THE WHO "Live At Leeds" '70 UK TRACK 1st PRESS COMPLETE

	£		102
	$		135

 
THE WHO "Live At Leeds" '70 UK TRACK 1st PRESS COMPLETE RED,BLACK INSIDE G/F, STUNNING AUDIO, UNPLAYED/MINT

THE WHO
Live At Leeds

ORIGINAL UK TRACK (2406 001 SUPER) FIRST PRESSING (May 1970) OF THE WHO'S TREMENDOUS "Live At Leeds" LP - CONSISTENTLY VOTED THE GREATEST LIVE ALBUM EVER MADE AND *COMPLETE* WITH ALL INSERTS (including the elusive Maximum R&B poster) AND IN BEAUTIFUL UNPLAYED MINT CONDITION DELIVERING ABSOLUTELY TOP AUDIO (ON MY SYSTEM - AT A VERY LOUD VOLUME!!) - STUNNING COPY AND EXCEPTIONALLY RARE TO FIND LIKE THIS

THE TITLE 'LIVE AT LEEDS', WHICH IS NOW LEGENDARY, WAS ACTUALLY A BIT OF A JOKE AT THE TIME. MOST LIVE ALBUMS OF THE PERIOD HAD GLAMOROUS TITLES - LIVE FROM THE 'HOLLYWOOD BOWL' OR 'ROME'S COLOSSEUM' BUT THE WHO WANTED SOMETHING GRITTIER AND MORE REAL AND THE ALBUM COULD HAVE BEEN QUITE EASILY BEEN CALLED 'LIVE AT HULL', IF THE RECORDING THERE HAD GONE BETTER

REGARDING THE SOUND ON THE LP AND IN KEEPING WITH ITS RAW 'BOOTLEG' FEEL, THE CLICKS WHICH ARE PRESENT ON THE MIX ARE INTENTIONAL AS PETE TOWNSHEND, WANTING TO MAINTAIN THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE LIVE GIG, INSTRUCTED THE PRESSING ENGINEERS TO LEAVE THE MIXING DESK/ AMPLIFIER CLICKS IN ON THE FINAL PRESSING - "CRACKLING NOISES OK, DO NOT CORRECT" - AS PRINTED ON THE RECORD LABEL

PRESSED ON QUALITY HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL (much thicker and more robust than later issues) THE LP, DESIGNED TO LOOK LIKE A BOOTLEG, HAS PLAIN WHITE LABELS WITH HANDWRITTEN TRACK LISTING
MATRIX: 2406001 A//1 11 1 / 2406001 B//1 11 1 (the ultimate earliest first pressing)
AND IS HOUSED A THIN CARD GATEFOLD SLEEVE STAPLED TO CREATE TWO POCKETS FOR THE RECORD AND 12 INSERTS "Printed and made by MacNeill Press Ltd., London, S.E.1"
THE SLEEVE HAS EXTERNAL RED PRINTING BUT THE TEXT ON THE INSIDE IN PRINTED IN BLACK
AND IT COMES COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL WHITE, POLY-LINED POLYDOR COMPANY INNER SLEEVE DATE CODED '0470' (April 1970)

ALL 12 INSERTS ARE PRESENT INCLUDING THE OFTEN ELUSIVE 'MAXIMUM R&B' POSTER
1) A 1964 Letter Written By EMI Records' John Burgess To Kit Lambert, Turning Down The High Numbers
2) A Black & White 1964 Publicity Photo Of The High Numbers
3) A Detailed 1964 Accounts Sheet For The High Numbers
4) A Large 1964, Black & White Poster Of The Who's "Maximum R&B" Residency At London's Marquee Club (there is no Track catalogue number above "Tuesdays" which is present on later copies of this poster)
5) A 1st December1964 Statement Of Payment From The Marquee Club
6) Pete Townshend's 1965 Typewritten Lyrics For "My Generation," With His Handwritten Notations
7) A 1965 Letter From 'King's Agency (Variety) Ltd.' Cancelling A Gig in Swindon, Due To The Who's Bad Behaviour
8) A 1965 'New Action Limited' Schedule Of Gigs With The Who's Pre-Agreed Fees
9) A March 1965, 'Jennings Music' Legal' Notice Before Proceedings', Demanding The Who Return A Vox Phantom Guitar And Case & A Vox Piano bass
10) A 1967 Invoice /Delivery Sheet From 'Brock's Fireworks' For A Gross of Y2 Smoke Generators
11) A 1969 Contract From 'Premier Talent Associates' For The Who To Perform At The 'Woodstock Festival'
12) A 1969 Fold-Out Photo Of Pete In Mid- Air At 'The Isle Of Wight Festival,' Printed On Both Sides, This Also Has Pete's Handwritten Line-up of 'Brian Carroll & The Playboys'

Rushed out in 1970 as a way to bide time as the Who toiled away on their follow-up to Tommy, Live at Leeds wasn't intended to be the definitive Who live album, and many collectors maintain that the band had better shows available on bootlegs. But those shows weren't easily available whereas Live at Leeds was, and even if this show may not have been the absolute best, it's so darn close to it that it would be impossible for anybody but aficionados to argue. Here, the Who sound vicious -- as heavy as Led Zeppelin but twice as volatile -- as they career through early classics with the confidence of a band that finally achieved acclaim but had yet to become preoccupied with making art. In that regard, this recording -- in its many different forms -- may have been perfectly timed in terms of capturing the band at a pivotal moment in its history.

