Classic Live Albums 1970-1971: Leeds, The Fillmore and More

Second instalment of the Live Albums journey. 1970-1971 was, in my view, when Rock and Roll moved to a different level. 1971 in fact is documented in David Hepworth's recent book '1971 - Never A Dull Moment' as the most fertile year of the Rock era. By coincidence, most of these albums are recorded at the Fillmore East in New York. There were a couple in the first post too. Here's what will be covered:

Live At Leeds - The Who - Feb-70

Mad Dogs and Englishmen - Joe Cocker - Mar-70

Live Johnny Winter - Johnny Winter - Nov-70

At Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers - Mar-71

Rockin' The Fillmore - Humble Pie - May-71

Live Fillmore East 1971 - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - Jun-71

Fillmore: The Last Days - Various - Jun-71

Rock Of Ages - The Band - Dec-71

So first, the small matter of the greatest live album ever (according to some people)...

Live At Leeds
February 1970
The Who

Cards on the table, it IS a great live album, but it's status is just a little besmirched by the fact that it was taken from a concert specifically set up to produce a live album. That fact then makes you wonder what the audience were told or expected and whether their behaviour would have been different otherwise. I say this because although you wouldn't say they are muted, they do seem slightly...respectful? It's The Who's usual mix of moderately off-colour end-of-the-pier seaside postcard ribaldry and one or two moments that raise a questioning eyebrow for the modern ear (does that make sense or am I mixing up my facial features too much?). It is very much like you are on stage with them, every instrument is present and correct and clearly delineated, however apparently there were some problems with Entwistle's bass, and the subsequent recording at Hull was used to paper over some cracks. But these are just quibbles really. The musicianship and the force of Daltrey's singing are phenomenal. Moon's drumming is complex and precise and Entwistle's bass is intricate. The original release looks shockingly short considering it's reputation. 'Young Man Blues', 'Substitute', 'Summertime Blues' and 'Shakin' All Over' on Side 1 and extended version of 'My Generation' and 'Magic Bus' on Side 2. I therefore focused on the 25th Anniversary Reissue which has all these but quite a bit more besides. There's a 'Deluxe' edition too (of course) which includes a full rendition of Tommy. On this one, 'Substitute' forms the first part of a kind of medley with 'Happy Jack' and 'I'm A Boy'. This last is particularly good and although I already knew it well, this time around it reminded me in tone of Johnny Cash's 'A Boy Named Sue', as a parable of the reverse psychology of feminizing boys to toughen them up. Daltrey sounds like he's fuming about the whole thing throughout. The only listed parts of Tommy on the 1995 reissue is 'Amazing Journey/Sparks' (although they do chuck in additional bits in the extended 'My Generation'), which is great for me as I think it's probably my favourite bits of one of my favourite albums. The change of pace halfway through into the instrumental part  is like bursting out of deep water into fresh air. The inclusion of 'Summertime Blues' and 'Shakin All Over', whilst firmly established as part of the Who standard set, seems moderately strange (given the tracklist of the original issue), since they are covers, and the Who had no problem producing top notch material of their own. Having said that, they make 'Summertime Blues' in particular completely their own and there's a weirdly fascinating not-quite-jarring synchopation between Moon's drums and Entwistle's and Townshend's guitars on the Johnny Kidd cover. As already noted, 'My Generation' is more of a launching pad for a greatest hits medley. The brown paper packaging and ink-stamp is supposed to suggest a bootleg, which it simply is not in any way.

Band Bantz: Townshend does most of the talking. On the intro to 'A Quick One While He's Away' Pete sounds a bit apologetic about the dodgy nature of the subject matter, while Moon provides some lascivious double entendres around the whole 'Ivor The Engine Driver' business. My go-to Who live album back in the day was Whos Last, which if ever an album warranted a question mark, was the one, seeing as it was recorded in 1982 and they are still tottering along to some extent today, but it is noticeable that both Daltrey and Townshend say "we'd like to carry on" on both albums. It always seemed to me a funny way to move the show along, I mean, what's the alternative? Are they just going to stop for no reason?

