Editorial Review:

Album Description:
Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) pressing of this classic rock album. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2008.

Amazon.com essential recording:
Anyone who owned the vinyl copy of Live at Leeds will barely recognize its digitized namesake. While the 1970 record offered a mere six selections, the 1995 CD reissue is fleshed out with a full 14 tracks. Reveling in the augmented Leeds prompts one to wonder why in the name of 'Heaven and Hell' they didn't put out a double record in the first place. No matter. This Live at Leeds is actually superior to its revered predecessor. The Who are at their Maximum R&B peak here, bringing an almost proto-metal aggression to supercharged covers of 'Young Man Blues,' 'Summertime Blues,' and 'Shakin' All Over' (all from the original record) and treating fans to originals familiar ('I Can't Explain,' 'My Generation,' 'Magic Bus') and less known ('Heaven and Hell,' 'Tattoo,' 'A Quick One'). An improved-upon classic. --Steven Stolder

Amazon.com:
Long considered one of the greatest live albums ever recorded, the Who's Live at Leeds was originally edited and packaged to resemble the haphazard state of early-'70s bootlegs, then expanded and sonically upgraded in the mid-1990s. But this deluxe edition finally restores the blistering February 1970 Leeds University concert to its full running length by adding the band's earliest officially available live rendition of the then-fresh Tommy in its entirety. And while it isn't perfect (the Tommy tracks have been moved from their original slot in the show and resequenced to fit onto disc 2 here), this album now takes its place as the best available document of the Who in their truly ferocious prime, trumping the previously available Isle of Wight show (recorded some six months later) in both performance level and sound quality. It also begs a little revisionist pondering: Are these the true godfathers of punk? Pete Townshend's music and chord structures may have often been jazz-based, but they careen with an energy that seems at once feral and superhuman. Roger Daltrey's vocals snarl with palpable grit, while the rhythm section of John Entwistle and Keith Moon thunders menacingly along like an overheated locomotive. The Tommy heard here is still vital and alive, played by a band whose fervent, in-the-moment abandon is a wonder to behold. --Jerry McCulley









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Related Items:

• Quadrophenia
• Tommy (1969 Original Concept Album)
• Who's Next
• The Who Sell Out
• Who's Next (Deluxe Edition)
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Disc 1:

1. Heaven and Hell - The Who, Entwistle, John
2. I Can't Explain
3. Fortune Teller - The Who, Neville, Naomi
4. Tattoo
5. Young Man Blues - The Who, Allison, Mose
6. Substitute
7. Happy Jack
8. I'm a Boy
9. A Quick One, While He's Away
10. Amazing Journey/Sparks
11. Summertime Blues - The Who, Cochran, Eddie
12. Shakin' All Over - The Who, Kidd, Johnny
13. My Generation
14. Magic Bus

