How do you improve an album that wasn’t that good to begin
\nwith?<\/p>\n
In the case of
\nLive At Leeds<\/i>, a 1970 effort from The Who, you take the
\noriginal six released songs and put on eight more tracks from the
\nsame show. Did it work? The answer is an astounding “yes.”<\/p>\n
Coming off the success of their rock opera
\nTommy<\/i>, Pete Townshend and crew were looking to make a live
\nalbum that would capture the band’s power. But when this album hit
\nthe streets – packaged to look like a bootleg, the oomph just
\nwasn’t there.<\/p>\n
Remastered a few years ago with the older tracks restored,
\nLive At Leeds<\/i> now has the feel of a real Who concert,
\ncapturing not only the power of the band, but also their humor as
\nwell. The between-song banter adds to the feel of the show, making
\nyou feel like you’re right there – without having to dodge
\nsplinters from shattered guitars and drop-kicked drum kits.<\/p>\n
Three of the songs from the original
\nLive At Leeds<\/i> actually gain in power on this one – “Young
\nMan Blues,” “Summertime Blues” and “Shakin’ All Over.” Mixed in
\nwith their brothers from the show, a combination of cover tunes and
\nWho originals, these tracks finally shine in the glory they were
\nmeant to. Townshend’s playing is solid and incredible, and vocalist
\nRoger Daltrey has rarely sounded better in concert. Add to that the
\nspeedfreak drumming of the sorely-missed Keith Moon and the always
\nincredible bass work of John Entwistle, and you have what is
\nprobably the ultimate live Who album.<\/p>\n
This is not to say there aren’t some rough bumps on the road. “I
\nCan’t Explain,” one of the band’s earliest hits and one of my
\nfavorite tracks, shows it hadn’t aged very well. “My Generation,”
\ndespite always being a showcase for the bass riffs of Entwistle,
\nseems to drag on a bit too long, just like on the original release.
\nAnd, “Magic Bus,” admittedly never one of my favorite Who tracks,
\ndoes not translate well in concert.<\/p>\n
One of the stand-out tracks is the performance of “A Quick One
\nWhile He’s Away,” the predecessor to
\nTommy<\/i>. Rarely heard live, this performance shows it could be
\none of the band’s most underrated works.<\/p>\n
The glory days of The Who are long gone, but
\nLive At Leeds<\/i> is a fitting, if not flawed, portrait of those
\ntimes where the band was at the top of their game. The restored
\nversion outshines the original release, and is a worthwhile
\naddition to your library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5649],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-35525","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-who","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35525"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35525"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}