Whichever version (original, expanded, deluxe, complete) you listen to, Live at Leeds is easily one of the best live rock albums of all time. There are quite a few reasons why this is the case. First, The Who were promoting Tommy, the album that solidified their identity and differentiated them for the first time. You can feel the head rush of their newfound massive fame, as if their heads were still spinning from the world they now inhabited. As Pete Townshend once observed, they had become the kind of band that Jackie Onassis would go see. Tommy had given the Who that kind of stature - quickly. Second, 1970s hard rock was starting to take shape for the first time after Woodstock. After experimentation in the 1960s, the Who began to formulate the essence of what we know as hard rock. It’s still not all there, as the Who’s various early singles and the erratic nature of Tommy shows. But many moments such as “Heaven and Hell” and “Young Man Blues” sound like the birth of modern hard rock. Third, the Who themselves had all but fully transitioned from their siller 1960s rock songs to a more serious 1970s mindset. Again, they weren’t fully there because Tommy had a few silly moments. But Tommy’s overall themes were so philosophical and spiritual that it helped transform the Who into the serious 1970s band they would become. Fourth, the Who had also not grown too jaded or overly heavy yet. They still sounded like their mid-1960s young punk selves - with maybe just a bit of success and perspective to ground them. Throughout Live at Leeds, their stage banter sounds like kids in their mid-20s just enjoying whatever is happening around them. They sound tired but giddy, enjoying the moment. Fifth, the novelty of this fresh, new sound resonates with the audience. People were still digesting “modern rock” and the crowd sounds thrilled but respectful, staying quiet throughout most of the songs. It was a rare period of rock and roll between 1967 and 1974 when people would watch certain rock bands as if they were watching jazz or classical music. It’s amazing to “hear” the crowd’s lack of constant cheering that has been on every live rock album since 1974. Sixth, the Who were at the peak of their playing. All of their years of gigging and hard work combined with the musical development of each of the four’s rare talents led to phenomenal playing. Roger Daltrey sounds like a rock god, Pete Townshend seems to ascend to heaven multiple times with his versatile guitar playing, John Entwistle plays his bass like a lead guitar, and Keith Moon drums like a mad keyboardist. A few of the songs arguably offer up some of the best live rock performances ever. And finally, Live at Leeds was the perfect album to release after Tommy as it brought the Who right back down to Earth the minute they seemed to become pretentious. Live at Leeds is the sound of a meat and potatoes working man’s band, even with the inclusion of Tommy’s entirety. As one of my favorite all time live rock albums, Live at Leeds delivers some of the best hard rock I’ve ever heard.
Let’s start with the original 1970 version. “Young Man Blues” might just be the best live hard rock performance ever. The Who take this Mose Allison song and inject it with the most thunderous hard rock possible. It’s absolutely brutal. Putting most of Led Zeppelin’s similar efforts to shame, Daltry belts out the lyrics like a tougher Robert Plant. Townshend both delivers up the riff like a sledgehammer but also rides out the song with solos that sound like he’s kayaking down dangerous rapids. Entwistle holds the fort with some of the most complex rock bass playing ever laid down. Moon injects a frantic energy and chaos throughout, stirring up the pot constantly. This is the Who at their best as players. Despite the instrumental excursions, there is not a wasted second. This is the first Who song ever released that I can actually headbang to. They show a nod to the past with “Substitute” and add some extra aggression to it while also cutting it short. They lay down another definitive modern hard rock track with the cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues.” Many bands had a strange fascination with this song, and I think that fascination remains because of the Who’s version. They retain the spirit of the original song while also making it LOUD. Just the SOUND of this song thrills me and I’m sure inspired many bands to dig into rock’s past to turn old classics into modern hard rock classics (e.g. Van Halen). While I prefer the BBC session version of “Shakin’ All Over,” the Live at Leeds version is still mighty and worthy. The original Johnny Kidd song was way ahead of its time and the Who make it their own here. During the guitar solo, Townshend just rips shit up while Entwistle and Moon match his crazy energy. Live at Leeds closes out with a wonderful long version of “My Generation” that also takes the band through some Tommy-like extended improvisation. They even repeat some Tommy themes before going into some interesting jamming that show the range of their power in 1970. “Magic Bus” is a nice conclusion, the Who stretching it out, joking around, and getting the crowd clapping. Arguably, the original 1970 version of Live at Leeds distills the best material and most people would be fine with just these songs.
However, the 1995 reissue also holds up well and I include its songs in what factored into my #113 ranking. The 1970 version is great but I wanted more. And thank goodness the Who provided it on this reissue. Some of the extra songs are phenomenal. The show begins with Entwistle’s “Heaven and Hell,” an absolutely fantastic hard rock song with that hard-to-describe unique Entwistle humor and melancholy. The Who dig back to the beginning with the eternal “I Can’t Explain” which translates well into a loud hard rock setting. Benny Spellman’s “Fortune Teller” is given a rousing cover. It’s got a wistful, nostalgic 1970 feel, as if the Who had grasped immortality in this moment. The cover morphs into one of my favorite songs from The Who Sell Out, “Tattoo.” It’s appropriate here as “Tattoo” is a song about the pain of growing up, which the Who were doing quite fast. After “Substitute,” the Who perform two more “hits” (which Townshend jokes about in a long self-depreciating prologue): “Happy Jack” and “I’m a Boy.” Perhaps they already warned us, but they seem to go through the motions here. I’ve always been sick of "A Quick One, While He's Away" but it’s almost worth it here for the long rambling prologue in which Townshend and Moon crack hilarious risque jokes back and forth. On the 2001 deluxe edition, we finally get the entire Live at Leeds concert that includes the entirety of Tommy. While I wasn’t that kind to Tommy on the Top 500 (#282), it’s essential listening at least once to hear the Who perform Tommy while they were touring behind it. The rock opera was massively important to the development of rock history, and so it’s fascinating to hear how the Who performed it in its entirety with just vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. No keyboards, no French horn. The performance here of course doesn’t beat the studio album, but I find it gives me goosebumps to imagine being at Leeds that night as the Who delivered this live performance in its time when Tommy was still new - especially at the end during the transcendence of “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Whichever version of Live at Leeds you listen to, you can’t go wrong. It’s a rare live album that captures one of the best bands in rock history at both a historically important and emotionally important peak. One of the best live rock albums ever.
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