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New Leeds review from The Times



Available on line at:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,342-2001295163,00.html

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 01 2001
Reissues choice
BY STEVIE CHICK

THE WHO
Live at Leeds
(Universal)
Telephone: 1001
Times offer: #16.99 (0870 160 8080)

WE DONT make particularly good records, said Keith Moon, when Live at
Leeds was originally released in 1970. We have good ideas, but not always a
good sound.

He was speaking the truth. Though the bands seminal early singles justify
their landmark status, The Who never quite captured their live essence on
record. Which is partly why the band recorded Live at Leeds.

Something of a back-to-basics exercise after the excesses of the previous
years rock opera Tommy, Live at Leeds was originally released as a
six-track LP in faux-bootleg packaging. Swiftly acclaimed as one of the
greatest live albums ever, an expanded edition was released in 1995. This,
however, is the real deal, containing every machinegun drum rattle, every
blues yell and, for the first time, a 60-minute reading of Tommy in its
entirety.

And it is magnificent; the distilled essence of a truly great band at its
absolute peak, delivering the classics like a mod-tailored sledgehammer. And
while the band work together with almost supernatural precision, Townshend
is the undisputed star. His guitar solos in the epic 20-minute take of My
Generation are impassioned and searing, never mere egotistical
exhibitionism.

Townshend described The Whos sound at the time as power and volume, but
theres much more here than hollow bravado or cynical posturing. Tearing
into the heart of classic material, Live at Leeds is rock music at its most
molten, passionate, raw and inspired.
(rating: xxxxx)

To listen to any of the tracks on these albums call 09015 622150 and enter
the relevant phone code when prompted (calls cost 60p/min)

        -Brian in Atlanta
         The Who This Month!
        http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm
        (and no pop-ups!)