| The Who Live at Leeds (Deluxe Edition) MCA | ||
| I’m not sure what
else they’ll uncover in another five years but I’ll keep buying them. The
third version of (OK, everyone together now) "the greatest live Rock and
Roll recording" on vinyl, or polycarbonate as the case maybe, supposedly,
now contains the entire evening of February 14th, 1970 --
complete with all of Townsend’s between song blatherings and an almost
complete run through of Tommy. Though Tommy came between a
brilliant "A Quick One, While He’s Away" and "Summertime Blues" in the
original set order, the powers-that-be decided to keep it all together on
its own disc since it is played essentially as one long medley. (The stamina
needed to first assay the 8+ minutes of "Á Quick One..." and then the
fifty-some minutes of Tommy just impresses the hell out of me,
especially considering their reputation for indulgence at the time.) So if
you want to relive the true experience you need to be quick with that remote
control. And remember it’s a live recording: you need to feel it as well as
hear it, so turn it to up! (10/02) David M. Snyder
|