Live At Leeds Rejects
Cover Back
Label / Index #
Jack Of Hearts JOH 3
Compare with;
From Lifehouse To Leeds (CD) (SCORPIO-S-90-10878)
From Lifehouse To Leeds (CD) (TW-OR-9)
Lifehouse At Leeds (CD) (Blue Kangaroo BK-09)
Lifehouse Live (CD) (KKR 42)
Live At Leeds Complete (CD) (Midas Touch MD 61521/ 61522)
Live At Leeds Complete (CD) (Midas Touch MD 61521/ 61522)
Live Tommy At The Leeds (CD) (Midas Touch MD 61500)
Young Vic Blues (CD) (Bell Bottom BB 043)
Archives (LP) (TCR-2004)
Venue: Acetates from 1969 Autumn US Tour, Leeds 14-02-70, 1971 Who's Next
Session
Recording: Soundboard
Comments: In looking at the back cover most of these songs appear to be from the
Leeds show. They were, in fact, taken from the famous soundboard recordings of
the 1969 Autumn U.S. tour. Very similar to the previous great boot Who Is Tommy?
(CD) (Dynamite Studio, DS94-A077, DS94-A078)]containing these very similar
soundboard acetates. In comparison, to this new boot, they sound better. In con-
trast, however, the songs really derived from the Leeds show are nothing special
and perhaps of even poorer quality. As far as these are concerned, the first one on
MIDAS TOUCH LEEDS COMPLETE (Live At Leeds Complete (CD) (Midas Touch
MD 61521/ 61522)] still remains the top source. For the 1971 tracks, it's pretty much
the same; nothing new regarding the false starts of the WGFA There appear to be
no differences from the official version.
**Tracks 4-8 are from the Hull University tape recorded by The Who on the Stones
mobile 2-15-70, the night after Leeds. They've been out twice before, each time in
good quality, each a bit better than the one before it, but this is practically flawless.
Not anything wrong with this at all. Heaven and Hell, Can't Explain, Fortune Teller,
Tattoo, and Young Man Blues, all sounding magnificent, really good performances.
The first 5 tracks from the show are unedited, without breaks in the audio. Interest-
ingly, there's a teeny bit at the be- ginning of the tape not found on earlier boots,
that sounds as if the sound man recorded the opening act, then rewound the tape.
It's a violin ending to the song. Didn't Curved Air (w / Eddie Jobson) open??? It's in
true stereo, at the right speed, marred only a tiny bit by having the stereo channels
reversed (Pete's supposed to be on the right). You have to turn your headphones
around.
Tracks 1-3 are allegedly from the London Coliseum, 12-14-69. I say "allegedly" be-
cause I simply don't know. Young Man Blues, if so, would be the same as on the
Kids Are Alright soundtrack. Sounds like an inferior copy of that based on memory.
The song's beginning is clipped, The song's beginning is clipped, which ruins it for
me - the London Coliseum show hasn't been bootlegged, BUT this track is on a brill-
iantly remastered legit Who CD. (Fuckin' chucklehead bootleggers). The next two
tracks, wherever they're from, are pretty fantastic: Summertime Blues and Shakin'
All Over. John blows the lyrics on the first verse but Summertime Blues is great. I
don't believe this has ever been bootlegged. Next up is the disc's finest moment,
(and clearly it's the same source, same show, next song, if it is the London Coli-
seum): Shakin' All Over. Clearly it was the last song of the set, not My Generation,
because there's the BIG Who finish, complete with the bit that's in the Leeds' MG
near the end with the really cool riff. And you can tell they walk offstage at the end.
Shakin' All Over here does NOT include Smokestack Lightning, which probably
does indicate this really is the London Coliseum show (or at least one of the fall '69
shows). It's a fantastic version, completely unique, and never bootlegged. 8 minutes
long, with an additional 18 seconds of applause at the end. Again, the stereo chan-
nels are reversed on all 3 tracks.
Then the fucking rip-offs begin (well, it IS a bootleg): Tracks 8-10 are the singles
medley from Leeds (Substitute /Happy Jack / I'm A Boy), taken from the mono ace-
tate cassette, possibly cleaned up a bit in a computer. Sounds great, but totally irr-
elevant if you already have the uncut mono Leeds master tape (the uncut version, I
think, hasn't been out in stereo).
Track 12 is a fuckin' joke: it's the last 7 minutes of the Leeds My Generation med-
ley (it starts with some guitar noodling after Sparks and into the 'see me, I'm coming
out to get you' part). It's labeled 'See Me Feel Me-Overture' on the CD. Again, the
mono Leeds acetate.
Tracks 13-15 are another ripoff. Track 15 is the identical uncut Won't Get Fooled
Again
that appeared earlier this year on a boot called Next Sessions (Next Sessions
(CD) (StoneAge Music SAM 010) ( (which was magnificently packaged, but music-
wise, pretty much a waste of time). It's the generic, everyday version of WGFA that
you know and love, but taken - my best guess - from an analog recording made by
someone with a portable deck listening to the mixdown master being played in the
control room (takes 13 & 14 are this SAME GODDAMNED TAKE, NOT false starts
or alternate takes, you can hear the deck playing the tape being stopped and re-
wound, which is why I think someone was in the control room illicitly recording with
a portable recorder). It sounds like someone put the Next Sessions track in a com-
puter and EQd it a lot to clean it up. Now, when I say 'uncut' WGFA, what this
means is there's a 1-2-3-4 played on the bass (? I think it's John not Keith's bass
drum) before the track starts, to cue every-one in. That's it. Slight mix variations,
nothing really significant. Identical take. Sounds very good, kinda comparable to the
original unremastered tinny MCA CD version, but you can hear things like the acou-
stic guitars and synth a bit better, and the bass is low in the mix.
The cover is some frame grabs from the new DVD of "Kids" from the Shepperton
5 / 78 WGFA, along with one shot of Pete that's likely the San Francisco fall '67
show (I shit you not!). Totally inappropriate to the era of the music on the disc.
This CAN'T have been done by a Who Fan. Why-oh-why can't these shithead boot-
leggers PUT THE SONGS IN THE RIGHT ORDER at the very least. It's not compli-
cated. 4-year olds could do it.
BUT, there's about exactly 30 minutes of the best sounding, most terrifically performed
live Who that might exceed anything else out there.
1. Young Man Blues
2. Summertime Blues
3. Shakin' All Over
4. Heaven And Hell
5. I Can't Explain
6. Fortune Teller
7. Tattoo
8. Young Man Blues
9. Substitute
10. Happy Jack
11. I'm A Boy
12. See Me, Feel Me - Overture
13. Won't Get Fooled Again (1)
14. Won't Get Fooled Again (2)
15. Won't Get Fooled Again (3)
Thanks to Genero Alberto from Italy for information and scans to this CD.
Thanks to Matt W. for information to this CD.
Thanks to Ryan S. for information to this CD.
**Thanks to Kent B. for his comments to this CD.