Live at Leeds

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This article is about the live album by The Who. For other uses, see Live at Leeds (disambiguation).
Live at Leeds
Live album by The Who
Released 16 May 1970
Recorded 14 February 1970,
University of Leeds,
Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom
Genre Rock
Length 36:24
Label Decca/MCA
Producer Jon Astley, Kit Lambert, and The Who
The Who live chronology
Live at Leeds
(1970)		 Who's Last
(1984)
Singles from Live at Leeds
  1. "Summertime Blues"
    Released: June 1970

Live at Leeds is The Who's first live album, and is the only live album that was released while the group were still actively recording and performing with their best known line-up of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon. Initially released in the United States on 16 May 1970, by Decca and MCA and the United Kingdom on 23 May 1970, by Track and Polydor, the album has been reissued on several occasions and in several different formats. As of 2005, the album is ranked number 170 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album has been cited as the best live rock recording of all time by The Telegraph,[1] The Independent,[2] The New York Times,[3] the BBC,[4] and Rolling Stone.[5] It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,[6] and in Q magazine's list of Loudest Albums of All Time. A Rolling Stone readers' poll in 2012 ranked it the best live album of all time.[7]

Contents

Background [edit]

Pete Townshend's use of the Hiwatt CP-103 "Super Who" guitar amp was a key ingredient in the album's sound

By the end of the 1960s, particularly after releasing Tommy in May 1969, The Who had become one of the best live rock acts in the world. According to biographer Chris Charlesworth, "a sixth sense seemed to take over", leading them to "a kind of rock nirvana that most bands can only dream about".[8]:5

Realising that their live show stood in equal importance to the rock-opera format of Tommy, the group returned to England at the end of 1969 with a desire to release a live album from concerts recorded earlier in the US. However, Townshend balked at the prospect of listening to all the accumulated recordings to decide which would make the best album, and, according to Charlesworth, instructed sound engineer Bob Pridden to burn the tapes.[8]:5. Roger Daltrey cast doubt on this rumour in a 2006 BBC interview, but it was supported by Townshend during an interview (broadcast by the radio station Planet Rock on 11 February 2010) celebrating the 40th anniversary of the original recording.[citation needed] Townshend further supported this claim in his book Who I Am.[9]

Two shows were consequently scheduled, one at the University of Leeds and the other in Hull, for the expressed purpose of recording and releasing a live album. The Leeds concert was booked and arranged by Simon Brogan who later became an assistant manager on tour with Jethro Tull.[10] The shows were performed on 14 and 15 February 1970 at Leeds and Hull, respectively, but technical problems with the recordings from the Hull gig — the bass guitar had not been recorded on some of the songs — made it all the more necessary for the show from the 14th to be released as the album.[8]:5. 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.[citation needed]

Packaging [edit]

The rubber-stamped cover of the bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be inspired this cover

The album cover looks like the simple cover of a bootleg LP of the era and was modelled after The Rolling Stones' Live'r Than You'll Ever Be:[11] 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 (on the original first English pressing of 300, this stamp is black). 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 12 facsimilés 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, the typewritten lyrics to "My Generation", with hand written notes, a receipt for smoke bombs, a rejection letter from EMI, and the early black "Maximum R&B" poster showing Pete Townshend windmilling his Rickenbacker. The first 500 copies included a copy of the contract for The Who to play at the Woodstock Festival.

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 bass 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.

Accolades [edit]

Blue plaque at the University of Leeds commemorating the album

Live at Leeds became a critical smash, with The New York Times acclaiming it as "the best live rock album ever made."[3] Its reputation as such continues decades later with Q magazine putting it at the top of its 2006 list of the greatest live albums of all time.[12] 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. On 17th June, 2006, over 36 years after the original concert, the Who returned to perform at the Refectory, at a gig organised by Andy Kershaw. Kershaw stated the gig was "among the most magnificent I have ever seen".[13]

Release history [edit]

The original LP was released on 16 May 1970 in stereophonic format. The album was reissued on Compact Disc in 1985 by MCA in the US, and in 1987 by Polydor in Germany.

In 1995, the album was reissued as a remixed CD including more songs than the original vinyl edition, as well as song introductions and other banter that had been edited out of the original release. For the remix, new vocal overdubs from Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle were recorded to address occasional flaws in the original tapes or performances.

"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.

"My Generation" is drawn out into an almost sixteen minute medley including "See Me, Feel Me" / "Listening To You", "Underture", 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). On the originally released version, there is an 8 second segment near the beginning of "Magic Bus" (leading into the lyric I don't care how much I pay) where the music is played backwards. This was probably done to cover a glitch in the live tapes.[original research?] The 1995 and 2001 CD mixes edit this section differently and do not have the backward portion. The backwards portion was retained on "Greatest Hits Live". 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.