There is certainly no better record of how this band was a volcano of violence on-stage, teetering on the edge of chaos but never blowing apart. This was most true on the original LP, which was a trim six tracks, three of them covers ("Young Man Blues," "Summertime Blues," "Shakin' All Over") and three originals from the mid-'60s, two of those ("Substitute," "My Generation") vintage parts of their repertory and only "Magic Bus" representing anything resembling a recent original, with none bearing a trace of its mod roots. This was pure, distilled power, all the better for its brevity; throughout the '70s the album was seen as one of the gold standards in live rock & roll, and certainly it had a fury that no proper Who studio album achieved. It was also notable as one of the earliest legitimate albums to implicitly acknowledge -- and go head to head with -- the existence of bootleg LPs. Indeed, its very existence owed something to the efforts of Pete Townshend and company to stymie the bootleggers.

The Who had made extensive recordings of performances along their 1969 tour, with the intention of preparing a live album from that material, but they recognised when it was over that none of them had the time or patience to go through the many dozens of hours of live performances in order to sort out what to use for the proposed album. According to one account, the band destroyed those tapes in a massive bonfire, so that none of the material would ever surface without permission. They then decided to go to the other extreme in preparing a live album, scheduling this concert at Leeds University and arranging the taping, determined to do enough that was worthwhile at the one show. As it turned out, even here they generated an embarrassment of riches -- the band did all of Tommy, as audiences of the time would have expected (and, indeed, demanded), but as the opera was already starting to feel like an albatross hanging around the collective neck of the band (and especially Townshend), they opted to leave out any part of their most famous work apart from a few instrumental strains in one of the jams. Instead, the original LP was limited to the six tracks named, and that was more than fine as far as anyone cared.

And fans who bought the original LP got a package of extra treats for their money. The original album's plain brown sleeve was, itself, a nod and nudge to the bootleggers, resembling the packaging of such early underground LP classics as the Bob Dylan Great White Wonder set and the Rolling Stones concert bootleg Liver Than You'll Ever Be, from the latter group's 1969 tour -- and it was a sign of just how far the Who had come in just two years that they could possibly (and correctly) equate interest in their work as being on a par with Dylan and the Stones. But Live at Leeds' jacket was a foldout sleeve with a pocket that contained a package of memorabilia associated with the band, including a really cool poster, copies of early contracts, etc. It was, along with Tommy, the first truly good job of packaging for this band ever to come from Track Records; the label even chose to forgo its usual black/silver label, carrying the bootleg pose to the plain label and handwritten song titles, and the note about not correcting the clicks and pops. At the time, you just bought this as a fan, but looking back 30 or 40 years on, those now seem to be quietly heady days for the band (and for fans who had supported them for years), finally seeing the music world and millions of listeners catch up

Track Listing:
Side 1: YOUNG MAN / SUBSTITUTE / SUMMERTIME BLUES / SHAKIN' ALL OVER
Side 2: MY GENERATION BLUES / MAGIC BUS

LABELS: The labels are like-new - clean, bright and unmarked with no evident spindle traces - this copy is in my opinion completely unplayed
VINYL Visual: The vinyl surfaces retain their original deep, glossy, just-pressed sheen and are unmarked - beautiful record
VINYL Audio: Stunning LP with sensational in-your-face audio - incredibly fresh and exciting with a crystal clear, strong and powerful sound and on playback at a LOUD volume (which is how I always listen to my LPs prior to listing and it's always a real pleasure to return to this one) there are no scratches, no jumps, no sticks, no unwanted clicks or pops and no surface noise - the audio delivery is sensational and the whole album plays throughout to the highest possible standard with superb clarity, no groove-wear and no distortion, sounds stunning (I don't think this one has ever been played) and is strictly graded MINT for audio - superb copy, raw, fresh and incredibly exciting - great stuff and I guarantee a finer first pressing would be nigh-on impossible to find - this is certainly the finest I have ever seen or offered for sale
SLEEVE: The original 'bootleg' cover (with red/black text) is clean, fresh and unmarked with little wear and no damage - the staples show no signs of rust. There is some age-related discolouration to the spine area from storage (please see photos) but otherwise, the sleeve is in fantastic condition and I have no hesitation giving an EXCELLENT++ grading - very, very fine example indeed
INSERTS: All 12 inserts are clean, unmarked and undamaged with little evidence of ever actually being handled - MINT(-)

PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I USUALLY TAKE QUITE A FEW SO YOU CAN GET A CLEAR INDICATION OF EVERY DETAIL OF THE ITEM
I HAVE UPLOADED AS MANY AS I CAN BUT I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SUPPLY ANY ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ON REQUEST
STUNNING UK FIRST PRESS COPY OF THE WHO'S LEGENDARY LP IN EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION - VERY, VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED INDEED
AS WITH ALL MY RECORDS THIS HAS A LOW START PRICE AND NO RESERVE
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