The Who Sell Out reissued

[Vic2012]

Live At Leeds was the album that made me realize that Pete Townsend is one.hell.of.a.rock.Guitarist.Period. The crunchy, huge chords are second to none.

[bfd]

Live at Leeds was a college staple, cranked at an appropriately painful volume. To my mind, the last "real" classic Who album was "The Who By Numbers" , not particularly inspired and a little workman-like but still a fairly satisfying listen. Strange to think that was almost 50 years ago. Not much left in the tank creatively after that.

[Munster]

Live at Leeds proves the dictum that less is more. The initial vinyl release was 40 or so minutes of sheer Who power, kicking off with the anthemic Young Man Blues, Substitute and Summertime Blues, then diving into Shakin’ All Over, a magnificent 14-minute version of My Generation and finally Magic Bus. The two-CD deluxe version is great as it presents the Leeds concert in its entirety, including a run through of Tommy. But some of the power of the vinyl release is lost in the mix, I think. Young Man Blues and Substitute were only the fifth and sixth songs played that night in 1970, then there were three songs – Happy Jack, I’m A Boy and A Quick One – before Shakin’ All Over, My Generation and Magic Bus appear. Happy Jack etc are all great in their own right, but they just lack the awesome punch of Young Man Blues etc as presented on the vinyl.

[Vic2012]

Damn it. I had a CDr of Leeds. Looked for it today, couldn't find it. I might've tossed it thinking I'd buy the proper CD. Crap.

[Top Cat]

- except they could play their instruments !

believe or not, my original comment said the very same thing, but in the interest of avoiding a thread war on punk, I edited the sentence out.

[JJ88]

I think it was a mistake to let the original 6 track Live At Leeds go out of print. The mix is quite different, from memory. The 2001 version put all of Tommy onto a separate disc, so it's not how the show was actually performed anyway.

I'm glad I found old Polydor CDs of this, A Quick One and Odds And Sods...all of which have 'issues' on the later remixes.

[Zeuhlmate]

believe or not, my original comment said the very same thing, but in the interest of avoiding a thread war on punk, I edited the sentence out.

[Rogue Mail]

I have to confess, I had never heard this album at all, so a couple of years ago I bought the version that had just been released.

And I know I played it at least once...but damned if I can remember any songs from it. And I never went back to it.

I have been doing that a lot lately. Did it with the new Transatlantic, and the new Steven Wilson. And a few others.

I am trying to listen to more music on the move, to try and catch up with stuff, but I often find myself more comfortable listening to my old faves. Colour me unadventurous, I know.

For a while I almost stopped listening to music altogether, and was more into watching movies. But now I seem to have lost my movie mojo. Strange, considering I have access to 4 streaming services. Somehow when I was purchasing blu rays I tended to watch more movies.

And during lockdown, I didn't indulge much in movies or music, though many people I know did given the increase in free time.

But for me, being at home because you have no choice, such as lockdown, being sick is not the same for me...I can't relax. Its something to do with the feeling of not having earned it. I say that because after a weeks work, I feel like I have earned the right to take it easy and do what I want, even if that means vegging out and doing nothing.

[Vic2012]

Listening to Leeds on YT. I'd rather buy the album but this'll do for today. What a sledgehammer of an album. My favorite tracks are the cover songs (Shakin' All Over, Young Man Blues). They're almost a different band live. Raw, guitar rock. Nothing artsy fartsy.

[Vic2012]

If GuitarGeek is around....

What guitars was Pete using on LAL? SG? Sounds like a solid body. What a f***ing tone.

[Munster]

The 2001 version put all of Tommy onto a separate disc, so it's not how the show was actually performed anyway.

It would be fascinating to know where the Tommy songs were played in concerts of that period. I see that the concert in Hull, recorded the night after the Leeds concert, had exactly the same setlist and (according to the CDs) running order as Leeds did. It would have been good to have the Hull concert released exactly as it was played if the Tommy songs were inserted elsewhere on the night.

