Allman Brothers Band 50th Anniversary Continues With ‘Fillmore West ’71’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Just two months before their iconic At Fillmore East, The Allman Brothers Band were at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West for an epic weekend, as the middle act between headliners Hot Tuna and the 24-piece opener Trinidad Tripoli Street band. The cover depicts a never seen photo of Duane Allman taken at these shows, from the legendary photographer, Jim Marshall. These recordings are being issued for the first time and any time there’s an opportunity to hear more of Duane Allman and this edition of the ABB, it’s more than worth a listen. Yes, these are the same tunes on the east coast Fillmore album, perhaps a bit more ragged, as the band was shaping their sound but there’s a pulsating energy and spontaneity across these four CDs that’s very bit as good, at times better than the versions of these tunes that are burned into our collective consciousness. Gregg Allman sings with so much unbridled passion that that alone is worth the listen while, of course, Duane and Dickey added down and dirty licks. These were young cats playing freely and establishing themselves.

Compiled from reel-to-reel soundboard masters, the January 29 show that kicks it off reads like an Allman Brothers Band greatest hits from their first two studio albums, from opener “Statesboro Blues” through an 11 minute version of “Dreams” to the set-wrapping “Whipping Post.” On the next night, the standard sequence of “Statesboro Blues,” Trouble No More,” “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin'” and “Elizabeth Reed” was typically riveting, and then the slow simmering “Stormy Monday” was worked in, replacing “Midnight Rider.” This “You Don’t Love Me” has even more improvisational moments than the familiar one while a rollicking “Whipping Post” closes it out. The band–Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Jaimoe, Berry Oakley and Butch Trucks – demonstrates palpable chemistry, a relaxed rapport with the audience, and telepathic jazz-like moments.

Those same qualities were apparent on January 31st too, with even more intensity. After cruising tightly through the reliable first four, the ABB placed a shorter “Midnight Rider” back into the rotation, and then Berry Oakley delivered his burning take on “Hoochie Coochie Man,” with Jaimoe and Butch churning full-bore behind him. After an extensive work out on “You Don’t Love Me,” the group worked in the new “Hot ‘Lanta.” Conceived out of a loose jam at the Big House in Macon, GA, the band’s home base currently an ABB museum, this group composition was cutting-edge fusion. A superior “Whipping Post” concludes the Fillmore West material, but Disc Four goes on to include a wonderful, meandering, filled with combustible soloing, March1970 45-miinute, vastly different, more improvised version of “Mountain Jam” (with a long duel drum/percussion sequence) from the Warehouse in New Orleans. Yes, you’ve heard all this material before, but aficionados will still delight in the improvisational moments and fiery performances.

Kirk West–who served as the “Tour Mystic” and official archivist for the Allman Brothers Band for over 20 years–played a pivotal role in re-acquiring the original live performance two-track, reel-to-reel tapes used for this release from legendary band crew members Twiggs Lyndon, Joe Dan Petty and Mike Callahan, who were the original caretakers of these recordings. The tapes had been stored in closets and attics for many years, necessitating careful transfers and several successive attempts at restoration, as technology continued to improve. Interestingly in 1971, however, Kirk was a 20-year-old counterculture entrepreneur who found himself at the Fillmore West during the last four days of January. “I was living in Palo Alto with a bunch of hippie kids who, by and large, were Dead Heads. I had moved to California from Chicago, and I already was a big Allman Brothers fan,” recalls West. “I was insisting that everyone in the house go up to the Fillmore that weekend – ‘Let’s go, let’s go – the Brothers are in town, playing with Hot effin’ Tuna.”

ABB historian John Lynskey wrote the liners, quoting West in two memorable places. He talks about the poster – “As he left one night, West was handed the event poster for the run, and as he relates, “That poster has hung on the wall of every apartment or house I have lived in since., and it has the thumbtack holes to prove it! It has been with me for 47 years, and it’s still in my home today. Commenting on the shows themselves, West says, “The music would draw you to the stage, and then push you to the corner of the room. It would exhaust you, and, at one point, I ended up laying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, watching the light show, absorbed in what was happening.” This writer, who was at the Fillmore East shows, can recall similar reactions.