Rating: - * A Valentine's Day gift to all rock 'n roll fans (* * * * 1/2) ... The Who's Live At Leeds, recorded on February 14, 1970, is unquestionably deserving of its reputation as one of the greatest live recordings in rock 'n roll. One should put aside whatever reservations he or she might have about live albums and embrace it in all of its bombastic glory. As rightfully skeptical as one should be of a live album as an introduction to a band, however, Live At Leeds might be the best disc in The Who's catalog to serve as such. True, more succinct and more comprehensive compilations are available, but Live At Leeds - released the year prior to the masterpiece Who's Next and the compilation Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy - contains hits, covers, and epics. Plus, at the time the album was recorded, The Who had one foot on either side of the dividing line between their early R&B-influenced pop songs and the ambitious, larger-canvas rockers of the late 60s and early 70s. The first of the hits on the album is "I Can't Explain", which (although it isn't here) was and continues to this day to be the opening number to almost every Who concert. About halfway through the CD's set list come what Pete Townshend calls "three selected hit singles...the three easiest": "Substitute", "Happy Jack", and "I'm A Boy". They might be easy and simple, but they are also catchy, intelligent, and even - in the case of "I'm A Boy" - a bit risqué. Each of these songs is presented in a no-frills fashion. Two epics follow on the heels of these less-than-three minute pop songs. On their second LP, "A Quick One, While He's Away" was impressive but a bit brittle. In this live setting, however, it is pumped up significantly. The spectacular "Amazing Journey/Sparks" is arguably the highlight of the set. At the original Leeds concert, "A Quick One", "the story of Tommy's parents", led directly into a performance of the double LP Tommy. The Who was wise to select this one particular track for expanded CD version. (Tommy as a whole is available on disc 2 of the deluxe edition of Live At Leeds.) Two other classic hits are given mammoth treatment at the end of the show. "My Generation" runs for almost fifteen minutes, and is interspersed with lyrical and musical references to songs from Tommy (including some riffs that had originally appeared in "Rael I" from The Who Sell Out). I have never personally cared much for "Magic Bus", which runs for nearly eight minutes. However, it was definitely a crowd pleaser, and the band did a fine job of mixing it up here. Finally, the band revisits its roots with four covers throughout the disc. These are the obscure blues numbers "Fortune Teller" and "Young Man Blues" and the rock `n roll classics "Summertime Blues" and "Shakin' All Over". The Who make the former two tracks very much their own, but the latter two feel a bit perfunctory and surprisingly uninspired. Several better-known songs - such as "The Kids Are Alright", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", and "Pictures of Lily" - were not performed at the Leeds concert. However, they are not that noticeably absent on the disc. The Who wisely treated Live At Leeds as an opportunity to present themselves in not-so-obvious ways. John Entwistle's "Heaven and Hell", the opening number, was never included in a studio version on a Who album. The Who Sell Out, the band's first great album, is represented not by the ornate hit single "I Can See for Miles", but by the poignant "Tattoo". Tommy is represented by "Amazing Journey/Sparks" rather than by the classic single "Pinball Wizard". The greatest thing about The Who in a live setting is that each member played as if he were the only one on stage. John Entwistle and Keith Moon don't just keep the beat, they rise above the surface of the songs. Pete Townshend was never quite the soloist that his contemporaries were, but given the chance to spread out, he proved himself to be at least as good of a riffer and every bit as inspired as his fellow axemen. Roger Daltrey literally and figuratively speaks for himself, especially on "Young Man Blues", which might be his finest performance of the show. Live At Leeds was pretty much by accident the first Who concert made available to record buyers. The band had done an extensive tour in support of their 1969 LP Tommy, and planned to release a live album afterward. Townshend balked at the idea of listening to and sifting through all of the shows, so he scheduled two dates to be recorded specifically for a live album. When the mics failed to record John Entwistle's bass at Hull City Hall on February 15, the concert at Leeds University became the show for the live LP by default. However great any of the shows might have been, it is hard to imagine them being as good as or better than the one at Leeds. Whatever the case might have been, rock fans of every generation are lucky to have at least one of them preserved for prosperity. Rating: - * Headphones ... First time I heard this was over FM radio wearing headphones lying in bed, listening. They played the whole thing and they had short interval of somthing weird and then played the next cut, did this for the whole album, it was 1970 somthing. IF you havent listened to this whole thing with real headphones without distraction, do it, trust me, do it, I would not lie. Good lesson for guitar players also. Rating: - * A MUST-HAVE ... It's The Who. Live. At Leeds University. Duh. How come you haven't bought it already? Powerful live set from seminal rock four-piece, blah, blah, sizzling energy, innovative songwriting, blah blah....Keith Moon....buy it. Listen to it. Have mind blown. Rating: - * The Who Live At Leeds 1970 ... Amazing live album is all that i have too say for this. The drums are absoutley amazing Keith Moon is probaly one of the greatest rock drummers of all time his peformance is great here. Pete Townshends guitar is great and everybody in this is really doing great on there instruments. This may just be one of there greatest peformances of all time it has the energy and they sound just really great here i think all the live versions sound great on here If your a big Who fan like me buy this album today you wont be dissapointed... Rating: - * awful ... Really horrible sound quality, and the band must have been totally wasted...Apparently with so many for sale , others thought the same.