Two letters about the Who's Live at Leeds, perhaps the greatest album ever, and one that is no longer commercially available

Thursday 1/29/26

I have a list of the books I'm working on and a list of the books I plan to write. I'm always working on a number of books at once. In that latter group, is a book on the Who's Live at Leeds. This is an album that's paired fundamentally with who I am as a listener, and shaped me in my listening journey, going back to the first time I heard it, which I remember perfectly.

A friend who lived at the bottom of my street--it was a hill--who was into music and art as I was--even as a fifteen-year-old star hockey player, which wasn't the norm--had come over and we put the CD on. We got to that part in "My Generation"--more on which below--when Roger Daltrey screams near the beginning--this totally unhinged, wild, but also controlled scream--and just turned and looked at each other. We were blown away, amused, impressed. We didn't need to say anything.

I don't know if the book would be entirely about Live at Leeds--and the Who's concert at Leeds University, which make for two different listening experiences--or if the album would be a part of a book about the origins of heavy metal, climaxing with Live at Leeds, which I think is the first heavy metal masterpiece. Or both. I'm unsure. But I do know I need to write a book featuring Live at Leeds.

Below are a couple of letters I recently wrote to someone about the record in asking for their help in finding a digital copy of the original LP. Contrary to what people think--simply because they don't know--the additional, expanded releases of the album over the years, have done Live at Leeds no favors.

There are two ways to listen to the music the Who made at Leeds on Valentine's Day 1970, and neither of them are the expanded set from 1995 or the "full" show--a misnomer, before we get into other things that are worse--from 2001.

The truth is, what may be the greatest live album in rock and roll history, and one of the very best albums--and I think an argument could be made that Live at Leeds is the best album period--is no longer commercially available. But rather than rewrite, I'll repurpose these two letters, which get into that.

Hey, brother! Dead of night--or what I call early morning--and I've arisen for a long day of work...so, Live at Leeds!...the time lengths don't really tell the story. What was edited out was part of Daltrey's vocals. For instance, there's a scream early on in "My Generation"--a defining rock and roll moment for me--that you'll hear on the bootleg versions of the full show (and the original, six-track album, of course), but you won't hear on subsequent expanded official releases. It's a crime against the music to have this cut. I first heard this with a friend in high school, aged fifteen, and we both turned and looked at each other and laughed--with "you gotta be kidding me" admiration--at that precise moment. 

What I'm looking for is what was first on vinyl in 1970, and then came out on CD circa 1990. I have listened to that CD version probably a thousand times. But where this is now, I don't know...in a box in storage...life having gone as it has gone. I hope to be reacquainted with it someday, but that's not now. But that's what I'm seeking: a digital copy of the six-track original version of Live at Leeds, aka, what Live at Leeds was up until 1995, when an expanded version took the place of that original album, with the scream removed. I recall you once finding some Gerry and the Pacemakers original LPs, and that got me thinking about this. 

Live at Leeds is unique in rock history. You have one concert, and two key recordings from it that make for very different listening experiences. The six-song album has a case, in my view, for the best rock and roll album ever made. I'm not saying it is--I'm saying it has a case. It's like rock and roll greatness in concentrated form.

The full show is a rather different listening experience. The original six-song album is a very strange in a way. You have a couple numbers from the start of a long show, then four from the end of the show like an hour and a half later or whatever. Of course, at the time, you didn't know what the setlist was. Which lent a romanticism.

I used to speculate in my thoughts at various points of the day--in class, or coming home from hockey practice--if this was the whole show, or what was the rest of it. The album was bathed in mystery. Wonder. Even the name Leeds sounded romantic. Live Who recordings weren't a thing you experienced. Sure, there were technically some bootlegs, but you almost certainly heard Live at Leeds first, and there weren't bootlegs from the 1970s. It was the Fillmore East material from April 1968. And this was before any bootlegged material made it to CD. Meaning, you would have had to hunt record stores and head shops, and hope to get lucky and see that TMQ label starting back at you and a cheap, pasted-on Xeroed cover. I imagine you have a pretty good idea from your own experiences of what I'm talking about.  

I think no one but me, pretty much, is aware of the doctorings/shavings re: Leeds (it reminds me of how it's only now, after years of this being true, that people are realizing that the live Bootleg Series Dylan releases like The Royal Albert Hall Concert--meaning, the Manchester 5/17/66 show--and the Halloween 1964 gig are missing the between-songs commentary and talking about it on Reddit and the like, which attests to what I've always thought: That most people don't listen to the music that much, but want to be part of a community throwing these topics around and jockey for position as a "smart" person with "elevated" tastes, because almost everything in life is now performative, but that's a conversation for another day).

The original, amazing album of Live at Leeds basically doesn't exist anymore. Which is shocking, right? How does no one point this out? You can't get it on the streaming sites. I never see it discussed. The official sets are bastardizations. (Additionally, even the "complete" Live at Leeds release that was paired with Hull omits material additional material from the show besides the Daltrey vocalism on "My Generation" and also presents the songs out of order. Hull is fine/good, though...once you adjust the tracklisting.) They have a sanitized, boxy sound. And a different mix. That original mix is integral to Live at Leeds as an album. Its sonic footprint is deep. Indelible. But with those reissues, it was as if King Wenceslas' tracks have been snowed over, and his page can no longer follow him.

So you see why I couldn't just assemble it from those sets. By the by: "Magic Bus" is also different on the official versions. A phasing effect has been removed. Nor can I assemble it from the bootlegs, because the sound is very different. 

The original release is what I'm after. Those files, this tracklisting: 

"Young Man Blues"

"Substitute"

"Summertime Blues"

"Shakin' All Over"

"My Generation"

"Magic Bus"

"My Generation" will run 14:27 seconds here. 

I know of no other live album that is so different, really, than the whole show from which it comes, if that makes sense. Completely different experiences. It's almost like a live concept album. And what I'd maintain is the first heavy metal masterpiece. 

Here's the Captain Acid remaster of the bootleg called Live at Leeds Complete, which I suspect is the complete edition that you refer to having. If you don't have this edition, though, grab it. Captain Acid is one of a half dozen people who are doing important things right now regarding key historical releases. I've sent you some Lord Reith things on the Beatles front--he's another. It's like with Grateful Dead recordings. Normally, you want to get the Charlie Miller remastering of a given Dead show when you can. So it goes with Captain Acid, who handles a range of material. Link is still good--just tested it. Forgive the disquisition. As you can see, I'm quite passionate about Live at Leeds. 

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Greetings my friend. Sorry for the delay...been struggling with some things. But, I'm up early for work and wanted to make sure I wrote you first. Thanks so much for hunting down the Elvis and the Who. You are the man. I really appreciate it. Alas, that wasn't the original Live at Leeds! Someone had put that together from the later releases...a kind of Frankenstein job. Isn't that amazing? One of the most famous live albums ever doesn't even exist anymore. Basically. I was sort of hoping you found some stash of some person who was in the know, or something related to the original vinyl. I am not a fan of that official "complete" Leeds release. Besides the editing, it sounds completely different. It's almost like a colorized version of a black and white film. On the original LP, there are also all these snaps and hisses in the master tape. It's like a soundboard field recording, if that makes sense, and is a much less sterilized listening experience. For the whole show, some version of the additional set you sent along is the way to go. But if ever anything illustrated the potential differences between a live gig and a live album, it's the Leeds full set and the Leeds original LP. I'm probably going to send you a pretty cool Beatles thing you might not have--it "came out" a few days ago--after I verify it's what it purports to be.