Journal: News & Comment

Raw power

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As I listen to it now while editing a document, I still think that The Who's 1970 Live at Leeds (iTunes link for Canada) is the greatest live rock-n-roll recording available commercially.

The album took me a long time to discover, around 1991. I'd already been in a classic rock band for a couple of years, I'd seen The Who play live in 1989 (without the long-dead Keith Moon, of course), and I'd heard "Summertime Blues" (Canada), but somehow I'd missed the rest of the record. While visiting my parents, who then lived in Toronto, I heard "Magic Bus" (Canada) and the 15-minute "My Generation" (Canada) on the radio.

Holy crap! was all I could think. I've loved the album ever since, because I doubt it's possible to capture more of the raw power of three musicians and a singer in full, monster-distortion flight than that.

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