Bear’s Sonic Journals: Live at the Fillmore East, February 1970 - Part II: 2/11/70

Okay, so this show is pure fire. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Statesboro Blues, Trouble No More, Hoochie Coochie Man, and Mountain Jam are all unrelenting master classes - Mountain Jam is sadly cut (remember the tape flip?) - but what’s here is magic. Having the unfiltered live tapes here shows some long delays between songs, but the second they hit it’s an onslaught, and in a great way. Nearly every moment of this is killer.

Wait until you get to the ‘71 Fillmore East shows…

Maybe the single most talented American band to ever play.

Bear’s Sonic Journals: Live at the Fillmore, February, 1970 - Part III: 2/13/70

The portion of the second show on this run is represented by three songs: a tremendous In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, the straight blues of Outskirts of Town which is missing the end due to a reel change, and the last 18 minutes or so of Mountain Jam, presumably from the reel change. What’s here is great. The band has a ton of energy though I liked what I heard from the first show a bit more.

Bear’s Sonic Journals: Live at the Fillmore, February, 1970 - Part IV: 2/14/70

On this one, we seem to get much of the show, and a lot of this I remember from the compilation and with good reason. This performance is full of big raw energy, with Hoochie Coochie Man and Whipping Post examples of pure raw energy. Mountain Jam here is really long, 30 minutes and that is with a reel change in the middle. Really that is the most spotty of the run because there are more lulls in its execution than anywhere else in the three nights of music represented in this total release, but the highs are really quite high so the investment is worth it.

Yeah I am excited. I have heard At the Fillmore plenty of times but plan to dive for the first time into the shows themselves.

You’ll figure out pretty quickly which show supplied which song for the album.

Hmm…Certainly they are in the conversation.

Depends on how we’re qualifying “talent.” Other candidates would include:

Zappa + Mothers
Creedence
James Brown (Famous Flames)
Miles Davis
Herbie + Headhunters

These are just odd the top of my head and I’m sure there are others. But it’s an interesting question and Allmans are totally viable candidates

There are many candidates, but they are definitely in the conversation. Certainly one of the greatest live bands.

The live stuff you’re listening to now is really almost embryonic compared to where some of the tunes end up over the next year and a half. Hell, in 5-6 months there’s incredible growth. I hope the Atlanta Pop Festival shows from ‘70 are on your list. Some incredible stuff.

Getting to the end of Ludlow Garage then Atlanta Pop- that’s basically a preview of where this seems to be going…from raw to perfected and very quickly.

Ludlow’s Garage is good. So you’re going thru the official vault releases then. Good deal. Where in the timeline is the second album? I know they were playing a handful of the tunes before the album came out. Hell, before even the first album came out in some cases.

Ludlow Garage, then Atlanta Pop, then Idlewild South…

Wow. It’s hard to believe they’re out there playing like this, THEN they record and put out the second album. After the live stuff you’re listening to, the studio cuts are gonna be a bit of a disappointment.

Live at Ludlow Garage 1970

Fast forward 2 months from the Fillmore East and this shows a band very quickly growing into a smoother band. Nearly everything here tops the Fillmore, with Outskirts of Town particularly amazing in its progression from what they were playing in February (we’re up to April 1970). It also helps that the set expands by nearly double, with the last full hour without a single vocal (15 blazing minutes or Elizabeth Reed followed by a 45 min Mountain Jam that builds into an all timer - even if 10 minutes of bass and drum gets a bit tedious). Dimples sounds really great here, and the songs in the set that have been there all along really show new energy as they develop. Great release!

Any shot anyone can pm me a link to the Ludlow garage show

Outskirts of Town is really great. But then it kinda becomes something else with Stormy Monday later. I’d like to have asked them about the change.

And Duane singing Dimples is great. Jack Pearson sang it when he was with them.

I’m listening to all of this via Spotify.

As an aside, I finally pulled the trigger to see Trouble No More on November 11th https://www.thecapitoltheatre.com/event ... vz9urzu7rw

I trust it will be a fun night!

Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival - Part I: 7/3/70

As we continue to journey through the Duane Allman years at a purposefully snail’s pace, we find this band continuing to gel and improve. Day/night 1 here is them in full well-oiled machine mode - the solos are breathtaking- particularly on Whipping Post. The blast out the gate is Statesboro Blues and Trouble No More is just so good. Mountain Jam, while comparatively reasonable in length, is quite good. Elizabeth Reed amazing as always. Perfect music for this unending heat wave.

I’m listening to that right now as a matter of fact…