THE WHO: THE HOW AND THE WHY AND THE WHEN

[Re: RC 543] I followed The Who from 1965 through to 1979 when, in my opinion, they should have called it a day. Led Zeppelin decided that they couldn’t continue after the death of John Bonham and The Who should have followed suit after the death of Keith Moon. I first saw The Who topping the bill at the Concert For Bangladesh at The Oval In 1971. They were magnificent and

I’m surprised Roger Daltrey didn’t include it in his history of great Who concerts. I also thoroughly enjoyed their performance of Quadrophenia at

The Kings Hall, Belle Vue, Manchester a couple of years later. However, the final time was in 1979 at Wembley when they were blown away by AC/DC. My Generation is a great pop album but I never took

The Who seriously as a rock band until the release of Live At Leeds in 1970. The problem with the studio version of Tommy is Daltrey’s voice. It would be over a year before his voice developed enough to do the songs justice as subsequent live recordings prove. As for Who’s Next it is one of the greatest albums ever made and always on hand to play in my house.

Daltrey mentions that The Who were playing to crowds of 120,000 in 1969/70 but fails to mention that this would have been at festivals containing multiple acts. Unfortunately, Daltrey’s once powerful voice is long gone, and anyone having seen him back in the day knows it.

Jack Haynes, Manchester

As I was perusing the book and magazine shelves in my local Tesco, my eye was immediately drawn to the April issue [RC 543]. What caught my eye was the main cover story about The Who live and that iconic Townshend Woodstock pose as he’s about to chuck his Gibson SG into the crowd. The Who are my favourite band and Woodstock is my all-time favourite music film and actually the first VHS tape that I ever bought.

That got me reminiscing – see below (btw the fair-haired classmate was and is Steve Barron, who went on to direct major music videos e.g., Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean and a-ha’s Take On Me).

...

It was year 3 at St Marylebone Grammar School (SMGS), 1970, and a class of 14-/15-year-olds. Sitting a few rows in front of me was a small, fairhaired classmate; his party trick was to stand up and sing Pinball Wizard from Tommy. My interest in the band and the song increased. Luckily, another classmate said he owned a copy of the latest Who album, Live At Leeds, and agreed to lend me it.

I took the album home, placed it on the turntable, lowered the stylus onto the outer rim, and waited. Boom!!! The opening chords of Young Man Blues blasted out from the small speakers sat at each end of the sideboard. I was hooked from that moment on. I can only imagine it’s a bit like taking heroin for the first time, an instant surge of euphoria. I used to say that listening to the Sparks section during My Generation, when it built to a crescendo,

was like having an orgasm.

One of the talking points about Leeds, apart from it being considered one of the best, if not the best, live album of all time, was that it was designed to look like a bootleg issue; plain buff coloured cardboard gatefold sleeve, held together by staples, a simple rhomboid stamp top right, slanting inwards at 45 degrees; the print quality is made to look rough and ready, in keeping with the bootleg theme. Inside the stamp was: THE WHO LIVE AT LEEDS TRACK 2406 001, nothing else, front or back; no pictures, no descriptions, no blurb, no track listing. These stamps were printed in either Blue, Black, or Red. When I bought my own copy not long afterwards, I had a Blue copy. To me, an authentic Live At Leeds must have Blue printing. I’m sure owners of Black and Red copies feel the same.

Onto the inside (it’s a gatefold, remember).

The bottom of the cover on the insides were folded upwards to about halfway, to create an envelope or flap, on each side; this is where the staples came in. Each envelope had its own purpose: vinyl on the right and inserts on the left; don’t ever swap them over. There were 12 of those inserts: various copies of receipts, letters, lyrics, photographs, and the famous Maximum R&B Marquee poster, which must have adorned many a bedroom wall.

On the inner label, on the vinyl alongside the usual track names and times, composers, record company details, and catalogue numbers, was written: CRACKLING NOISES O.K. DO NOT CORRECT! This reflected the rather primitive recording equipment at the time, and the resulting quality.

There were only six tracks on the original vinyl release, four on side one, two on the second side; three written by Pete Townshend, three covers. Yes, it’s got crackles and other recording faults, a boisterous student crowd, and was held in the University’s refectory. Yet there’s a blue plaque outside on the wall commemorating it – enough said!!

And so began a lifelong love of The Who At the last count I had 10 different editions/versions of Live At Leeds, including: cassette, 8-track, vinyl, 4 or 5 CDS, and a box set. I haven’t seen or heard of a minidisc issue, so I may be safe, and contented.

Neil Bilbe, email

I really enjoyed the current issue [RC 543], especially Daltrey and Townshend reminiscing about their live performances. I was pleased that I had attended some of the concerts listed. One of these was Leeds, though I think Roger must be getting confused about the venue. Not a surprise since the actual date was 14 February 1970, some 53 years ago! He recalls the dressing room being beneath the stage, full of broken chairs etc.

I don’t think so. The clue is in the venue name: Leeds University Refectory, ie, the students’ dining room. There wasn’t a stage! When bands played there, they performed on the dining tables, stuck together in the corner!! In fact, The Who played there on those tables twice during my time there, and The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen, Led Zeppelin and The Faces rocked out on this makeshift stage also. Among others.

Gerald Cleaver, Devon