In 2001, the album was released again as a part of the Universal Deluxe Edition series. The Deluxe Edition includes more chat between the songs, and the entirety of the band's Tommy set as performed at Leeds. Again, new overdubs from the vocalists were employed at select points.

An excerpt from this recording of "We're Not Gonna Take It"—titled "See Me Feel Me/Listening to You"—was also previously released on Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B.

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.

In October 2010, Universal Music announced the impending release of a 40th Anniversary edition of the album which would not only contain the full Leeds show from 14 February 1970 but also the band's complete performance from Hull which was recorded the following evening as well as a heavyweight vinyl reproduction of the original six-track album, memorabilia and a replica 7 Inch Single of 'Summertime Blues/ Heaven & Hell'.[14] This performance had previously been unavailable because of a problem with the recording of John Entwistle's bass guitar on the first six songs. To fix this problem his performance at the Leeds show was overdubbed over these tracks of the Hull performance using digital technology.

Track listing [edit]

1970 Original LP [edit]

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Young Man Blues" (Mose Allison) 4:45
2. "Substitute" (Pete Townshend) 2:05
3. "Summertime Blues" (Jerry Capehart and Eddie Cochran) 3:22
4. "Shakin' All Over" (Johnny Kidd) 4:15
Side two
No. Title Length
1. "My Generation" (Pete Townshend) 14:27
2. "Magic Bus" (Pete Townshend) 7:30

7" single [edit]

No. Title Length
1. "Summertime Blues"   3:22
2. "Heaven and Hell"   3:31

1995 Compact Disc reissue [edit]

No. Title Length
1. "Heaven and Hell" (John Entwistle) 4:50
2. "I Can't Explain" (Pete Townshend) 2:59
3. "Fortune Teller" (Naomi Neville) 2:35
4. "Tattoo" (Pete Townshend) 3:42
5. "Young Man Blues"   5:52
6. "Substitute"   2:07
7. "Happy Jack" (Pete Townshend) 2:14
8. "I'm a Boy" (Pete Townshend) 4:42
9. "A Quick One, While He's Away" (Pete Townshend) 8:41
10. "Amazing Journey/Sparks" (Pete Townshend) 7:55
11. "Summertime Blues"   3:22
12. "Shakin' All Over"   4:34
13. "My Generation"   15:47
14. "Magic Bus"   7:48

2001 Deluxe Edition (complete "Leeds" performance) [edit]

Disc one
No. Title Length
1. "Heaven and Hell"   5:07
2. "I Can't Explain"   3:13
3. "Fortune Teller"   2:35
4. "Tattoo"   3:42
5. "Young Man Blues"   6:12
6. "Substitute"   2:07
7. "Happy Jack"   2:14
8. "I'm a Boy"   4:42
9. "A Quick One, While He's Away"   7:47
10. "Summertime Blues"   3:22
11. "Shakin' All Over"   4:35
12. "My Generation"   15:49
13. "Magic Bus"   7:56

All songs written and composed by Pete Townshend, except where noted. 

Disc two: Tommy
No. Title Length
1. "Overture"   6:53
2. "It's a Boy"   0:31
3. "1921"   2:26
4. "Amazing Journey"   3:18
5. "Sparks"   4:23
6. "Eyesight to the Blind a.k.a. "Born Blind"" (Sonny Boy Williamson II) 1:58
7. "Christmas"   3:19
8. "The Acid Queen"   3:35
9. "Pinball Wizard"   2:52
10. "Do You Think It's Alright?"   0:22
11. "Fiddle About" (John Entwistle) 1:13
12. "Tommy Can You Hear Me?"   0:55
13. "There's a Doctor"   0:23
14. "Go to the Mirror!"   3:24
15. "Smash The Mirror"   1:19
16. "Miracle Cure"   0:13
17. "Sally Simpson"   4:01
18. "I'm Free"   2:39
19. "Tommy's Holiday Camp" (Keith Moon) 1:00
20. "We're Not Gonna Take It"   8:48

2010 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collectors’ Edition (complete "Leeds" & "Hull" performances) [edit]

