The Who's Who

I have always thought that The Who’s Live at Leeds Album was a very special album. Most people who have listened to it would actually agree with me. Theunis Bates wrote an article entitled “6 Live Albums that Rock”, and one of those 6 Albums that he wrote about is Live at Leeds. He says in his article that “Live at Leeds sees the band morph their early mod hits into bare-chested, hairy rock anthems. A young Daltrey hollers and screams through My Generation and Substitute, while Townshend smashes out the chords and drummer Keith Moon stamps over everything. With Live at Leeds, the Who set the standard for every live rock album that followed.” I find this particularly interesting, because he would suggest that Live at Leeds wasn’t only a great album, but it also influenced all the live albums that followed it. That would make Live at Leeds not only a really cool album, but an influential album that shaped the way live rock and roll was heard .

Another interesting thing I found in an article about the album was that the show was played to a relatively small audience. In fact Andy Kershaw said that, “It was on 14 February 1970 that the band recorded their landmark Live at Leeds album in the hallowed 2,000-capacity Refectory….” The reason I find this interesting was that I assumed the Who would have played to a much lager audience than 2000 for there live album. The only thing about this particular album is that it dose not say why they played to such a small audience, but I would have to speculate that maybe it had something to do with to much crowd noise showing up on the tapes, but I really don’t know for sure.

Probably the most interesting article I found would have to be and article in “Rolling Stone” by Pat Blashill. In his article he (like Theunis) suggested that Live at Leeds was also a revolutionary album. He wrote that “There's no finesse, just the pure power of a band able to play as loud as it wants to. When the Who blew up Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" to Godzilla-like proportions, they invented Seventies arena rock.” This would again suggest that The Who with Live at Leeds helped to shape the future of live Rock and Roll. He also said in his article that “Rather than wade through eighty hours of American shows for a live album, Pete Townshend claimed he burned those tapes "in a huge bonfire" and selected a concert at Leeds University in England.” I find this very interesting because it would suggest that The Who were ether to lazy to sort through all those tapes or they were very confident in there live performances to the point were they would risk a one show live album. Ether way it relly shows that The Who were a very daring, revolutionary band.

Work Sited

Andy Kershaw. . "Live and kicking at Leeds. " New Statesman  26 Jun 2006: 8. Research
Library. ProQuest.  Davidson County community Collage Library.  6 May.
2009 

Pat Blashill, Anthony DeCurtis, Ben Edmonds, Gavin Edwards, et al. "Live at Leeds:
The Who. "  Rolling Stone  11 Dec. 2003: 136. Research Library. ProQuest. 
Davidson County community Collage Library.  6 May.
2009 

THEUNIS BATES. . "6 LIVE ALBUMS THAT ROCK. " Time International
18 Dec. 2006: 70. Research Library. ProQuest. .  Davidson County community
Collage Library.  6 May. 2009 http://www.proquest.com/

Under a Raging Moon

The art of drumming has changed many times over the last few decades. But how did these changes occur? How did drumming go from a metronome like beat in the back ground of a song, to a powerful chaotic roll that people can almost see as a lead instrument? The answers to these questions are found in the lives of a few select people; people who dared to be different, people who tried new things, and people, who some say, were just plane loony. This last sentence perfectly describes The Who’s famous drummer Keith Moon, who would revolutionize the way drums were played in rock and roll.

Keith was born on August 23, 1946, to Alfred & Kathleen Moon in Wellesden, England. He started playing the bass drum in his high school marching band, and he stuck with them from then on. He played drums in several bands, but met with little success until he joined The Who in 1964. Keith’s own account of how this audition went goes, “They were playing at a pub near me, the Oldfield. I went down there, and they had a session drummer sitting in with them. I got up onstage and said, "Well, I can do better than him." They said go ahead, and I got behind this other guy's drums and I did one song — "Road Runner." I'd had several drinks to get me courage up, and when I got onstage I went arrrrrggGHHHHHHH on the drums, broke the base drum pedal and two skins and got off. I figured that was it, I was scared to death.” Shortly after this he was accepted into the band, and from then on he began to make history.

