Live at Leeds

A fantastical flurry of energy. Minus one star for creepy train man song.

Not a huge fan of live albums

The Who sounded very good though, and the songs were good! I just couldn't click with this for some reason

I think maybe some of the songs were just a bit too long and repetitive

3 ⭐️

It was solid but I couldn’t STAND each of those individual audience members that wouldn’t shut their fat little faces

Though I am trying to keep an open mind regarding my journey... this is the 3rd The Who album within the first 100 albums I am listening to, and truth be told, I am getting a little bored with The Who.

Thus, considering that the link to Spotify made me listen to an expanded version, I'd rather have listened to the original 5-6 odd tracks on the album.
And while we are on it, why is this album considered one of the best live albums ever? From a production standpoint, I will agree that it was very well recorded, so good job there. But I'd rather listen to Jimmy Hendrix live, or Clapton, or Queen, or something else...

Here's me waiting for the 1001 journey to start amazing me again...

Herausragendes Rock-Album, das zurecht als eines der besten Live-Alben aller Zeiten gilt. Die Aufnahme aus dem Jahr 1970 fängt die rohe Energie und die beeindruckende Bühnenpräsenz der Band perfekt ein.
Die Symbiose aus einem kraftvollen Gig und der großartigen Interaktion mit dem Publikum macht dieses Album reizvoll. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die Tracks “Amazing Journey” und “Magic Bus”, die mit ihrer Dynamik und Intensität begeistern.
Es ist ein zeitloses Meisterwerk, das die Essenz von The Who und ihrer Live-Performance einfängt so das es auch heute noch begeistert!

unmemorable 2/5

Yeah, that’s a 5.

I’m really just blown away by how captivating and energetic that felt for its entire runtime; even during the lulls in the My Generation medley, they just had me baited like a fish on a hook, waiting for every little next step in the song. The structure to the whole thing is perfectly done, going from stuff that’s sort of theirs, sort of not theirs and just using it to really build the crowd's energy up, to breaking out their big stuff and absolutely smashing it out of the park once they do.

The instrumentation was nothing short of incredible here to me throughout the entire album, and Pete Townshend… that motherfucker can sing, god damn. I got no complaints, and no more gushing to do; I’m just gonna call it how I see it – one of the easiest 5’s I’ll ever give. Absolutely spectacular.

I don't like most live albums. This album is good and it seems to me that the band had fun. It wasn't particularly challenging to listen to the album. However, there was no track that I absolutely have to listen to again.
3/5

No thanks. 2.07 per track

Only rating 3 stars because listening to live albums it's not my kind of thing! About the band and their music, nothing to say: absolute classics ;-)

I still don't think live albums belong on the list, but this is probably the best of them.

I can never decide if I agree with what others have said about this list including live albums. I mean there are some absolutely amazing live albums out there that everyone should hear. So far I have not come across any of those on this list. This one included. I mean it's a good record - fun to listen to, well played, lots of energy. But especially the original version being 6 songs and 37 minutes, that's barely enough to get an idea of what a band would be like live. And this album has been released in so many different versions it kind of seems like a cash grab. I don't know, I'm kind of conflicted about it. A solid album but I wouldn't ever buy it. And as a live album, if you had never heard The Who before I can't imagine this would make you want to go and explore their catalogue more. 2.75/5 which is a shame.

The vocals were lost in the version

Not sure why this one is on here. Live albums probably shouldn’t be on the list. I prefer the studio recording for almost all of these songs. My Generation and Magic Bus are pretty good though.

I’m frustrated about this album. I disagree with other posters—I think there are some live albums that absolutely deserve to be on this list: Johnny Cash’s “At Folsom Prison,” or Nirvana’s “MTV Unplugged” for two. I don’t think “Live at Leeds” is one of them.

I first got into The Who in seventh grade, primarily through “Tommy,” “Who’s Next,” and a greatest hits album. So for my birthday, my stepfather gave me a copy of “Live At Leeds.” I remember eagerly placing it in my boombox and being so disappointed. In fact, this album turned me off Live albums as a whole for a while.

It’s not that The Who do a bad job—they play well (Keith Moon in particular shines). But I don’t think the album captures the excitement of a live performance well, and so we just end up with worse sounding rehashes of songs that we already know. The blues covers are interesting, but not worth the price of admission.

Listening to it again, it’s not a bad album, but it just shouldn’t be on this list. I don’t really understand why it’s considered one of the greatest live albums of all time (except for the fact that The Who is one of the greatest bands of all time). And with 4 other albums on this list, it’s not like they’re poorly represented. And there are so many versions with different track lists, I have no idea which one is on this list. And the banter isn’t even particularly interesting. I’m frustrated!

A part of me wants to give it a 2, but if I’m being realistic, a 2 would be unfairly punishing this album for the anguish it caused me at 13 (also, I can’t bear to do that to The Who). But I can’t justify higher than a 3.

I'll join the chorus and say I like The Who, but it's a live album, and that generally doesn't sizzle my bacon. At least there isn't too much crowd noise throughout. The one track I really love here is "A Quick One While He's Away," which I think is actually superior to the studio version. And the way they are able to hop from song to song so seamlessly in those medleys certainly is impressive.

Fun to hear the Who at the height of their powers. I saw them live in 2022 and the still got it.

Such a fantastic complement to Tommy, which is one of my favorite albums ever. They're absolutely shredding on this album. I love all the jamming.

Enjoyed this more that some of the other Who albums, but unsure why it made it into the 1001 book. 3.5

This is my third The Who record to review on this generator. This is a live album, recorded at the University of Leeds Refectory in 1970. This is the only live recording released featuring the all star line up (Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, and Pete Townshend). This record is the newest of the three I've reviewed thus far, coming out after their rock opera, Tommy.

They were getting heavy into the psychadelic stuff when this record came out. A Quick One, While He's Away is a weird song. The inclusion of Amazing Journey/Sparks from their album Tommy was great to see. I guess they were having troubles with touring and promoting Tommy, because they couldn't reproduce the album in front of a live audience quite right. That is why they opted to go the route they did with this album. This album also forms the bridge between rock opera Tommy, and 70's rocker Who's Next.

Overall, this was a super tight live album. Usually live albums suffer from shitty production or sloppy playing, but this album sounds like it was made in a recording studio. The 15 minute acid induced solo in My Generation was a bit much, but other than that, a really solid album.

Favourite songs: Young Man Blues,
Summertime Blues, I Can't Explain, Tattoo, Substitute, Shakin' All Over, Happy Jack

Least favourite songs: "A Quick One, While He's Away"

3/5