In March 1971, the Allman Brothers Band famously set up shop at the Fillmore East in New York City and recorded what would become one of the most acclaimed live albums of all-time, At Fillmore East. Two months prior, the band was tuning up for those famed gigs at the original Fillmore in San Francisco, and now those shows will be released September 6th as a new four-CD set, Fillmore West 1971.
The collection captures three shows, recorded January 29th, 30th and 31st, and to preview the set, the Allman Brothers Band has shared their rollicking rendition of the Muddy Waters classic, Trouble No More, taken from the January 29th show.
The Fillmore West 1971 track list hews close to At Fillmore East, with nightly performances of Allman Brothers standards like Statesboro Blues, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Whipping Post. But the new set also offers performances of songs that would only appear on later editions of Fillmore East, such as Midnight Rider and Dont Keep Me Wondering, as well as new offerings like a rendition of Dreams and Waters Hoochie Coochie Man from the January 31st show.
Fillmore West 1971 also boasts an early performance of the Allman Brothers Bands instrumental jam, Hot Lanta, while the collection closes with a special bonus track a previously unreleased 45-minute version of Mountain Jam recorded at the Warehouse in New Orleans in March 1970.
The recordings on Fillmore West were culled from the original reel-to-reel soundboard masters. Allman Brothers archivist Kirk West tracked down the tapes, which had previously been in the possession of band crew members Twiggs Lyndon, Joe Dan Petty and Mike Callahan. As the masters had been stored in closets and attics for many years, transferring and restoring the tapes took several attempts over several years, with sound quality improving as the technology did.