Heckles and Coughs: There doesn't seem to be much really. Someone seems quite distressed during the into to 'Magic Bus'

Heaven And Hell

I Can't Explain

Fortune Teller

Tattoo

Young Man Blues

Substitute

Happy Jack

I'm A Boy

A Quick One While He's Away

Amazing Journey/Sparks

Summertime Blues

Shakin' All Over

My Generation

Magic Bus 

Mad Dogs And Englishmen
27-28 March 1970
Joe Cocker

Question. Was Joe Cocker any good? If you read these reviews you may know that I'm not keen on what I perceive as inauthenticity, and Cocker veers perilously close to simply being 'an act'. My opinion is not going to be helped by an intro which involves a vaudevillian fanfare and a mock French announcer. Let me draw a parallel on the basis of just one thing pertaining to Cocker. He's from Sheffield. So are the Human League. In nearly every other aspect they are completely different artists, but to some extent they do share a common background. When you look at their output, for all the clinical, programmed cleanliness of what the HL produced, the material is about them. It's about being in badly decorated, sticky-floored nightclubs in South Yorkshire in the early eighties. It's about dancing badly with your mates around your handbags (if you're a girl at least). How does Cocker's material relate to him and his life experience? Well not in any appreciable way at all I think. His sweaty, histrionic, soul agonizing is rather irritating. Which is not to say he isn't talented or a bad singer, clearly he is, but why is he doing it in the first place? My point is that the Human League showed more 'soul' than Joe Cocker. He reminds me of the guy who ends up lead singer of The Commitments in the movie (who effectively just does an impression of Cocker anyway). It's impressive that he can do it, but ultimately, is that it? Anyway, I suppose I should say something about the album, the highlight for me being, as you may have guessed, something that barely features Cocker, Rita Coolidge singing 'Superstar'. My understanding is that she's not all that well known at this time and is effectively a backing singer, but to return to my previous theme, this is a much more heartfelt and soulful performance of the song than the more famous Carpenter's version, good as that is. This was recorded at the Fillmore East, and so serendipitously fits nicely with most of the rest of the albums covered in this short period.

Band Bantz: He seems a little...preoccupied? Possibly the introduction to 'Let's Get Stoned' is as much a suggestion as an announcement. Leon Russell is there too, introduces Dylan's 'Girl From The North Country' and advises that you shouldn't get hung up about Easter.

Heckles and Coughs: The rabble are pretty much pushed to the back of the mix. Not much of note from them.

Side 1

Introduction

Honky Tonk Women

Sticks and Stones

Cry Me A River

Bird On The Wire

Side 2

Feelin' Alright

Superstar

Let's Go Get Stoned

Side 3

Blue Medley: I'll Drown In My Own Tears/When Something Is Wrong With My Baby/I've Been Loving You Too Long

Girl From The North Country

Give Peace A Chance

Side 4

She Came In Through the Bathroom Window

Space Captain

The Letter

Delta Lady

Live Johnny Winter And

November 1970

Johnny Winter

Blood-dee Nora! He's committed isn't he? Kind of like what George Thorogood and the Destroyers could have been if they'd really put their backs into it. This is ferocious, mad, bad blues. There's not much on it and most of the tracks are early rock and roll standards, including a medley of 'Great Balls Of Fire', 'Long Tall Sally' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On' and a crazed version of Johnny B Goode - a song that has a baseline level of insanity that gives Winter plenty of theme to develop. There's a frenetic Mean Town Blues and a cover of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' that puts Mick and Keef to shame for being guilty of not quite realising the potential of the song. It seems entirely likely that Johnny Winter really was born in a crossfire hurricane and never quite got the storm out of his soul. Underneath it all is hard, rapid virtuoso guitar playing. The interplay between Winter and his guitar partner Rick Derringer is extraordinary on 'Mean Town Blues'. It's possible that you probably need to go no further than 'Johnny B Goode' for the greatest rock song of all time. Winter bawls "Rock and Roll!" at the start and then proceeds to tear it up at ninety miles per hour. I've listened to a lot of live albums recently but this is one where I wish I'd been there (although I'd have had to travel to both New York City and Florida). It must have been terrifying and uplifting in equal measure to see him 

Band Bantz: During Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On, Winter strongly suggests that he would like to see the audience shaking. The impression is that everyone had best get vibrating, since Johnny is quite clear that he will not accept any half measures, and no slacking at the back. No polaroid pictures here thanks. 

Heckles and Coughs: They just obey Johnny in whatever he tells them to do, possibly in fear of their mortal souls if they do not.

