(The Who) (LP 4617 - 4620)

The Who  Live at Leeds (CD, Polydor Records, 1970) *****  

The Who  Live at Hull 1970 (CD, Polydor Records, 2012) ****  

The Who  Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (CD/ DVD, Salvo Records, 1996) ****  

The Who  BBC Sessions (CD, BBC Records, 1999) ****  

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Young Man Blues (Live at Leeds)

Gear costume: Substitute (Live at Leeds); Shakin' All Over (BBC Sessions)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Live is where The Who are best experienced outside of The Who Sell Out and Who's Next. It's certainly where Keith Moon sounds most manic and a vital force for The Who. His ADHD approach to drumming is perfect for this band.

Live at Leeds is a great example, their first and probably their finest live album. This is one case where the extended CD version with 14 songs has it all over the truncated original vinyl version which only had six songs.

The band is all attack on these 14 songs. Pete's energy and angst is channeled into an explosion of guitar riffs and John's bass is imperious. That plus Roger on top form and Keith drumming up a storm of rhythmic noise makes this an essential Who album.

Incredibly, The Who performed and were recorded live in Hull the next day! The result was shelved until 2012 because of some technical sound issues. Predictably, Live at Hull has a similar set list, although it does have a pretty full run through of Tommy. It's good, the crowd is a little more subdued and the sound isn't as good as Live at Leeds.

The third live album from 1970 is from their appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival. The setlist is similar but there are a few new songs like Don't Know Myself, Naked Eye and Water included. I'm not sure I need yet another run through of Tommy though. 

All up - Live at Leeds is the place to go. The others are nice to have, of course, but Leeds is all you really need.

The BBC Sessions album serves as a great introduction to the band being a compilation of their BBC radio appearances. The time period is early doors (1965 to 1973) so there are loads of surprising covers, all given The Who treatment along the way.

Where do they all belong? Next time - The Who compilations.