His playing style seemed rather insane at the time, mostly because of his wild and intense drum pounding, but his signature style of drumming eventually helped to put the Who on the map. His playing can be heard in the most popular songs of his era, including “pinball wizard”, “Behind Blue Eyes”, “Wont Get Fooled Again”, and “Who are You”. He also played of the famous live album, the Who’s “Live at Leeds.”

There is, however, a tragic ending to this story. This legendary drummer was not only known for his chaotic drumming, but also for his chaotic life style. He was a legendary alcoholic and drug user. By the time of The Who’s eighth album the drummers self abusive lifestyle became evident in his drumming. He was no longer able to play the same as he had earlier in his life, there for the Who had to stop touring. The drummer then became desperate to get over his addictions. He was prescribed the drug Heminevrin, a drug used to help people overcome alcohol cravings, which he was told to take when ever he felt a craving come on. His death came on September 7, 1978 due to an over dose of Heminevrin. The irony as I see it is that Keith died because he was trying to get better so he could continue to do the thing he loved the most, playing drums, and despite his efforts he was silenced for ever. In his memory the Who vowed to continue, but they were never the same. Rock had lost one of its favorite sons, but his influences live on.

Work cited:

http://www.keithmoon.co.uk/1978lastdays.php

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9264343/cover_story_keith_moon_bites_back/1

http://clippernolan.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/the-last-24-hours-of-keith-moon/

Good Writings?

What I consider good writing is probably the same as a lot of people. For starters I would like to say that while I find articles, and news add interesting, I like books, both fiction and nonfiction, better because I find them more interesting. I think that writing should be both interesting, and should flow well. I for one am totally against unorganized or jumpy writhing. I also think that certain elements of the story should be present for the story to be interesting. The elements that I think should be present are the plot, the point, and the setting. It takes these elements to get a good feel of the writing and the mood that is present in the story.
One story that I have always thought was a good book was Jack London’s Call of the Wild. Now some of you will probably think that this book is kind of childish. Well you could say that I haven’t read a book in a while, but really I just like the book anyway. For one the story flows well, and is easy to follow. I know this because the first time I read the story I was in the 5th grade, and I was able to understand and follow the story with out any difficulty. Also the story is full of action and there isn’t a dull moment in the book. The plot was also present throughout the story making it pretty a pretty fascinating story. It dose not stray from the plot much, like some stories tend to do, and I also find it also has a great story line which I find one of the best parts of the book. This book is something like a representation of other writings I like to read.
This is almost a perfect representation of the things I like to read. Although I don’t read as often as I used to, I still like to when I find something that relly hooks me in. It just seems that these great writings are becoming less and less.

Work Cited:
http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/CallOfTheWild/chapter1.html

Let There Be Rock!!!!

When I listen to the Live at Leeds album I think back to a time in which I was completely ignorant to musical preference. Some who read this will wonder what I am talking about. Well let me explain something about my child hood. I grew up in the south and the only music I was accustom to was country. Now don’t get me wrong, I love were I live, but I never really got into the music every one else listened to. I remember how I would pretend to like the music around my friends, who love country music, but really I felt empty while listing to it, and it seemed I would never find my preference in music.

Then one day I discovered music that would change my life. I started listing to Rock music stations on the radio, and started to like it a lot more than country music. The complete transition took awhile, but once it took affect I began to hate country and love Rock. Eventually I began to become familiar with specific bands, and I found I liked some more than others. The band I grew to like so much was Boston, the first Rock and Roll band I grew to love. How ever later I grew to like other bands like Pink Floyd, Metallica, Linkin Park, and eventually The Who. Rock and Roll had much more feeling in it, as well as better music, and vocals. I knew I had found my type of music, and that I had been set free.

While I am sure some of you are asking, who are these memories related with The Who’s Live at Leeds Album? The memories generated by listening to Live at Leeds are not about any specific thing, but rather about when I first heard the great driving power that is Rock music. I believe that Rock is much different than other music, because it seems to have a soul. It seems to have an emotion all its own. Listing to live at Leeds reminds me of this, and how I found happiness in Rock and Roll.