A separate query. Was this setlist more or less what was played at Woodstock, six months earlier, and is the Woodstock concert worth tracking down?

[JJ88]

Hull was rearranged in the same way. A complete Leeds with the correct running order was bootlegged somewhere along the line. There's been a digital release of the show in the correct order- the 2014 release- although it's not fully complete, apparently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_Leeds

Leeds had the 'Magic Bus' encore but Hull didn't.

Woodstock was a shorter show, as it was a festival set. I do like the 1969 show at the London Coliseum- the footage/sound is rough but it's a terrific performance. 'Young Man Blues' in The Kids Are Alright is from this show.

[chalkpie]

If GuitarGeek is around....

What guitars was Pete using on LAL? SG? Sounds like a solid body. What a f***ing tone.

SG/Hiwatt. I wish he wasn't panned so far right...a more central placement of the guitar would be even ballsier. But the tone is delicious.

[Vic2012]

SG/Hiwatt. I wish he wasn't panned so far right...a more central placement of the guitar would be even ballsier. But the tone is delicious.

Yeah I was streaming it but I had wireless buds. Honestly, the Ox panned left was just sick. Was he using a pick? What a sick, punchy tone. That was one hell of a rhythm section. It was a racket but damn it was good.

[Zeuhlmate]

If GuitarGeek is around....

What guitars was Pete using on LAL? SG? Sounds like a solid body. What a f***ing tone.

SG special - the one with 2 P90 pickups, he used it for many years (untill Who's Next then Les Paul). Same as Santana on Woodstock.
He smashed them to pieces and actually had troubles finding good ones in the shops.

[Vic2012]

SG special - the one with 2 P90 pickups,

Sounds right. Love the sound of overdriven P90s.

[JJ88]

The interesting thing with Hull is that because of a technical issue, the bass on the first few tracks was 'flown in' from Leeds (so to speak!).

I remember a fair bit of 'Hull was better than Leeds' hype. I don't think it is, although obviously it's nice to have two multi-track shows from the same tour.

Then you have Isle Of Wight and Tanglewood which have slightly different set-lists (a few then-new songs added). The latter remains unreleased beyond a few songs but it's an excellent performance.

[rushfan]

Quadrophenia still stands as my favorite album of all time….

[pb2015]

Hull was rearranged in the same way. A complete Leeds with the correct running order was bootlegged somewhere along the line. There's been a digital release of the show in the correct order- the 2014 release- although it's not fully complete, apparently.

Yes, there are a few edits (a section of Pete's solo in "Young Man Blues" is available on the boot version but is edited out of every official release).

[JJ88]

'Spoonful' is often edited out of 'Shakin' All Over'...not sure there's ever been a commercial release of Leeds including it.

ISTR that the mid 90s single-disc remix of Leeds is quite well regarded in audiophile circles but the 2001 2cd isn't. Both removed the clicks that are all over the 1970 mix (it's Entwistle's bass lead, I think!).

[Mister Triscuits]

Both removed the clicks that are all over the 1970 mix (it's Entwistle's bass lead, I think!).

The 1995 edition changes the label notation "Crackling noises OK, do not correct!" to "Crackling noises have been corrected!"

[mozo-pg]

Quadrophenia still stands as my favorite album of all time….

[JJ88]

Yes I think the original had a deliberate 'official bootleg' thing going on- even the cover was akin to a bootleg. This would have been not long after the early rock bootlegs made a splash- The Great White Wonder, Live'R Than You'll Ever Be etc.

[chalkpie]

Sell Out is, for me, their single greatest album, and one of my top 3 psychedelic albums of all time.

We're Only In It and Third the other two? Just taking a wild guess...

[Steve F.]

^^^^

I don’t consider Money to be a truly psychedelic (in its spirit) album AND I definitely do not think of Third as a psych album AT ALL

My personal top three are
Sell Out
Traffic ‘Mr Fantasy’
Family’Doll’s House’ and or Piper At The Gates of Dawn