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.