I agree that there is good stuff throughout this album. Personally prefer the first few tracks then usually get bored.
I have the "deluxe" version of "Live at Leeds" and it now has the Tommy performance on the second CD. I listen to it a lot. It sounds a million times better live. Moon plays his drums like he usually does. It annoys me that his drumming is so standard on the studio album. It sounds so clinical. Also, the bass sounds massive and distorted throughout and the band are on fire. Wonderful.

Crap

But the cover on the boxset was worth the .99

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:What does Uncle Ernie call you?

My great uncle still calls me 'Thomas'.

I'm a Who fan, but Tommy is crap.

Still, I'd take it over the movie any day. That shit is insufferable.

that damned fly wrote:sparks. for your viewing pleasure.

Cool.

Even better.

It's The Who... therefore crap.

Bumping this thread in honor of my tying the poll, in favor of NOT CRAP.

This album isn't great, it doesn't gel well, it feels front-loaded, like they ran out of cool shit to do and then BOOM there's filler everywhere. "Sally Simpson" bothers me for some reason. "Sensation", however, is capable.

Love the first record. "Overture" is a great overture.

"Leftoverture" is not.

I've decided that I like this record more than I once did.

tallchris wrote:

space junk wrote:The record is crap. Played live between 1969 and 1971, it's one of the highest points in rock music. Sparks live at Tanglewood is the performance to end all performances. But the album itself is poor. Very poor.

Agreed. The second disc of Live at Leeds, were they play Tommy straight through without a pause is an awesome, inspiring piece of rock music. The album Tommy is poorly recorded and played. The Who's ambition far outstripped their abilities as a studio band at that point.

Just about sums up everything I have to say about it. Not a big fan of the album proper, but it would seem that the "opera" format really enabled them to stretch out live and just get super fucking kick-ass. Live Who is just untouchable.

As one of the few people on the board who actually does like The Who, I will say that this album is Not Crap, and in fact one of the best studio albums they ever did. (My personal favorite Who albums are: My Generation, The Who Sell Out, which I listened to last night, Tommy, and Live at Leeds, which towers over all of the rest of the band's output.)

I will, however, agree that it was a million times better live in 1970. The clips I've seen of performances of Tommy material from that time period are absolutely atomizing. No one on Earth could touch them live at that point.