Good Morning Little School Girl

It's My Own Fault

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Rock And Roll Medley

Mean Town Blues

Johnny B Goode

At Fillmore East

March 12-13th 1971

The Allman Brothers Band

In this game, you end up listening to a lot of white guys playing the blues. Far more than you do black guys playing the blues, because they seem to have got over it all, moved on and concentrated on integrating the much more interesting 'rhythm and' into their music. Alas, for me, the Allman Brothers only barely butter my parsnips. They're OK. Competent. Skilled even. But they are rather dull too. Johnny Winter left me scared for the audience's safety, but I think there isn't much to worry about for the Fillmore crowd here, they'll be fine. And the songs are loooong. It's a double album but they max out at three tracks on Side 1 before filling Side 2 with 'You Don't Love Me' and Side 4 with 'Whipping Post'. Even Side 3 only manages two tracks - 'Hot Lanta' and 'In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed'.  To my original point, when you start encountering quite so many bands who want to indulge in extended blues riffs, you start to try and work out what, if anything, sets them apart. For the Allman Brothers it's a clean, picked sound, with a fairly heavy reliance on Gregg Allman's organ playing. And also, I guess, their USP was intricate, extended jams - even more than the rest. The closing part of 'You Don't Love Me' includes a brief snatch of 'Joy To The World' which baffled me, since it's not a Christmas gig. The band are best known in the UK for providing the theme tune to middle-aged-men-and-cars TV behemoth Top Gear, with 'Jessica', which isn't on this, although on 'Whipping Post' there's an arpeggio-ish section which is very reminiscent of the closing part of it.This album appears to have a great reputation, but maybe it is a little enhanced by the off-stage events later in the year around drug addictions and motorcycle/broken heart deaths.

Band Bantz: The paying guests are clearly not to be engaged with, lest it detracts from concentrating on all the twiddling. They do announce 'In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed' and 'Whipping Post'.

Heckles And Coughs: Approval is expressed at the prospect of 23+ minutes of 'Whipping Post'. It takes all sorts.

Side 1

Statesboro Blues

Done Somebody Wrong

Stormy Monday

Side 2

You Don't Love Me

Side 3

Hot Lanta

In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed

Side 4

Whipping Post

Performance: Rockin' The Fillmore

28th -29th May 1971

Humble Pie

In a previous life, Steve Marriott had sung "Oh wouldn't it be nice, to get on with me neighbours". Well if he was making a racket like this it's no wonder that next door were banging on the party wall. Humble Pie are something that should strike fear and dread into the heart of any rock fan - A Supergroup. Which basically means a coming together of a set of artists who have had previous success under a different name (see also Cream, Electronic and errm McBusted?). They're only any good if they are a reasonably serious proposition. Marriages of commercial convenience tend to promise more than they can deliver. So Humble Pie brings together Marriott, Frampton and Greg Ridley, a previous member of that epitome of not-quite-obscure-but-somehow-laughable-groups-with-stupid-names Spooky Tooth. There is also rookie drummer Jerry Shirley. Anyway, this is a lot of fun. Marriott's vocals approach Plant-like squealing levels and the style is full-on, fuzzy guitar rock. There are elements of what would become grunge and there's a touch of the 'Born To Be Wild' riff in 'Stone Cold Fever'. 'Rollin' Stone' suddenly shifts gear at the end into some extraordinary guitar pyrothechnics, and if you like Alice Cooper, you'll love 'I Don't Need No Doctor'.

Band Bantz: Oh dear. Marriott's Essex squawk just doesn't quite seem to fit with the setting, but I shouldn't criticize, there's no mid-Atlantic corruption to his spoken delivery whatsoever (the singing is a different matter). The choicest moment is when he tells the crowd: "We go 'ome on Munndy, But I wanna tell ya we ain't 'alf had a GAS this time, it's really been a GAS". It's almost as if he's been told he has to say 'gas' as some kind of code word and therefore must state it loudly, clearly and repeatedly. At the start of 'I'm Ready', he checks if the audience have also achieved preparedness for what is to come (he claims it's a long one, but at only 8:31, the likes of the Allman Brothers and the Dead would probably cock a snook) but he kind of sings his way through it, Southern Preacher style. He specifically addresses "All you people. Behind the glass plate. At the back of the hall", which raises a whole raft of questions.

Heckles And Coughs: Audience participation is definitely encouraged. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if Marriott wheeled on a giant lyric sheet to help them along, while he pointed with a long stick. Luckily the words aren't demanding, so all they have to shout out is 'Rollin' Stone' - and even then some geezer goes far too early. This is in fact the difference between Humble Pie and the last featured artist. They too do not shy away from vinyl-side hogging pieces like 'I Walk On Gilded Splinters' at 23 odd minutes, but the audience are expected to get involved and, you know, enjoy themselves.