CD One: Live at Leeds
No. Title Length
1. "Heaven and Hell"   5:12
2. "I Can't Explain"   2:38
3. "Fortune Teller"   3:13
4. "Tattoo"   3:00
5. "Young Man Blues"   5:56
6. "Substitute"   3:05
7. "Happy Jack"   2:13
8. "I'm a Boy"   2:45
9. "A Quick One, While He's Away"   13:44
10. "Summertime Blues"   3:35
11. "Shakin' All Over"   4:35
12. "My Generation"   15:26
13. "Magic Bus"   8:21
CD Two – Live at Leeds: 'Tommy'
No. Title Length
1. "Overture"   6:49
2. "It's a Boy"   0:35
3. "1921"   2:26
4. "Amazing Journey"   3:18
5. "Sparks"   4:22
6. "Eyesight to the Blind a.k.a. "Born Blind""   1:58
7. "Christmas"   3:18
8. "The Acid Queen"   3:32
9. "Pinball Wizard"   2:52
10. "Do You Think It's Alright?"   0:22
11. "Fiddle About"   1:13
12. "Tommy, Can You Hear Me?"   0:55
13. "There's a Doctor"   0:23
14. "Go to the Mirror!"   3:24
15. "Smash The Mirror"   1:19
16. "Miracle Cure"   0:13
17. "Sally Simpson"   4:01
18. "I'm Free"   2:39
19. "Tommy's Holiday Camp"   1:00
20. "We're Not Gonna Take It"   8:48
CD Three – Live at Hull
No. Title Length
1. "Heaven and Hell"   4:04
2. "I Can't Explain"   2:51
3. "Fortune Teller"   2:35
4. "Tattoo"   3:02
5. "Young Man Blues"   5:41
6. "Substitute"   2:07
7. "Happy Jack"   2:12
8. "I'm a Boy"   2:48
9. "A Quick One, While He's Away"   9:51
10. "Summertime Blues"   3:43
11. "Shakin' All Over"   5:09
12. "My Generation"   15:58
CD Four – Live at Hull: 'Tommy'
No. Title Length
1. "Overture"   5:30
2. "It's a Boy"   0:43
3. "1921"   2:28
4. "Amazing Journey"   3:18
5. "Sparks"   4:14
6. "Eyesight to the Blind a.k.a. "Born Blind""   1:56
7. "Christmas"   3:18
8. "The Acid Queen"   3:33
9. "Pinball Wizard"   2:47
10. "Do You Think It's Alright?"   0:23
11. "Fiddle About"   1:14
12. "Tommy, Can You Hear Me?"   0:57
13. "There's a Doctor"   0:22
14. "Go to the Mirror!"   3:32
15. "Smash The Mirror"   1:22
16. "Miracle Cure"   0:13
17. "Sally Simpson"   4:08
18. "I'm Free"   2:24
19. "Tommy's Holiday Camp"   1:00
20. "We're Not Gonna Take It"   8:19

Personnel [edit]

Sales chart performance [edit]

Album
Year Chart Position
1970 Billboard Pop Albums 4[citation needed]
UK Chart Albums 3[15]
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1970 "Summertime Blues" Billboard Pop Singles 27[citation needed]
UK Singles Charts 38[15]

Sales certifications [edit]

Organization Level Date
RIAA – U.S. Gold 6 August 1970[16]
Platinum 8 February 1993[16]
2× Multi-Platinum

Notes [edit]

1.^ Moon normally sang a few backing vocals during this period of The Who's career, particularly on I Can't Explain, though sound engineer Bob Pridden frequently muted his vocal microphone.[8]:7 This appears to have been done for the Leeds show, with Townshend making light of it before announcing A Quick One, While He's Away, stating "We do feature normally Keith Moon singing, but today we'll just have to feature him."[17]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Hope I don't have a heart attack". Telegraph.co.uk (22 June 2006). Retrieved on 3 January 2007.
  2. ^ Live at Leeds: Who's best... The Independent (7 June 2006). Retrieved on 3 January 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Shake, rattle and roll!: The best live albums of all time". The Independent. Retrieved 22 November 2012
  4. ^ The Who: Live at Leeds. BBC – Leeds – Entertainment (18 August 2006). Retrieved on 3 January 2007.
  5. ^ Live at Leeds. Rolling Stone magazine (1 November 2003) (Retrieved on 24 June 2008)
  6. ^ 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die from www.rocklistmusic.co.uk (Retrieved on 24 June 2008)
  7. ^ "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Live Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 22 November 2012
  8. ^ a b c d Charlesworth, Chris (1995). Live At Leeds (1995 CD reissue) (CD). The Who. UK: Polydor. 527-169-2.
  9. ^ Townshend, Pete. Who I Am. HarperCollins, 2012, pp. 185-186.
  10. ^ Mark Simpson (18 June 2006). "Rockers thrill their generation". BBC News. Retrieved 14 December 2012. 
  11. ^ Neill, Andrew; Kent, Matthew (2 June 2009), Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of the Who 1958–1978, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., p. 181 
  12. ^ Live at Leeds – again, a 6 June 2006 press release from the University of Leeds website
  13. ^ "The Who Live at Leeds". University of Leeds. Retrieved 9 November 2012. 
  14. ^ The Who / Live At Leeds 40th Anniversary Special Edition
  15. ^ a b The Who at chartstats.com
  16. ^ a b RIAA
  17. ^ Pete Townshend (1970). Live at Leeds (1995 CD reissue) (cd) (in English). Event occurs at Track 8, 4:23. 527-169-2. 

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