Customer Reviews

At Fillmore East

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You've probably noticed that there are at least two other versions of the ABB March 1971 gigs at the Fillmore East. So how is this one different? First, be aware that there are NO previously unreleased tracks (including the fact that there are no alternate versions, taken from different shows).

This version contains the entire original AT FILLMORE EAST album from July 1971 (still available in a one-disc edition). Specifically, I mean these are the EXACT same performances (and mix, I believe) featured on the original. Of course, this new set adds the extra Fillmore material that was later released on EAT A PEACH, DUANE ALLMAN AN ANTHOLOGY 1 & 2, and the DREAMS box set. Again, these are all the exact same versions of these songs.

At first glance, the new "Deluxe Edition" looks similar to 1992's THE FILLMORE CONCERTS, with the notable addition of "Midnight Rider," taken from ANTHOLOGY 2. However, THE FILLMORE CONCERTS contains several alternate versions of songs, and is completely remixed (controversial among fans, but provides an interesting comparison). These alternate versions are not available elsewhere, though this may be an issue only for fanatics like myself. THE FILLMORE CONCERTS also had the benefit of original producer Tom Dowd, who recently died.

I have a few problems with the new "Deluxe Edition." First, the edits are shoddy. In some places, attempts are made to mix the songs together without the fade-outs between songs. In other places, the fade-outs are intact. I can't figure out this inconsistency. It seems like laziness to me, as if they just crammed together the existing mixes of the songs. Additionally, Dave Thompson's essay doesn't offer any new information, and seems rather short and lightweight. It's hard to not see the "Deluxe Edition" as some sort of cash-cow for the record company.

What are the pros? The photographs are fantastic. The prints of the front and back album cover are the best I have seen. Again, most of these photos can be seen elsewhere, but the prints are excellent. Aside from the price, I like that this gives an ABB neophyte the opportunity to hear all the songs together. After all, the performances left of the original LP are some of the finest of their career.

This new "Deluxe Version" of AT FILLMORE EAST is great for new fans and will be my recommendation when asked which Allman Brothers album to purchase first. For hardcore fans who have this material already, I think you will be let down overall. Those fans should pick up THE FILLMORE CONCERTS for a fresher perspective on these recordings. With five Fillmore shows on tape in the vaults, what the record company should have done was release each show, fully intact, perhaps in a box set. That would truly be a deluxe edition, but it would require much more work than was put into THIS set. So it gets knocked down to four stars for that reason.

Dont be fooled by a previous reviewer; this is not a complete show. All of these material has been previously released, and comes from different shows. Sometimes, the performances are edited/faded as they were originally issued. Love the packaging as with most Deluxe editions, the linear notes are not so great. I was not impressed by the sound, to my ears it sounds just the same as the earlier one disc released from Capricorn. There is so much material in the vaults from these shows, that this just doesnt cut it. Now, If you DONT own the Fillmore Concerts, this is still the best version available and the one you should get.

You can't help being a bit confused at this point. This is the 2nd of 3 re-issues of songs from the 1971 Fillmore concerts that made this band famous, and it has the exact same title of an album released in 2004, which should at least have been called Deluxe Edtion II. I think this is a result of the record companies belatedly catching up to the importance of this music, along with the inconvenient timing of digital technology. Here's the history:
1. The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East - original issue, double vinyl LP (September 1971, subsequently released in a 2 CD version, and an abriged single CD version)
2. The Fillmore Concerts - re-edited and re-mastered for CD, added songs (October 1992)
3. The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East (Deluxe Edition) - back to original edits with plus the new songs from the 1992 album plus "Midnight Rider" (and the issue this review is related to)
4. The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East (Deluxe Edition) - the original version, now in hybrid SACD format

For the true fan, there's something to be enjoyed in all of them. For the concert purist, 1992's The Fillmore Concerts is the one. For hi-fi fans, this SACD release is the one.