Who Says What?

In my last blog post I talked about my favorite album, The Who’s Live at Leeds. As I expressed in that blog post I love how the album expresses true emotion through music. Some would fully agree with me, while others would tend to disagree. David Bowling of Blog Critics Magazine says, “Live at Leeds may not be the best live album of all time, but it certainly ranks near the top.” In this persons opinion it is clear to see that he is fond of the album, but it is not his favorite. While Steven Hyden of Pop Matters says that, “Live at Leeds...…..is not only the best live rock 'n' roll album ever, but the best rock album period.” While these opinions are both positive toward the album they differ slightly, thus showing the difference in each person’s opinion.

The two critics listed above also seem to differ in what style of music they like in the album. While Bowling says, “Young Man Blues” and “Substitute” are the other two songs contained on the original release….. They are my least favorite tracks…… The sound is a little poorer, at least to my ear, than the rest of the record.” While Hyden says “Mose Allison's (the original artist and writer) "Young Man Blues”… was a more obscure number pumped solid by the Who…” It is easy to see that while Hyden liked the song “Yong Man Blues” Bowling thought of it as his least favorite. In my own opinion about the song I think it is hands down the best song on the album. The song is completely unique because it was originally composed as a Jazz song by Mose Allison, but The Who made the song there own by adding amazing guitar riffs, heavy drum rolls, pumping bass, and unbelievable vocal skills. Therefore I think that in seeing how these critics feel about this song, we also see what there preferable music style might be, and how it affects there opinion.

Hyden also says “The other three songs were among the Who's most enduring classics, including a truncated "Substitute", a hilarious "Magic Bus", and a rambling 15-minute version of "My Generation" that not-so-succinctly summed up everything you would ever need to know about the band.” I fully agree with this statement because these three songs show the bands evolution till the time of the Leeds Concert. The song "Substitute", although short, is still very well written, and a very good song, but sounds more like the pop music of the 60’s instead of rock and roll. The song "My Generation" was written very early in the Who’s career and is a spectacular performance. This song shows off the Who’s vocal and musical skills, and really puts into perspective how great the Who really is. Also the song "Magic Bus", which the Who used to close this album, is also a great song to express the awesome talent that the Who had when the album was recorded.


Work Sited:
Hyden, Steven. PopMatters. 29 January 2003. 18 February 2008 (http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/w/who-liveatleeds2.shtml).

Bowling, David. Home Page. 09 December 2008. 19 February 2008 (http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/12/09/094221.php).

My Favorite Album

My favorite album is by the Who, and is called Live at Leeds. Like the name implies it is a live album that was made 1n 1970 at Leeds University in England. The Who also happens to be my favorite band, but this album stands out the most out of all their works. The album covers many of their songs from earlier studio albums except preformed live. While the studio albums are very good you just can’t beat a live album. Live performances have the advantage of sounding real, and all errors and changes are included in the song. This adds emotion, and a sense of realism to the music. Also in the case of live at Leeds the whole concert was taped and the album included no cuts, and all the dialog from the band making the listener feel like he is really at the concert. When I hear the album I can literally feel the music and become one with the rhythm. The album is all classic rock, which is my favorite type of music to listen to. In my opinion the older rock and roll songs are better than newer music. The reason I think this is because the older style of rock has more emotion and has better music. The reason I like the Who’s music best is because their lyrics are very good, and their music is better than any other. Their drum styles are the best ever, and their guitar riffs are legendary. The Live at Leeds album shows all of these qualities making it a great live album.
When listening to the album I can’t help but feel emotional feedback from the music. I can’t help but to imagine being there and watching the concert. While listing to most albums you don’t feel this way, but in the case of Live at Leeds you can’t help but feel this way. This album is completely unlike anything I have ever herd before. The feeling you get is not like anything else in the world. When I am feeling down, or worried, or really stressed I like to listen to Live at Leeds and it helps me to make it through the hard times.