Live at the Fillmore [Live]

Derek & The Dominos | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 22, 1994)
• Original Release Date: February 22, 1994
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Polydor / Umgd
• ASIN: B000001E3V
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,305 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jamming hard at the Fillmore just like the Allmans, September 9, 2001

By 

Barry Smith (Plainview, New York United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Live at the Fillmore (Audio CD)

Derek & The Dominoes was one of rock's first jam bands. Whereas their classic album LAYLA (1970) can be best remembered as the prime mixing of the blues and dual rock lead guitar, IN CONCERT is the testament of their impressive jamming abilities. They were associated with the Allman Brothers Band due to Duane Allman's crucial contributions on the Layla CD. However, the core quartet(Clapton, Whitlock, Radle & Gordon) were on their own for the subsequent 1970 tour. The Allmans' spirit was certainly there on the concert stage. In 1973, they released the album IN CONCERT, which is the main source of this more recent box set. Although the 1973 release met little fanfare (the band had already broken up 2 years prior), a listen revealed that this album rivaled the intensity and beauty of the Allman's Fillmore East classic album, which was recorded around the same time. Both albums contain extraordinary guitar solos, extemsive drum solos, essential blues reworkings, and plainly intense jamming. In the early '90s, both albums were remixed and similarly repackaged by Polydor: The Allman's FILLMORE CONCERTS and Dominoes' LIVE AT THE FILLMORE. Each box sets contained new liner notes, extra tracks. Everything sounds brilliant in its remastered glory. Eric Clapton and his American bandmates were at the top of their game when they came to the Fillmore in October 1970. This extraordinary box set faithfully preserves the mind-boggling complete live show they presented.
Very few people actually had a chance to attend a Dominoes concert, so this double CD certainly shows the rest of us what it was like.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clapton's Mona Lisa, August 18, 2004

By 

Don Schmittdiel "running_man" (Clinton Twp., MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Fillmore (Audio CD)

If you're reading this review to help you decide whether to purchase this disc, just stop here and buy it. This is the finest live blues/rock album available to man. It was recorded at the peak of Eric Clapton's career, before drugs made a mess of his life, with his best set of songs in hand, at the peak of Rock 'n Roll's most illustrious era. The only drawback is that he isn't playing with the most accomplished bandmates he ever assembled, but when you're competing with the likes of Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, and Steve Winwood, what do you expect?

Six of the tracks included on 'Live At the Fillmore' are the same tracks that were originally made available on vinyl in the early 1970's on the 'In Concert' double-LP. The band played four shows over two nights at the Fillmore East (rumor has it the band was not aware that recordings were being made), so alternate takes of the remaining three songs from 'In Concert', 'Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad', 'Tell the Truth' and 'Let It Rain' are offered on 'Live At the Fillmore'. I assume this was done to protect the integrity of the 'In Concert' discs, which are still highly valued because the concensus is that the takes of these three songs on 'Live At the Fillmore' are of lesser quality. Nothing is wrong with the alternate recordings, but the 'chemistry' seems less vibrant than on 'In Concert'. Small things can be noted, such as Bobby Whitlock's chiming piano on 'Tell the Truth' being much less prominent, but for the most part the discrepencies are intangible, and perhaps a matter of taste. On the upside, the 'Live At the Fillmore' discs offer 4 songs that are not offered on 'In Concert'. One wonders what other gems lie in the vault...

The biggest problem you'll encounter with this two-disc collection is figuring out which one to slide into the player first. Each is a great mix of rock and blues. On disc one we open with the firry 'Got To Get Better In a Little While' and 'Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad'. More than their titles are lengthy, with running times of 13:52 and 14:49 respectively. Needless to say, there is a wealth of wonderful wah-pedal guitar heroics from Clapton on every song. 'Key To the Highway' follows, and along with track 5, a cover of Billy Myles' 'Have You Ever Loved a Woman', wanders into some deep blues territory. The joyously rocking 'Blues Power' adds another 10:31 of serious jamming, and 'Bottle of Red Wine' closes the first disc out on another 'high' note.

Disc two offers more mid-tempo fare, including 'Tell the Truth', 'Roll It Over', and even the encore, 'Crossroads', which Clapton frequently rides like a jet train. The only true blues number is a cover of Jimmy Cox's 'Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out'. 'Little Wing', though a great number, is owned by Jimi Hendrix, and so any cover of that is bound to pale in comparison, and Clapton's does. 'Roll It Over' is bound up in funky sensuality, while in contrast 'Presence of the Lord' is high-minded spirituality. No wonder Eric turned to drugs. An eighteen minute-plus version of 'Let It Rain' completes disc two, with Jim Gordon offering the requisite (given the year was 1970) drum solo. Despite all the great songs included here, 'Let It Rain', which reached number 48 in 1972, is the only charting song (and it obviously wasn't this lengthy version) performed.

Derek and the Domino's were short-lived, offering only two albums in the early 1970's, not including their stints with George Harrison on 'All Things Must Pass' and 'The Concert For Bangla Desh'. Their limited output however is like the flash of a camera. This moment of illumination should not to be missed, as it is the closest thing to perfection a soundboard at a rock concert has ever captured.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very worthwhile, March 28, 2005

By 

Stuart Hartley - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Live at the Fillmore (Audio CD)

What a fine document of Clapton's playing in a live setting this is. Even though Eric seems quite nervous at times, his graceful and fiery playing more than makes up for it. In places, Clapton seems to attack the solos as if his life depended on it.

The rest of the band functions as an incredibly tight unit in places and it makes me wish that Derek and the Dominos had managed to stay together for longer. It makes me wonder how much better the show could have been with a little bit more practice. I think the vocal support given by organist/vocalist Bobby Whitlock is particularly beautiful.

I would say that this is a very worthwhile purchase and just another example of why Eric Clapton is so great.