"The Allman Brothers Band at the Fillmore East" has been long regarded as one of the greatest live albums of all time. Indeed by the time 1971 rolled around, the ABB was on a musical roll honening their musical chops to perfection. When they hit the Fillmore East for the recording of this album, the band was definitely on fire.
The original release of the "Fillmore East" album (which is still available as a single CD) includes seven of the best tracks from these concerts. Later on, more music from the Fillmore concerts showed up on subsequent albums and compilations - notably 1972's "Eat A Peach". Now, with the release of the two-disc "Deluxe Edition", all of the music released from these historic performances are together in one place. While this shouldn't be taken as a complete concert (which by the way is not), it's truly the music that matters.
The Allmans' blues chops are in full force here as represented by the opening five tracks - among them being "Statesboro Blues", "Trouble No More" and "Stormy Monday". Duanne Allman's slide guitar work is at its best here and brother Gregg's soulful vocals never falter.
As the music progresses, so does the flawless musicianship within the band. The 13-minute "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" and the 19-minute jams of "You Don't Love Me" offer a glimpse of what's to come in the second half of the collection. By the time we get to disc two, the band is smokin' with the instrumental tour-de-force "Hot'lanta" and the relentless 23-minute concert staple "Whipping Post" which leads directly into the monumental 33-minute "Mountain Jam". As mentioned above, the Deluxe Edition does not present a complete concert but the way it's sequenced creates the illusion that the band were warming up at the beginning just to pull out all the stops at the end. Honestly, by the end of this edition, they certainly do.
The sound quality of the Deluxe Edition is amazing with an extra added crack to the drums and bite to the guitars. The packaging is pretty impressive as well with several great photos of the band onstage and some brief but insightful liner notes from music critic Dave Thompson.
Whether or not the Deluxe Edition of The Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East is definitive over the original album is a matter of opinion and preference. However, one cannot deny that regardless of which edition you buy, there is some flawless and amazing music here no matter what.

This repackaged double-disc reissue of the Allman Brothers Band's classic 1971 Fillmore West concert restores the original mixes, and presents them in truly stellar sound quality.

On the previous CD issue of the Fillmore concerts, producer Tom Dowd chose alternate takes and messed around with them, trying to create the ultimate listening experience by mixing bits of various takes together. However well-intentioned his attempt was, it didn't always improve the music (and sometimes it ended up doing the oppostite).
Now, this is not a complete end-to-end recording of one of the four Fillmore shows either, but it does restore the original un-tampered-with LP mixes, presenting a more authentic picture of what it was that people heard on those two days in March, 1971. And it is magnificent. The sound is crystal clear, with depth and nuances, and each instrument, Thom Doucette's harmonica in particular, sounds better and crisper than ever before. Honestly, I'm listening to it right now on my computer, with its standart-equipment speakers, and it sounds GREAT!

The first disc opens with a biting four-minute "Statesboro Blues", followed by an equally lean and mean rendition of the riff-driven "Trouble No More" with searing slide guitar by Duane Allman and Dickey Betts (wonderful solo about half way through the song). And then comes Gregg Allman's "Don't Keep Me Wondering", a superb performance with lots of great harp playing and a galvanizing slide guitar solo.

Gregg Allman then introduces "an old Elmore James song" (James had been dead less than eight years at the time), and the band lay down a terrific, muscular rendition of "Done Somebody Wrong" with more wonderful harmonica playing, including a gritty solo, after which the tempo goes down for a nine-minute "They Call It Stormy Monday", one of the band's finest pure blues covers, featuring a stellar 99-second guitar solo.

Rice Miller's "One Way Out" is performed as an up-tempo boogie with a rock n' roll-like urgency, and then comes "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed", Dickey Bett's classic instrumental, and a 19-minute (!) take on Willie Cobbs' "You Don't Love Me", which breaks down half way through to allow for a lengthy instrumental jam. (The Allmans' lenghty jams sometimes have the ability to bore casual listerers to tears, but this one is actually really good.)

Disc one winds down with a lovely, mellow, three-minute version of "Midnight Rider", and disc two opens with "Hot 'Lanta", a slightly psychedelic instrumental which isn't the most memorable thing the Allmans ever did, followed by an extravagant 22-minute take on the epic blues lament "Whipping Post".

Also featured here is the relatively rare "Drunken Hearted Boy", and the same never-ending "Mountain Jam" which first appeared on "Eat A Peach", including Duane Allman's stunning solo after the drum break, culminating in a grand instrumental rendition of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". Everything is logically sequenced to resemble an actual 1971 Allman Brothers set list with the tight, bluesy stuff coming first, followed by the extended jamming, and this, to me, is the defintive reissue of the Fillmore tapes, better than "The Fillmore Concerts", and much better than the original seven-track LP.

