entwistle's guitar cable. Modern digital remastering techniques allowed this to be removed, and also allowed some of the worst affected tracks from the gig to be used also.
Accolades
Live at Leeds became a critical smash, with The New York Times acclaiming it as "the best live rock album ever made." Its reputation as such continues to this day with Q magazine recently putting it at the top of its list of the greatest live albums of all time.[Live at Leeds - again, a 06 June 2006 press release from the University of Leeds website]
The album's reputation has become so lofty that the venue at which it was recorded, the University of Leeds refectory, has been named a national landmark in the UK, commemorated with a blue plaque.
Personnel
 Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, harmonica, tambourine
Pete Townshend – guitar, vocals
John Entwistle – bass guitar, vocals
Keith Moon – drums, vocals
Original 1970 release
The original LP contained six tracks.
Side 1:
"Young Man Blues" (Mose Allison) – 4:45
"Substitute" (Pete Townshend) – 2:05
"Summertime Blues" (Jerry Capehart, Eddie Cochran) – 3:22
"Shakin' All Over" (Johnny Kidd) – 4:15
Side 2:
"My Generation" (Townshend) – 14:27
"Magic Bus" (Townshend) – 7:30
Remastered 1995 CD
The digitally remastered CD, released in 1995, had the original tracks, which were expanded, and many new ones:
"Heaven and Hell" (John Entwistle) – 4:50
"I Can't Explain" (Pete Townshend) – 2:58
"Fortune Teller" (Naomi Neville aka Allen Toussaint; original by Benny Spellman) – 2:34
"Tattoo" (Townshend) – 3:42
"Young Man Blues" (Mose Allison) – 5:51
"Substitute" (Townshend) – 2:06
"Happy Jack" (Townshend) – 2:13
"I'm a Boy" (Townshend) – 4:41
"A Quick One, While He's Away" (Townshend) – 8:41
"Amazing Journey/Sparks" (Townshend) – 7:54
"Summertime Blues" (Jerry Capehart/Eddie Cochran) – 3:22
"Shakin' All Over" (Frederick Heath) – 4:34
"My Generation" (Townshend) – 15:46
"Magic Bus" (Townshend) – 7:46
The remastered CD includes song introductions and other banter that was edited out of the original release.
"Fortune Teller" and "Young Man Blues" are R&B tunes that were a standard part of The Who's stage repertoire at the time. "Shakin' All Over" is a cover of a hit by pioneering early 1960s British rocker Johnny Kidd and "Summertime Blues" is a cover of an Eddie Cochran song. (The Who's cover of "Summertime Blues" is similar to Blue Cheer's version, which had recently been a hit single.)
"My Generation" is drawn out into an almost sixteen minute medley including "See Me, Feel Me" / "Listening To You", "Sparks", the instrumental riff from the end of "Naked Eye", "The Seeker," and a number of other mostly unfamiliar themes. "Magic Bus" is drawn out to seven and a half minutes (9:42 on the un-edited recording). The rest of the tracks are fairly straightforward renditions of the original songs, albeit with a consistent hard-rock power trio sound rather than any attempt to re-create the various studio sounds of their original recordings.
A similar concert from later the same year was released in 1996 as Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, along with a film of the same event titled Listening to You: The Who at the Isle of Wight Festival.
Deluxe edition (2001)
The Deluxe Edition includes more chat between the songs, and a near-complete performance of Tommy on a second disc, which features every song except "Cousin Kevin", "Underture", "Sensation", and "Welcome" which were not played at the concert. At the concert Tommy was performed between "A Quick One, While He's Away" and "Summertime Blues"; the Deluxe Edition of the remastered CD moves "Amazing Journey/Sparks" to their appropriate place during the Tommy performance, and includes everything that was performed at the concert albeit edited.
Disc one
"Heaven and Hell" (John Entwistle) - 5:07
"I Can't Explain" (Pete Townshend) - 3:13
"Fortune Teller" (Naomi Neville) - 2:35
"Tattoo" (Townshend) - 3:42
"Young Man Blues" (Mose Allison) - 6:12
"Substitute" (Townshend) - 2:07
"Happy Jack" (Townshend) - 2:14
"I'm a Boy" (Townshend) - 7:47
"A Quick One, While He's Away" (Townshend) - 8:52
"Summertime Blues" (Eddie Cochran & Jerry Capehart) - 3:22
"Shakin' All Over" (Johnny Kidd a.k.a Fred Heath) - 4:35
"My Generation" (Townshend) - 15:49
"Magic Bus" (Townshend) - 7:56
Disc two (Tommy)
"Overture" (Townshend) - 6:53
"It's a Boy" (Townshend) - 0:31
"1921" (Townshend) - 2:26
"Amazing Journey" (Townshend) - 3:18
"Sparks" (Townshend) - 4:23
"Eyesight to the Blind" (Sonny Boy Williamson) - 1:58
"Christmas" (Townshend) - 3:19
"The Acid Queen" (Townshend) - 3:35
"Pinball Wizard" (Townshend) - 2:25
"Do You Think It's Alright?" (Townshend) - 0:22
"Fiddle About" (Entwistle) - 1:13
"Tommy, Can You Hear Me?" (Townshend) - 0:55
"There's a Doctor" (Townshend) - 0:23
"Go to the Mirror" (Townshend) - 3:24
"Smash the Mirror" (Townshend) - 1:19
"Miracle Cure" (Townshend) - 0:13
"Sally Simpson" (Townshend) - 4:01
"I'm Free" (Townshend) - 2:39
"Tommy's Holiday Camp" (Moon) - 1:00
"We're Not Gonna Take It" (Townshend) - 8:48
All of the Tommy set is previously unreleased except "Amazing Journey", "Sparks" and "Pinball Wizard".
An excerpt from "We're Not Gonna Take It", titled "See Me, Feel Me", was also previously released on the Thirty Years of Maximum R&B box set.
During the concert, "Summertime Blues," "Shakin' All Over," "My Generation," and "Magic Bus" were played after the Tommy set, but for easier listening the Deluxe Edition devoted the entire second disc to the Tommy set, and moved "My Generation" and "Magic Bus" out of order to the end of the first disc. During 1970, the regular Who concert set was set up this way, but an album with a 1970 concert in true order wasn't available until 1996 when the official Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 album was released.
References
For more information, see the inserts to either of the two remastered editions.
External links
The Who.com official site
Discography > Albums > Live At Leeds from the Hypertext Who, a comprehensive fansite
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