The Who: Live At Leeds

Today I am taking a break from my Yesathon (which at the rate i'm going will never end) to review Live At Leeds. Why? Because it happened 40 years ago today and it's also the greatest live rock album of all time.

I have the deluxe edition which contains the entire concert so that's the one I'll be reviewing. I was considering reviewing the original LP from 1970 since that has less songs but that would just make me a lazy asshole, which I am not (most of the time)

All the songs here have much more energy than on their studio counterparts. A prime example of this is "Heaven and Hell", one of the few John Entwistle songs here. The studio version is a good song, but it here it is a great hard rocker and I consider it to be his best song. Also, I've always particularly loved the version of "Substitute" found here.

There are also a good number of cover songs here ("Fortune Teller", "Young Man Blues", "Summertime Blues", and "Shakin' All Over"). I haven't heard any of the originals but I can't see how they could ever live up to the versions found here. my favorite is "Young Man Blues". It features some of the absolute best performing by all four members of the band. Seriously, if you don't like it there's somthing wrong with you. I try not to make generalizations like that but this is an exception.

Another thing worth pointing out is there performance of "A Quick One (While He's Away)". The version here is far superior to it's studio counterpart. It's a great energetic performance but it leads to one of my few gripes with the album, the onstage dialogue. Before they play the song, Pete talks about the song for 5 minutes. While it's amusing the first few times you'll find yourself skipping over the explanation of the song. Still, the actual performance is great.

"My Generation" becomes a 15-minute jam here. It begins with a feirce version of the well known classic, then it goes into "See Me, Feel Me/Listening To You" followed by an improvisational jam featuring parts of "Naked Eye", "Sparks", and what seems to be an early version of "The Seeker". As far as, improvisational jams go, this is one of the best, and it is one of the true highlights of the concert.

"Magic Bus" is greatly improved upon here. Gone is the silly little single and in comes a 9 minute jam. the song starts out similar to the studio version but continues building up with the instrumental parts getting progressively heavier. All four members get to show off here, and it is another one of the many highlights.

Finally I want to talk about the performance of Tommy. This version is radically different than the album version. the acoustic guitar and orchestration are gone and replaced by Pete's electric guitar. Overall this performance rocks way harder and is in my mind the definitive version of Tommy. I'm not going to go to in-depth but I will say my favorite songs from the performance are "Overture" and "See Me, Feel Me/ Listening To You".

Overall, this album is simply great. It is the best live album ever, if not the best album of all time. You need this album. Seriously, if you only buy one album by The Who, buy this one. in fact, I'm not even going to do my usual best song/worst song thing because it's all so great. so stop reading this blog and go give Pete Townshend your money!