Equipped with excellent liner notes which include a fine essay, this is the one to get. This is one of the greatest "guitar albums" of all time, and the sublime first disc earns it all five stars.

At Filmore East is one of my all time favorite albums, and this deluxe edition does justice to it. As some have said here, there are no new unreleased tracks. There are the original 7 tracks that appeared on the original, 2LP edition that was released back in 1971. Trouble No More, One Way Out, and the monstrous Mountain Jam all appeared on Eat a Peach, and the others appeared on various compliations throughout the years. But here we get to hear all the songs together, which is really cool.

The opener Statesboro Blues, an old Blind Willie McTell song, is an awesome song, a great way to start out this fabled concert album. The monstrous jam You Don't Love Me runs an incredible 19 minutes, and it never gets boring at all. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed is one of the Allman's best songs ever, and there's never been another live version that has topped this one. Whippin' Post is as great as you've heard, and one of the best things about this box set is that you get to hear the concert as it was originally one. At the end of Post, you hear the opening strands of Mountain Jam, but it had originally faded out at the 22:58 minute mark on the original LP. Here, there's no fade out, and Whippin' Post goes right into Mountain Jam, which is incredible to say the least. Essentially, the Allmans jammed for one hour straight, a breathless jam with hardly a quiet moment. Many make hay of the Dead's long jams, but I think the Allman Brothers Band are the best jam band ever, as their jams are much more dynamic and exciting than their contemporaries. Their invention and dynamism never grows old, and you marvel at their creativity.

One might label The Allman Brothers Band Southern Progressive Rock, though I'm not sure. Regardless, this is a truly great album, one of the best rock albums ever, and it never grows old or tired.

I was introduce to the Allman Brothers at an early age, as my parents are hippies. I'm not, though, however, I was lucky to have them as a musical influence on me. This album tops them all in my book. No group will ever be able to compose something like this ever again, and I think its this fact that is leads some people to not like it. The Allman Brothers really set the bar in the early 70's for future bands. They still tour today, but without Berry, Dickie, and most of all the greatest guitarist that ever lived, Duane Allman. Few bands pursue this form of music because no one will ever top the Allman Brothers. I believe people are just jealous and this causes them to not like the Allman Brothers. I don't really blame them. I play slide guitar and I know I'll never come close to playing like Duane, but every time I turn this album on my ears have orgasms. This was the first album my parents gave me, and I plan on giving it to my children as soon as they can comprehend what music is. If you're thinking about buying it, you shouldn't think twice, just do it. You'll thank me later, and probably see me or my parents at the next Allman Brothers concert. Peace.

Despite what some reviewers have said - I think there's nothing wrong with taking the ORIGINAL recordings as they were on the LPs and recreating it in its entirely on a single set collection.
The concerts were originally spread across multiple albums, which was a pain. So it's good to to have them all together.
If you had to have ONE Allman Brothers recording, this is the one to have. Along with the Rolling Stones "Get Your Ya Yas" and Cream's "Wheels of Fire" - this has to stand as one of best live recordings of the 20th century.
After that, buy the 2CD "Gold" Anthology OR get ALL the first 5 albums (this is #3). (Note: you can acutally get the first two albums on a single disc called "Beginings" which may be cheaper than buying 'the Allman Brothers Band' and 'Idelwild South' separately - but you miss out on the nude pics in the first LP, ha, ha...)
There is another version of the Fillmore Concerts, a remixed version (missing "Midnight Rider") and you can toss a coin as to which one you prefer - they are both worthy.
This version has a slightly more raw sound and the guitars are up in the mix a bit.
Me, I love the screaming at the end when they were yellling "Whipping Post" - and wish I'd been there. Duane Allman was a *genius* player.

It's pretty simple, really. The Allman Brothers Band was one of the greatest live bands ever, and this recording best shows what they could do. The sound quality is superb, the artwork, liner notes, packaging, etc. are all great. And this "deluxe" package enhances the original version. Honestly, if you enjoy live music and great musicianship, this is an album you should have.

Can't really add much to the other reviews except that if you do not have this album, you do not have a record collection.