Once upon a time there was a little album called The Who Live at Leeds. Merely six songs long, that was still enough for it to be rated one of the best live albums ever. If not THE best, depending on the circle with which you ran. Those six songs captured The Who at the absolute peak of their power. It was high energy and insane soloing all the way through.
That was back in the days of vinyl. Then CDs came along, with their enlarged capacities, so in 1995 Live at Leeds was inevitably re-released in an expanded edition: one CD with fourteen songs on it. And then (in 2001) someone decided to release the whole concert, which included them playing Tommy in its entirety, on a double CD set.
And then, because even this (two and a half hours of live Who) wasn’t enough, in 2010 a box set was put out which not only included the entire Leeds concert, but a second full concert recorded the next night at Hull. Now, they have released the Hull concert as a separate double CD set to stand on its own merits, and further enlarge every Who fan's music library.
Over the years, some members of The Who have maintained that they performed better at Hull, but the Leeds tapes were used because they were better sound quality. Now you can judge for yourself. But is that enough reason to buy the Hull CD? Or, if you don’t have any version of Live at Leeds yet (and why don’t you?), is the Hull concert the preferred purchase?
First off, let me say that, whatever version you might get, the assessments are correct. Live At Hull is truly one of the greatest live albums ever. The Who rock harder on this album than ninety per cent of the bands out there at their best, yet also maintain subtlety and finesse. Townsend reveals himself to be a potent lead guitarist, throwing out dynamic solos left and right (especially on “Young Man Blues,” “Shakin’ All Over,” and the extended version of “My Generation”), something he rarely gets credit for. Then he locks right in with the rhythm section to power through the basic songs.The Tommy material is a revelation; the live performance gives the songs an edge they don’t have on the studio album (although Daltrey’s voice is sounding pretty ragged by the end).
As far as comparative studies go, the set list is almost identical – except the Hull concert is missing the “Magic Bus” encore. That, in my opinion, is reason enough to go with Leeds, as that song is one of the highlights of the album. The only reason I can think of to go for the Hull concert is that, on it, most of Townsend’s between song patter has been edited out; it’s entertaining on the first listen, but by the third or fourth time around, it gets a bit tiresome (and this is an album you are going to want to listen to over and over).
Now, if you already have the Leeds disc, is it worth your money to buy Hull as well? As I said, the set list is essentially the same, so the question is, are there enough differences in the performances? The answer is, not really. The extended jam on “My Generation” is obviously somewhat different; it would be strange if it wasn’t. “Shakin’ All Over” also goes in a different direction, even incorporating a bit of “Spoonful” into it – but that’s about it.
So that brings it down to this question: Are you enough of a Who fan that the mere mention of a different version of the “My Generation” jam got you salivating? If so, you need this album. Otherwise, I would say stick with the Live At Leeds, stage patter and all.
Or, to be perfectly honest, if you can find a copy of the original version, six songs, no stage patter, just charging through it, grab that (the first version released on CD was just the original album). There’s not a second of filler on it, and you cannot beat it for sheer rock ’n’ roll power. While there are good, even great moments on the expanded version, especially in the Tommy section, the original hits so hard, you don’t need them. Sometimes more is not better, and this is one of those times.
Artist:
www.thewho.com/
www.myspace.com/thewho
www.facebook.com/thewho
www.twitter.com/TheWho
Album:
Live At Hull 1970 is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
