Full confession before we get started here…  I had this album in my early teens and did not really like it at the time.  I was certainly a Who fan; friends of mine had the Hooligans and Greatest Hits collections and The Kids Are Alright soundtrack and I myself had Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy but this was something else.  In my feeble young mind I couldn’t wrap my head around the cover tunes on here and how my fave Who song at the time (“My Generation”) was suddenly a fifteen minute jam session with other stuff tacked on to it.  And the album at the time only had six songs on it!  Probably the worst crime of all was that I had this on 8-track(!) and could not easily get to my favorite songs, so it got little play.

Flash forward a few years to my freshman year of college and my mind changed considerably.  For those of you that have not lived in a dorm it is certainly an experience and has its good points and bad points, but one of the coolest things is the sheer amount of different people that you meet from different walks of life.  Most of the students happened to be in state with a few from out of state and one of these happened to have a huge record collection and actually was the first person that I knew who owned a CD player, which was relatively new at the time.  It was partly through him that I finally got Leeds, likely due to repeated watchings of the great Who documentary The Kids Are Alright.  I’d certainly heard the soundtrack and once again liked the studio versions, but The Who as a live entity was a totally different animal-  suddenly, I understood that there was more to the band than the two minute pop hits like “I Can’t Explain” or “Pictures Of Lily” or later classics like “You Better You Bet”.  Townshend, Daltrey, Entwistle, and Moon in full live flight could be beautiful, powerful, brutal, bombastic, and ugly all within the span of just a few minutes.

To be fair, I’m going to categorize the 1995 rerelease on CD as my favorite version of Leeds.  Suddenly, the album expanded from the original six songs to a whopping fourteen to greatly take advantage of the space available compared to the limits of the LP.  Only one of these additions is a cover (“Tattoo”, to go along with original covers “Summertime Blues”, “Shakin’ All Over”, and “Young Man Blues”) while the rest feature plenty of Pete Townshend classics along with bassist John Entwistle’s intro cut “Heaven And Hell”.  As I mentioned, I was a bit of a latecomer to Leeds in the first place but having an additional eight songs was almost too much for this “Whohead” to take!

So…  HOLY SHIT…  did I say “bombastic”?  “Heaven and Hell” totally breaks down the door and barrels out of the speakers with the introductory clang of Townshend’s power chord, Keith Moon’s superhuman drumming, and Entwistle’s out of this world bass playing.  Right from the start these guys were out to take no prisoners for the college crowd at Leeds University.  This is power trio playing at its finest as these guys took the rudiments of most of these songs and went on one wild tangent after another, essentially non stop jamming through extended Townshend solo spots until he brings everyone back into the next verse, chorus, change, etc.  And keep in mind that I’m only talking about the first song!

The next three cuts hearken back to the bands early days of “maximum R&B” and feature the leonine roar of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey.  While not the greatest of singers, there was no one else that could have fronted these guys better than he could as he belts out strong versions of  “I Can’t Explain”, “Tattoo”, and “Fortune Teller”.  Daltrey is very strong throughout this disc, whether it be the poppier moments of something like “Happy Jack” or “I’m A Boy” or great band singalong “A Quick One While He’s Away”.  As a live performer, Daltrey was certainly coming into his own during this period and quickly morphed into one of the best frontmen alive during the 70s.

The musical ebb and flow on this disc is sublime.  In many ways it’s like listening to a symphony:  there are mellower parts, there are heavier parts, and there is a lot of shade.  Songs and performances will build and build with manic intensity, often swooping in and out of mellower sections and offsetting them with sheer power.  Check out how the band pummels mightily through a cover of “Shakin’ All Over”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDj4SRALQ9Y

Listen that rhythm playing!  Those classic crashing Townshend chords lingering wide open on heavy sustain and feedback.  And that bass!  Entwistle all rumbling spider fingers and forming the backbone of the band.  Last but not least, THOSE DRUMS.  Keith Moon in fantastic form, pushing the beat along forcefully and massively as only he could.  It’s always amazing to me that these guys could be playing three totally different rhythms with all of them making perfect sense and then come bashing back in to finish out the song.

My favorite Who live cut of all time is “Young Man Blues”, a Mose Allison cover that these guys totally make their own.  Led by a menacing Townshend riff, this version is a master class in relentlessness as it starts with a simple blues based call and response riff before literally taking off for greater heights during nearly four minutes of dynamically overdriven jamming.  Daltrey roars out the early verses and then after a minute and a half all hell breaks loose-  Townshend riffing and likely windmilling like mad, tossing out brief lead guitar blasts, Entwistle drops in some absolutely sweet bass runs, and madman Moon beating his kit senseless as he and Townshend push each other on until the finale.  An absolutely stomping version.

This album has been rereleased with even more material as this was the tour where they performed the entire Tommy album at their shows.  No matter which version you listen to you are in for an absolute treat, especially if you like great musicianship and some extensive jamming.  Buy one, listen, then chase it by watching The Kids Are Alright documentary for an awesome visual representation of the band.  You can thank me later…