Live at Leeds review

[MHND71F@prodigy.com (STEVE MARSHALL)]

LIVE AT LEEDS REISSUED WITH 8 NEW SONGS

  On February 28th, MCA released the first title in what is to be
a complete overhaul of the Who catalog, the classic "Live at
Leeds", with eight previously unreleased tracks. The album has
been completely remixed, remastered, & repackaged with new photos
& liner notes for all the songs. There is also a limited edition
package featuring all the inserts, in a special album-sized
gatefold sleeve. There are some slight differences in the
inserts, namely the poster. The bottom of the poster reads "Live
at Leeds" in the reissue, whereas in the original, it says
"Tuesdays at the Marquee - 90 Wardour St". Besides that, the
inserts are basically the same, & are on a higher quality paper
than the original.

  Between the new liner notes & photos that accompany the disc,
the packaging on both the regular & the collector's edition is
nothing short of superb. If MCA even comes close to this kind of
quality on the rest of the catalog, there will be a lot of happy
Who fans out there.

  The sound quality is the real highlight here tho, especially
for something recorded 25 years ago. All live CDs should sound
this good. The crackling noises that we were all warned not to
correct on the original have been eliminated on the reissue.

  The performance is incredible, of course. All the vocals are
well defined. Pete's guitar sounds clearer than ever, as does
John's thundering bass. Keith's drumming is superb as well. One
of the main things that I really liked was hearing all the stage
banter between the songs, especially the part before A Quick One
While He's Away. You won't want to miss this.

  The CD starts off with John's song Heaven & Hell, & goes from
there into I Can't Explain. Both lead & backup vocals here are
excellent. You won't find a better version of the song. Next
comes Fortune Teller, which segues into Tattoo - one of my
personal favorite Who songs. Tattoo is followed by Young Man
Blues & then "the hits" - Substitute, Happy Jack & I'm a Boy.
Next up is A Quick One, & then the teaser - Amazing
Journey/Sparks. It's a shame MCA decided not to give us the
complete Tommy while they were redoing Live at Leeds. Sparks is
then followed by Summertime Blues, Shakin' All Over, the
excellent My Generation, & Magic Bus.

  There are only two drawbacks to this CD - the absence of Tommy,
& Shakin' All Over is still missing Spoonful (although the press
kit claims that it's there) as it was originally performed.
Shakin' All Over/Spoonful, however, can be heard on the From
Lifehouse to Leeds CD in it's entirety. Overall though, the pros
far outweigh the cons on the CD. This is a fine example of the band's
live shows from this period, and re-establishes itself as one
of the greatest live CDs of all time.