Arguably the greatest live recording of all time.
"This record was actually selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry as it was deemed “culturally, historically and aesthetically important”."
November 23rd, Good morning Turkey lovers! No better way to raise yourself out of a food coma than with a big dose of loud music to get your Black Friday shopping off to a fast start! And you get a double dose today because it’s “Fantastic-Friday” here on the Live Vinyl Lovefest where I celebrate the greatest live recordings of all time. Thats #GLROAT for all of you hashtag and acronym freaks.
Today I’m pulling out one of the “mack-daddys”. I give you the legendary “The Allman Brothers Band At The Fillmore East”.
This double live album has to go down as one of the all time great live recordings in existence. And that’s not just my opinion. Need proof? No no, nothing to do with the over-hyped / under delivered Rock and Roll Hall of Fame non-sense. This record was actually selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry as it was deemed “culturally, historically and aesthetically important”. Yeah, that'll do.
Now here’s some irony for you. This record was recorded kind of “last minute” over 2 nights in 1971. Both of which the Allman Brothers were the opening act on a 3 act bill. For us that work in the biz … yeah, just think about that for a second and what that must have been like to pull that off in 1971. Not enough for ya? Consider this then, because I still can’t quite get my head wrapped around it. This was a 16 track recording. Yeah, go ahead. Think about it. Two drummers. Do the math. I’ll wait.
But when you have the likes of Tom Dowd overseeing the recording, you got more than a great chance it’s going to sound great and it certainly does in this case.
All in all, this is one of my all time favorite live recordings if for no other reason than because it is truly live. Gregg Allan has always stood by the fact that there were no overdubs on these recordings and no edits short of eliminating Thom Doucette’s harmonica on one song because it “just didn’t fit in the end”.
I actually have multiple copies of this record along with CD versions. i believe there’s even a Quadrophonic mix of the vinyl out there somewhere.
Now, this album is MY JAM for snowboarding. There is just something about this album that works for me on the slopes. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to it while swishing back and forth down the side of a mountain. Mix in a little Grateful Dead and a little Phish to the play list and you have an entire day on the slopes covered.
Credit where credit is certainly due on this one; remote recording by Location Recorders in New York City. Engineered by Aaron Baron and Larry Dahlstrom.
Scovi's advice; record your shows boys and girls … every one of them. You might just catch lightening in a bottle. I think the great live sound engineer Forrest Gump said it best “Recording live music is like a box of chocolates … “