A QUICK ONE:LIVE AT LEEDS, SEVERAL WAYS

If you love the Who, get this!





Record Collector is usually always a good monthly read, but sometimes they come up with a must read issue that should not be missed.
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And the July issue is such a keeper.
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Even though it may make first-and my-generation Who fans feels like dying old, it is 40 years since what many consider to be the greatest rock and roll live recording ever released, the Who Live at Leeds was released.
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So RC salutes it, and rightly so.
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Not to be boring, but I'll never forget the day that I brought this original vinyl LP home.
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I was 15 and I had heard the Who before, but not THIS kind of Who!
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This, was amazing. Loud, frantic, angry, and most likely capturing
the Who at the height of their powers. At least live-wise.
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And even though we have had three different CD versions of Leeds-the original vinyl mix, the expanded single CD, and the deluxe twofer-some Who fans still prefer the original single LP and CD as its (edited) 40 odd minutes was tighter than a chicken's arse.
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The 10 page RC article points out all the many Byzantine machinations the Leeds recordings have taken through the years, including a Canada-specific variation in the medley contained in My Generation, as well as the sad fact that in 40 years, the complete, unedited Leeds show has never been legitimately released.
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But, as you can see at left courtesy of the Bootleg Zone, the Leeds
show in its rough 2 hour+ entirely, is, or was, available for a time.
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Of course there are many warts in that unedited recording, and it
is easy to see why Pete Townshend and crew sought to excise them.
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See, in the studio, one can do sonic wonders, although learning from the RC article that a fabulous echo/reverb effect was added
to a segment of My Generation kind of blew some myths to smithereens for me.
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Yet regardless sweating the details, Live at Leeds in any form
remains the preeminent example of live rock, at least in the 20th
century. (Click on image at upper left.)
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And hopefully, at least one other show from the era-many of which were recorded- will be legitimately released in the near future.
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Oi!