At the turn of the century, every time I saw a classic album in Fopp for a fiver, I'd snap it up. I think I had the sense that this was too good to last, that I should take the opportunity to build a library of all the canonical works while I could. Now I feel exactly the opposite: the longer I can postpone buying these albums, the better value I'll get. I can't remember which it was, but I saw an old classic on Amazon the other day for £3.98 — remastered and expanded, of course. Since I got my copy, which has 14 tracks instead of the original 6, there's now a Deluxe Edition with 33 tracks on two CDs. In another few years, they'll be selling that for a fiver. And what I'm really waiting for is the online subscription service that gives me access to all of these tracks and those of every other classic album under the sun for a flat monthly fee, along with links to all the sleevenotes, reviews, photos etc. Then I can safely give up my attempts at library-building — and this scatter-gun collection — because someone will have done it for me, and I'll be able to see the walls of the rooms in my house again.
Last year Andy Kershaw got the remains of The Who back to Leeds to revisit the gig that spawned this album. Here's the preview and here's Kershaw's diary of the event. in 2005 Paul Gambaccini did a documentary for Radio 4 about the gig and the album. Look out for all of these being included in the forthcoming Live at Leeds: Ultimate Boxed Set Experience.
But let's remember that it was the original six-track version of the album that earned the classic moniker in the first place. If The Who had put out all 14, or 33, tracks in 1970 they might well have been pilloried, and the album forgotten. That might have been the right response, too. Personally I find the 14 tracks too long to listen to in one sitting. When I listened to it recently I was trying to find out which were the original six tracks, so I could listen to just them on their own. I couldn't find out from the detailed illustrated CD booklet. I should have consulted Wikipedia of course, which explains all the different versions. I can't help wondering if yesterday's 1970s live album might have been better if it were shorter.
MusicBrainz entry for this album |
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