Telepathically Executed At Fillmore East Among Ten-Best Live Records Ever Made: Includes Epic Takes of ''Whipping Post'' and ''In Memory of Elizabeth Reed''
Peerless Sonics: Tremendous-Sounding Mobile Fidelity 180g Vinyl 2LP and SACD Editions Provide Fifth-Row Seat to Historic March 1971 Concerts
Ranked #49 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time List
Fillmore East is synonymous with some of the greatest concerts ever staged. Yet the venue belongs to one group: The Allman Brothers Band. This groundbreaking double album is why. At Fillmore East broadcasts to the world wowing improvisational flights and seamless musical fusion the likes of which no one had ever heard. In communion with the crowd, the band establishes an interactive blueprint for all shows that followed, while its high-wire displays of powerhouse soloing and time-stretching arrangements remain the stuff of hall-of-fame legend. Achieved via a combination of virtuosic skill, visionary ambition, and natural chemistry, the sextet's performances burn white-hot with intensity and persuade via a padlock-tight rhythm section on which Duane Allman's searing slide playing and brother Gregg's bottom-of-the-stomach vocals glide. Each member coaxes on their respective mates to strive for new heights.
No prior version of the record possesses the audiophile sensibilities found on Mobile Fidelity's 180g 2LP and SACD reissues sonic traits that whisk listeners to the midst of the Fillmore East for four gigs performed on March 12 and 13, 1971, plunking them down in a fifth-row seat surrounded by fervent fans and a smoke-filled atmosphere. Every slippery bottleneck note, every aching vocal moan, every soulful organ run, every gritty interlocking riff comes across with unfettered clarity and realism. Add to this Jim Marshall's photography, and you have a record so steeped in lore, it's almost myth. But it's real. And oh, how glorious it sounds now.