Review #105: At Fillmore East, Allman Brothers Band
#105: At Fillmore East, Allman Brothers Band.
Continuing with our Tour of Musical Deaths: Three months after this album was released, Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident at age 24, according to the RS blurb.
I watched Almost Famous recently, which is Cameron Crowe’s fictionalized movie about his life as a teenage Rolling Stone reporter. Much of the movie is about his experiences touring with the Allman Brothers Band for his first Rolling Stone cover story, which is so cool and makes me so stupidly jealous that I have to move on right now.
Anyway, the lead singer character who bares his soul to the teenage reporter is mostly based on Gregg Allman, who I guess was really open with Cameron Crowe about Duane’s death. (This album was released in 1971, the same year that Duane Allman died. Crowe’s cover story was put out in 1973.)
Also, I was informed that Gregg Allman was married to Cher for ten whole days! I love when people are able to cross genre lines.
FAVORITE SONGS:
“Statesboro Blues” — A Blind Willie McTell cover. I had to look up the lyrics because I was convinced that he was singing “I woke up this morning and half those states turned blue.” (He was not singing that.)
“Stormy Monday” — Q: Is the blues the best kind of music? A: Yes it is.
“You Don’t Love Me” — All of these songs are essentially 20-minute guitar solos, but this was my favorite by far.
“Hot’Lanta” — Tried to play this, fingers fell off.
“Whipping Post” — The beginning of this rocks so hard but the introspective guitar solo at the end GOT me, I guess just because I know he died so soon after this. RIP. :(
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS:
“In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” — Sue me, but I just don’t care about this one. It’s not slow enough to be moving and not fun enough for me to jam to it.
IS RS FULL OF IT?
I’m starting to really love the live albums. This is only our second, after James Brown’s Live at the Apollo (#65). You can just tell how in love the crowd is with the Allman Brothers Band. This is definitely one of the greatest albums of all time.
