Allman Brothers Band: Fillmore East

In1970 it's a veritable chasm that separates the Allman Brothers live and the Allman brothers in studio. And no one is doubting that, for the proof is how their first 2 LP's had been gently shun, while the same public reserved them special ovations at every festivals. But realizing (at last) his own skill, Duane Allman, who by now had been nicknamed "skydog" decided to realize his own dream, and tried the double live album adventure...

Naturally, for that project, the band will choose the prestigious Fillmore east of New York; the public was hip, certain musicians had played there with the legendary 0tis Redding, and Bill Graham, (the owner of that place) had always shown a total support to The Allman broz.

That mythical album was recorded on march 12 and 13 (Friday and Saturday) two shows Per night, and the Allman brother Band had never played so well.

A quick check to the Atlantic records studios just to hear the master tapes will put the band into an ecstatic state of joy; THIS WAS IT ! collective improvisations, great slides And bottlenecks parts, everything seemed to have been immortalized by Tom Dowd's 16 tracks.

For years to come, fans, students, amateurs musicians will be stunned by that musical fury and the incredible performance by those six musicians; their synchronism, almost a telepathic exchange between them all.

And yet, the arrangements, are exactly the same than the studios versions; but for those two nights, the Allman had played a rock blues with such a grace, and expertice that still challenges time.

Jaimao and Butch, the 2 drummers lead the Allman's machine with the perfect assurance of 2 truckers. Duane plays his fat bottlenecks licks with a total trust of himself. One proof is this unforgettable version of Stratosboro Blues that will open the feast. The second track, is a cover from a classic by Elmore James Done Something Wrong Thom Doucette's harmonica leads the first solo followed by a memorable break by Dickey Bretts that'll be met with an hysterical downpour of notes by Duane and his enlightened slide work.

Has he had completely overused the traditional approach by bluesmen like Elmore James and Robert Johnson notably, Duane Allman, tried to imagine what those legendary musicians would have done in a context more rocknroll.

Comes the standard blues Stormy Mondays a track that's been popularized by Bobby Bland by the end of the sixties. Gregg's voice is truly superb on it. And You Don?t Love Me is the bridge between the old Allman style and the changes to come; for the first six minutes, the band will play a collective solo before giving way to Duane and his Les Paul

ALL NIGHT LONG ! that?s the cheering and screaming from someone in the audience, and it sounds that's what the sky dog wants to do. 20 minutes later, the message is clear; not only happy to revive an old blues, the Allman had given it a new life and a new significance; they had reconstituted it.

Hot Lanta was an instrumental intended for the bassist. Where most of the rock bassists would have been happy to impose a two notes thing on it, the very energetic Berry 0akley, will offer a different perspective with the long neck of his bass; an unusual exploration of the scale. (he had started his career on guitar before switching to bass)

The crowd seemed to be flabbergasted by the effect that wonderfull music had on them. Even today, the auditor can clearly hear (on vinyl) the aaaah coming from a collective surprise at the end of Hot Lanta just before a very huge ovation

But the best is still to come?in those days, the Allman where still working on their masterpiece In Memory 0f Elizabeth Reed a Dickey Bretts composition, and again, Duane is particularly brilliant and many biographers will agree that that particular moment could have been the pick of Duane's carrer.

Side four of the double vinyl, is occupied by a little track from their first album Whipping Post and that will last for 22 minutes here: 22 minutes of intensive fury and Gregg sang like if his own life was on the line.

The continuity (and the end) of that anthological concert will be heard in the double posthum album 'Eat A Peach'

Today, Universal reconstituted the concert and propose a longer version in their deluxe edition with 2 titles added but hang on: from concerts recorded in.june! Now, that's a very strange initiative, and it seems to me that it certainly won't be able to make us forget about the magic produced for those 2 vinyles

The final mix is supervised by Tom Dowd himself, whom we have heard more inspired. Strangely enough, all the Duane interventions have been changed, tempered with, doctored even, as the volume had been lowered, and oh sacrilege! the ?Elisabeth Reed's solo has been edited ! And Berry 0akley's bass, is no longer the dominant power behind the band, and also the reactions from the audience, have been erased in parts especially when they ask the band to play Whipping Post and this suffice to convice that ?Live At The Fillmore' deserves a better CD treatment.

But to conclude let's go back to 1971 one more time: screams of despair and surprise when the band says his goodbyes. But they didn't know that this was the legendary Fillmore east's last act too... So the crowd wanted more, and it's an exhausted Duane Who'll give a somewhat very touching explanation on the mic;

"Wait ! it's 6 o' clock in the morning! And we've recorded it all! And you're in it and we're in it, and that will be our third album. Thank you ..."

Tired but happy, the guitarist leaves the stage. Less than 6 months later, he will leave this world, as he was run over by a truck while he was driving his Harley Davidson on a little road in the state of Georgia on 0ct 29 1971 ... R.I.P Duane.

Just after Duane's death, the album was made gold, and now it's been given an award at the classical rock album hall of fame.

To conclude, "Live At The Fillmore" influenced alot of southern bands ( the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd) and many of them came to life because of it, if there is an ultimate influential album, it's got to be the one, and many agree on the fact that it's the greatest rock live performance ever recorded on vinyl.