Allman Bros: Ultimate "Fillmore East"

Of the three commercially available versions, which is your favorite of the Allman Bros. classic Fillmore East concerts??

 

To make the results more meaningful, can the question be restricted to either audio quality or musical content?

 

If people want to use that as a basis for their decision, that's fine, but I'm asking more in the general sense (i.e., content). Some may prefer it in its original form, while others might like the remixed and expanded versions.

Personally, I chose the Deluxe Edition because you get everything spread out over two discs with the original mix.

 

How can anyone argue the the "concerts" set is not better re content??? Makes no sense...

 

Maybe because it ISN'T! The newer Deluxe Edition has the original, far superior original mix, the original takes & MORE tracks than the Fillmore Concerts. THIS is how someone can argue this.


BTW, I prefer the DTS version, so I'm TOTALLY nuts!

 

I need to go back and check...but the original issue has more tracks than "Concerts"... I must be totally confused. One thing...to have "One Way Out" on "concerts" is a huge plus for me...

Again, re the mix...I was only commenting on content, not SQ...

 

the Fillmore Concerts is made up of several different performances of each song edited together. It is not just a straight recording of a concert or series of concerts. Has anybody ever listended to "Grayfolded"? This project takes this idea to the extreme (editing together lots of performances of the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star") but it is very up front about what the project is all about. I feel that the Fillmore Concerts is more deceptive in this sense and tries to pass itself off as just an expanded setlist as opposed to a fabricated performance.

 

Larry,

I was confused...I was comparing the original vs the "Concerts" re content...not the Deluxe Edition vs "Concerts"... BTW, I don't own Deluxe, is that one great re SQ? If so, I will buy today...

Bob

 

So is Deluxe the "real deal" vs "Concerts"

 

I believe so, although I only own the original now (I used to own Concerts as well).

 

Well, kinda. It's the best sounding if you are talking redbook CD, but the stereo mix on the SACD of the original album is the best sounding version, period. For content the Deluxe is the most complete. I currently own 1-Quad LP; 2-DTS CD (1 disc version); 3-Fillmore Concerts CD; 4-Deluxe Edition CD; and 5-SACD!

 

Yeah, I have all of these too Larry, except for the Quad LP. I also have the MFSL Gold CD as well. The problem is you have to have them all for one reason or another.

 

That dts CD sure is hard to find now. If I do see it it's in the larger case.

 

I'm working from memory here - - but I believe the liner notes in The Fillmore Concerts indicate that the original album was made up of "edited together" performances (Elizabeth Reed was specifically mentioned IIRC). I also remember, way back in time, when the the original Quad CD-4 album came out (now the "dts disc" mix) - the producer stated in an interview that the reason some performances were so different (the entire intro to You Don't Love Me was mentioned) on the Quad is that they were single performances; the original album had studio work that they couldn't find the multi's for, and there was so little documentation as to which performances were flown in, and where they were flown in, that they just went with what they thought were the single best takes.

My only beef with "Concerts" (despite the mix), is that the liner notes state that the set contains a performance of every single song that was performed at the Fillmore stand. The Deluxe edition managed to find two (or was it three?) more songs from those nights, making the claim on the earlier set an out-and-out lie.

 

It seems to me that the Allman Bros. at Fillmore East is just begging for the box set treatment. They taped early and late shows on both days (now I can't remeber, was it 2 or 3 nights?), so unless someone misplaced the masters, there's a lot of material out there.

At the end of "You Don't Love Me" on the Fillmore album, you can hear another version of "Whipping Post" starting up ... it'd be nice to hear where they took the jam on that one. it would be great to get a 6-disc set of ALL the Fillmore stuff that was taped for that album. Until then, the differences between "The Fillmore Concerts" and the deluxe edition (wasn't there just ONE song added to the deluxe edition?) seem like minor quibbles. Bring on the whole thing!

 

The only song they added on the Deluxe Edition was Midnight Rider, and that was from June 27th. All of the other songs are all from March 12 & 13th, so it was not really an out-and-out lie.

 

I'll go with the deluxe edition. I like the Whipping Post -> Mountain Jam. I consider this definite Allman Brothers music.

 

I enjoy Grayfolded on occasion. It is a technological wonder how they morphed all those "Dark Stars" together. Fun listening.

 

I remember reading that the DTS CD is essentially the quad master tweaked for 5.1 - so if you wanted an approximation of the original quad LP, here you go. Haven't heard the new 5.1 mix, as I don't have SACD capability.

Yeah, I think I've bought this one four or five times myself. This fillmore east thing is like a sickness...but a good one.

 

I prefer the FILLMORE CONCERTS version. The remix opens up the music nicely, especially the drums, and the edits are seamless to my ears.

 

This is true. I just wish they did the same for Eat A Peach!

 

None of the above. Nautilus vinyl for stereo, DTS for quad. Peace Todd.

 

I got the DTS disc via eBay, and it's 4-channel quad, not 5.1. All of the solos during "Whipping Post" are mindblowing in a 4-channel setting, and the way the drums are mixed? Sick, sick, sick, I couldn't help but smile as I was listening to it.

 

Actually, the thing that irritates me is that I read somewhere that the Allman Brothers actually performed at the Fillmore with a horn section. Yet every single version of this album that has ever been released has the horns mixed out. Now perhaps the horns were badly recorded, or perhaps the performance of the horns was sub-par, or perhaps this was simply considered unrepresentative of the original Allman Brothers live sound. But hey, call me crazy, but I'd like to hear something that closely approximates what the audience in the venue actually HEARD. Would it have been too much trouble to release at least one version of these performances with the horns included in the mix?

 

According to Tom Dowd in The Language Of Music documentary film, he talks about how the band were really into it, especially Duane Allman. But Dowd felt that not only didn't it feel right (to him), but they were off-key. He made the suggestion to the band after the set which featured a horn section, that they not include them in future sets. I'm not sure what's truth or not, meaning was there a horn section at all of the Fillmore East sets, or just the first one.

If someone at Universal ever releases a comprehensive box set of everything that was recorded in those series of shows, maybe someone can see what lurks on the multi-tracks.