The Allman Brothers Band are the very best blues-rock group that America has ever produced. There’s nothing even vaguely controversial about that statement. They’re a lean, mean—and very well-rehearsed—music making machine capable of the sort of nearly telepathic improvisations normally only heard from jazz players. There’s a reason why the group’s original bandleader Duane Allman was so often compared to John Coltrane. Their legendary prowess on their instruments, especially in a live setting, made their shows incendiary. At the time that they recorded their Live at Fillmore East in March of 1971, the razor-sharp Allmans had played on the road approximately 300 days in the twelve months immediately prior.

The group’s peak performances tended to be at Bill Graham’s theaters, the Fillmore West in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York’s East Village. The Allmans were sort of the unofficial “house band” at the Fillmores and Graham was wildly enthusiastic about them (as can be heard in recordings of his laudatory onstage introductions of the group). They were stages where the band felt very comfortable. It was only fitting then that the Fillmore East would be seen as the best venue to capture the lightning in a bottle of their shows for an album aiming to showcase what they could do live.

The group scheduled three nights for the recording, two sets per evening, from March 11-13. The first night included a horn section that didn’t work out, but the second and third nights the group was absolutely on fire. It was these four shows, judiciously produced by the great Tom Dowd, that went into the making of the classic Live at Fillmore East, a record that’s on practically every “greatest” album list worth taking seriously.

Below, the Allmans Brothers Band live at the Fillmore East on September 23, 1970. Dig Berry Oakley’s rumbling bass line—one of the most familiar in all of rock music—as “Whipping Post” begins in 11/4 time, almost placing the Allmans—for one song at least—into some sort of quasi Southern-fried prog rock continuum.  The band—Gregg Allman, Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson (with their pal Tom Doucette sitting in on harmonica and percussion) are still young and hungry at this point. They’ve clearly got something to prove—producing full “lift-off” here.
 

 
Our friends at POPMarket would like to give away a vinyl box set of The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings to one lucky Dangerous Minds reader. To enter, type your email in the widget below and hit send. If you’re less than lucky, you can take advantage of their Daily Deal sale event for this release at their website.
 

 
Feast your eyes and ears on The Allmans Brothers Band burning the house down in their indisputable prime, live at the Fillmore East on September 23, 1970. This was about seven months before their classic At Fillmore East live album was recorded there.

This is a pure pleasure, seeing the best blues-rock band America ever produced improvising at their all time peak. “Whipping Post” begins in 11/4 time, almost placing the Allmans—for one song at least—into some sort of quasi Southern-fried Prog Rock continuum. The version that appears on the At Fillmore East album clocked in at a never boring 23-minutes, taking up an entire side, but this blistering, rampage through the song is just eleven and a half minutes long, as if they’re cramming all the energy of their more expansive jams into half the time. The band, still young and hungry at this point—and with something to prove—produce full “lift-off” here.

The group is Gregg Allman, Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson. Their pal Tom Doucette sat in on harmonica and percussion during this set.

“Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’”
“Dreams”
“In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed”
“Whipping Post”

Duane and Dickey Bett’s dueling guitars on “Dreams” is not to be missed, but for fuck’s sake why didn’t the camera operators ever shoot their fingers?!?!
 

 
Anyone who’s ever given Ween’s 1991 album The Pod a good listen is aware that Dean Ween (real name: Mickey Melchiondo) is willing to try pretty much anything on the guitar, a quality that has permitted him to craft some of the most inventive and startling guitar solos of the last twenty-five years. Ween is famous for moving all over the musical map in their songs, and Dean Ween’s evidently endless ability to transform is a good part of the reason why.

Earlier this year Dean Ween appeared on the Internet show Guitar Moves, hosted by Matt Sweeney, and rapped for a while about his influences and revealed a key penis-related trick to being a good guitarist.

Before getting to all the intricacies of major seventh chords and minor sevenths and “F-sharp thirteenths” (!)—this in the process of explaining how he came up with the bed for “Mister Would You Please Help My Pony,” off of 1993’s Chocolate and Cheese—Dean copped to returning to two classic 1970s songs for inspiration over and over again: the Allman Brothers’ “Blue Sky” (guitarist: Dickey Betts) from their 1972 album Eat a Peach and the title song off of Funkadelic’s 1971 album Maggot Brain (guitarist: Eddie Hazel).
 
Allman Brothers Band, “Blue Sky”:

 
Funkadelic, “Maggot Brain”:

 
Ween fans will remember that Dean and Gene Ween (real name: Aaron Freeman) paid tribute to Funkadelic on Chocolate and Cheese in the form of the album’s fifth song, “A Tear for Eddie”—the “Eddie” in question being Eddie Hazel. In the episode of Guitar Moves, Dean also relates the experience of sharing an elevator with Dickey Betts when he was twelve years old—“it was like being in an elevator with Sonny Barger or something, from the Hells Angels, except worse, he was like green and pockmarked….”

For the most part, Ween made its reputation off its first three or four albums and then settled into a comfortable cult status for the last decade or so of its existence (the duo broke up in 2012). As a band that ventured dangerously close to “novelty act,” Ween was cannily able to secure a modicum of creative independence despite delivering five albums to major label Elektra over eight years, but they never quite garnered their critical due as a major contemporary act that produced literally dozens of jaw-dropping ditties.

There’s also a vague feeling that the quality of Ween’s output may have dropped off somewhat after their 1997 genius concept album The Mollusk, but I for one don’t agree. There are loads of gems to be found on White Pepper, Quebec, Shinola Vol. 1, and La Cucaracha.
 
Guitar Moves, episode 6:

 
Last week, after I lamented that I’d never seen any good concert documentation of the Allman Brothers in their prime, DM reader Amanda_B_Reckonwith made my day with this footage of the Allmans playing their epic jam “Whipping Post” at the Fillmore East on September 23, 1970. This was about seven months before their classic At Fillmore East live album was recorded there.

This is a pure pleasure, seeing the best blues-rock band America ever produced improvising at their all time peak. “Whipping Post” begins in 11/4 time, almost placing the Allmans—for one song at least—into some sort of quasi Southern-fried Prog Rock continuum. The version that appears on At Fillmore East album clocked in at a never boring 23 minutes, taking up an entire side, but this blistering, energetic rampage through the song is just 11 and a half minutes long, as if they’re cramming all the energy of their more expansive jams into half the time. The band, still young and hungry at this point—and with something to prove—produce full “lift-off” here.

The group is Gregg Allman, Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson. Their pal Tom Doucette sat in on harmonica and percussion during this set.
 

 
After the jump, more Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East…