New Live At Leeds

["Scott Schrade" <schrade@akrobiz.com>]

First off, the new LIVE AT LEEDS is not near as bad as some of the.....
ahem......"audiophiles" on other lists are saying.  They have an agenda.

The worst thing about this reissue is the "Listening to you...." section
of "We're Not Gonna Take It" in which new Roger vocals were added.
Really kind of bizarre to hear.  I wonder how many non-Who freaks
will perceive this switch.

Now before I go into detail on some of my thoughts, I should say that
I've been listening to LAL in all it's various forms, boots included, for
20 years now.  I know it through & through.

Longer crowd noise opens disc one & there is longer in-between-song 
banter throughout the disc.  That's nice.  Much comedy.  I love that con-
trast of the silly, between-song Who & the utter brutality of the mid-song
Who.

Crackles & clicks are still audible & not completely silenced.  I don't 
care.  Small price to pay for the overall sound & performance of the 
band.

Now, the sound quality:  It's still got the LAL sound, meaning nothing's 
been altered too much.  This is still your father's LAL.

It's sounds a bit more raw (rawer?) to me.  Not at all in a bad way.
It's still got the punch, separation, & clarity expected on LAL.  Some-
one wrote that the bass wasn't loud enough but I thought it was a bit 
more distinct than on the '95 release.

Some edits are still there - "Young Man Blues," "Shakin' All Over,"
"Magic Bus."

Disc two (the TOMMY disc) does have a slightly different sound than
disc one.  And the audience on that disc is metallic-sounding.  But neith-
er disc has "guitar distortion" because of remastering which I've read
elsewhere.  That's false.

Now some have heard a metallic-like effect on the vocals (especially 
disc two).  I recognize a different, more processed sound but NOT
anything that would cause me to be upset.  Perhaps if I got kicked out
of Pete's chatroom I might hear it differently.

There's a flub in "Christmas" that's left in (Pete forgets to sing the first
"Tommy, can you hear me.")

The third bass solo in "My Generation" is now returned to it's original
form after confusingly being changed in the '95 release.  And, as has 
been stated before, some of Roger's short screams are still edited out 
as in the '95 release.

Does the LIVE AT LEEDS COMPLETE boot sound better than this
release?  No.  No way.  That boot is great but lacks a high-end crisp-
ness.  

Does this new release sound thin & tinny?  No.  The beef of LAL is 
still very much there.

Liner notes are by Chris Charlesworth & there's also a segment of a
band interview from the Leeds University student newspaper.  Packag-
ing is superb.  Four-way fold out with plenty of pics & a decent-sized
booklet.

So apart from the rather shocking vocal overdubs at the end of TOM-
MY this double CD is fine-sounding & exciting to listen to.  It's just sad
that Pete has seen fit to respond to criticism from "audiophiles" who are
in reality obsessive fans struggling to affect their idols in any way, even
through unfounded negative remarks.

Final Grade:  A-


- SCHRADE in Akron