Side 1

Four Day Creep

I'm Ready

Stone Cold Fever

Side 2

I Walk On Gilded Splinters

Side 3

Rollin' Stone

Side 4

Hallelujah (I Love Her So)

I Don't Need No Doctor

LIVE FILLMORE EAST 1971

June 5-6 1971

Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention

Now I'm not daft, so I realized that this one would probably require an early start in the week in order to get to grips with it. Therefore I cleared the decks on Tuesday (away to the backburner Ringo The Fourth!) and called it up on Spotify. I should have read up on it much sooner as well, because by Friday morning I was kind of frustrated with it. Zappa is a byword for being weird, a good dollop of depravity and, yes, zaniness, but I was beginning to find it all quite tedious. It's possible that repeated listening is not the best approach. Anyway the impression I was taking away is that the 'comedy' is all a bit forced and goes beyond tasteless to downright misogynistic. However, it DID grow on me and once you realise that whilst being a live album, it's also something of a concept album then it begins to make more sense (to some extent). Anyway the 'story' covers the exploits of a rock band on the road, with reference to 'real' contemporary events. Many people who regularly read these posts and comment on them will know the story behind the mudshark, Vanilla Fudge and John Bonham. I didn't and I wish I still didn't. If you don't know it, don't look it up, you'll regret it (don't throw me in that briar patch Brer Fox). Anyway, it fascinated Frank and the Mothers enough to turn it into a song as part of this. Alas I have to admit that I enjoyed this most when they were playing it straight. The closing cover of The Turtles 'Happy Together' is great and the encores are good too. As for the rest, I'm tempted to say you probably had to be there, I reckon that there's a lot of visual stuff going on that doesn't translate to the recording. Oh, and Frank (or somebody) sometimes sounds like Axl Rose

Band Bantz: It's almost ALL Band Bantz, especially the portrayal of the groupies in 'What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are'  and 'Do You Like My New Car?'. More of an extended comedy sketch than a musical performance.

Heckles And Coughs: Nothing significant, but they enjoy it.

Side 1

Little House I Used To Live In

The Mud Shark

What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are

Bwana Dik

Latex Solar Beef

Willie The Pimp (pt 1)

Side 2

Willie The Pimp (pt 2)

Do You Like My New Car?

Happy Together

Lonesome Electric Turkey

Peaches En Regalia

Tears Began To Fall

FILLMORE: THE LAST DAYS

June 29th to July 4th 1971

Various Artists

Or more accurately "Bill Graham Presents In San Francisco - Fillmore: The Last Days". Various Artists albums present their own set of challenges, and in this case I'm guessing that nothing here is particularly representative of where each artist was on their career arc. Also, as a whole, there is no story to tell about the contributors, it's about the event, and it's place in history. Just like Monterey in part one in fact. As a result, this washed over me. I enjoyed it and I really got a sense of time and place from it. At this point it is worth reflecting on everything that has gone before in this section, every performance except The Who has come from the Fillmore East in New York City. This is the last days of the Fillmore West in the San Fancisco Bay area. It took me a while to figure out the whole Fillmore arrangement actually. For some time I kind of assumed that both were in New York, one on the West Side and one on the East Side, but eventually I got round to looking it all up and getting it sorted in my head. It's interesting to compare this to the Fillmore East performances and the cliches about the different characters of the two cities do seem to come through. The East performances have been spiky and risky, even Zappa, despite his association (in my mind at least) with California, whereas this is much more laid back. The atmosphere around these performances is also tinged with the knowledge that the venue was closing down - however this seems to have resulted in more joy rather than less. I'm hard pressed to pick anything out for particular attention. The closing jams could have been tedious but everyone is enjoying it so much that I'm not going to play the churl. Of course our old friends The Grateful Dead put in an appearance so I won't resist the opportunity for a gentle dig. Their version of Johnny B. Goode is about half a step off the pace, and making another direct comparison with the Fillmore East, Johnny Winter's wins for me every time.

Band Bantz: There's plenty of comment on the imminent closure, bit only to acknowledge that everyone seems determined to put a positive gloss on it. The opening introduction by John Walker does give the impression that a local down-and-out has stumbled on stage and is rambling on about something or other. 

Heckles and Coughs: The crowd are 'up for it', so to speak. Everyone is here to have a good time and give the place a fitting send off.

Side 1

Hello - John Walker

Hello Friends - Lamb

So Fine - Elvin Bishop Group

Party Till The Cows Come Home - Elvin Bishop Group

Pana - Malo

Side 2

Poppa Can Play - The Sons Of Champlin

White Bird - It's A Beautiful Day

Fresh Air - Quicksilver Messenger Service

Mojo - Quicksilver Messenger Service

Side 3

Introduction - Bill Graham

Back On The Streets Again - Tower Of Power

Baby's Callin' Me Home - Boz Scaggs

I Just Wanna Make Love To You - Cold Blood

Side 4

Passion Flower - Stoneground

Henry - New Riders Of The Purple Sage

Casey Jones - Grateful Dead

Johnny B. Goode - Grateful Dead

Side 5

Introduction - Bill Graham

Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burnin' - Hot Tuna

Incident  At Nashabur - Santana

In A Silent Way - Santana

Side 6

Jam Session: We Gonna Rock - Taj Mahal, Elvin Bishop, Boz Scaggs and Friends

Jam Session: Long And Tall - Taj Mahal, Elvin Bishop, Boz Scaggs and Friends

Final Night Jam Session - Nigle Noble

ROCK OF AGES

December 28-31 1971

The Band

In the beginning there was Ronnie Hawkins, who gathered about him members of the tribe of the Levonites and the tribe of the Mohawks and called them the Hawks. But then Bob rose up and appeared to many and sayeth unto the Hawks, 'Verily, Ye must come and be my backing band now'. And because everything about the Lord Bob was completely definitive, the Hawks became just 'The Band', causing much confusion in the far future when the need for 'a disambiguated Google search' had not occurred to any of the prophets. But eventually The Band went forth into the world of men and created their own music. And the world saw that it was good. And then The Band founded a new movement which they called 'Americana'. Now Americana was a double-edged sword, for whilst the followers of the true path, such as The Band themselves and the disciple Tom-who-Waits made good stuff, it also gave rise to the utterly dull and pointless Eagles. And so it was with much irony that the Hawks begat the Eagles.

So I enjoyed this quite a lot.  It's proper songs. STORY songs. And nothing too long and drawn-out either. It also has an added patina of quality in that a set of top-notch New York jazz musicians (including 'Snooky' Young and Earl McIntyre - they don't make em like that any more) make up the horn section, and the extra dimension added is well worth it. The melancholy and traditional air that this adds to all the songs really helps define that Americana tag. I can't really pick out too much for special attention, but 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' deserves a blog post in its own right (and believe me, there are several such). In the current age it’s a compelling and confusing song. Riddled with contradictions. Written from the point of view of a defeated Confederate soldier by a Canadian of native American Mohawk descent, it is mournful and sentimental whilst being non-judgmental about the reasons behind the American Civil War. Levon Helm was the only band member from the South (Arkansas) and so he provides the authentic vocal. With recent debates about tearing down statues, it provides another point of view I guess. I'm sure it has been misappropriated at some point (some even accuse Joan Baez of treating it a bit shoddily), but it's hard not to love it, of only for the feeling that it might actually date back to 1865. There's also 'This Wheel's On Fire', which to my shame I didn't realize was a Dylan/Danko composition. For me, Julie Driscoll is definitive. I understand that 'The Genetic Method' and 'Chest Fever' are important parts of Band lore, but I could have done without it, not least because Garth Hudson incorporates the tune to Auld Lang Syne since it was recorded on December 31st. In my childhood the correct words, as written by Burns were drilled into me by my Lochaber-raised father and his ex-pat cronies, and so the almost-always-heard 'for the sake of' is guaranteed to drive me up the wall. 

Band Bantz: We appear to come in mid-way through, but maybe not, as the horns are introduced as 'trying something we've never done before' 

Heckles And Coughs: Some indistinct requests, which may or may not have been responded to. The audience are quite respectful, there's that applause-after-the-first-line thing

Side 1

Introduction

Don't Do It

King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Caledonia Mission

Get Up Jake

W.S.Walcott Medicine Show

Side 2

Stage Fright

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Across The Great Divide

This Wheel's On Fire

Rag Mama Rag

Side 3

The Weight

The Shape I'm In

The Unfaithful Servant

Life Is A Carnival

Side 4

The Genetic Method

Chest Fever

(I Don't Want To) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes