Duane’s dead.<\/p>\n
But he’s positively alive in this clip.\u00c2\u00a0 As well as long departed Berry and exiled Dickie.<\/p>\n
Shot before the breakthrough of the live album what’s utterly fascinating here is it’s the Fillmore East!\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got memories in your brain, and that’s all they are, distant links to images past, and suddenly you’re confronted with pictures and you’re whole again, it’s like reconnecting with your birth mother!<\/p>\n
Please notice everybody sitting down.\u00c2\u00a0 This was before the disrespect of "festival seating", i.e. "standing".\u00c2\u00a0 Under the ruse of getting people closer to the music, allowing them to move and groove and have beer spilt upon them, promoters oversold venues and suddenly you couldn’t see, you were constantly being bumped into and concerts became more akin to war than peace.<\/p>\n
Gregg Allman looks like he gets laid three times a day…\u00c2\u00a0 Could anybody really be that good-looking?<\/p>\n
And Jaimoe and Butch play the same, but look like their children.<\/p>\n
But Duane’s never aged.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the one advantage of dying, you’re frozen in time.<\/p>\n
But this performance is not frozen whatsoever.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not playing for the camera, they’re playing for the collective consciousness, they don’t want to reach somebody, they want to reach EVERYBODY!\u00c2\u00a0 Blow them away, get them to go home and tell everybody they encounter about the incredible act they saw last night.<\/p>\n
Duane barely looks at the audience.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s not mugging, he’s watching his fingers on the neck of his Les Paul, he’s in that reverie where you’re locked in and get everything right, today they call it the zone.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what’s fascinating about great music, it’s not done halfway, you’ve got to let go and run on instinct.<\/p>\n
And Berry’s locking down the bottom.\u00c2\u00a0 Swinging from side to side, bouncing up and down, like he’s rowing the ship.<\/p>\n
And you can barely see Dickie’s face for the hair.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no stylist involved.\u00c2\u00a0 But he’s risen to Duane’s challenge, he’s wringing the notes from his SG.<\/p>\n
And it’s like you’re at the station.\u00c2\u00a0 And suddenly, unexpectedly, this train comes barreling down the track.\u00c2\u00a0 You can hear it before you see it.\u00c2\u00a0 You perk up, pay attention, get caught in the groove, start to lament that its passing will be so brief.<\/p>\n
You see rock and roll bands never stop and stay.\u00c2\u00a0 They alight in your burg for a short while and then blow out to the next stop.<\/p>\n
And when they finally pull into sight, they seem not to notice you, they’re involved in their own party, based on execution, based on excellence.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like you’re looking through a picture window, and your greatest desire is to reach in and touch.<\/p>\n
Put Duane Allman in "People" and no one would care (actually, at this point, "People" didn’t even exist).\u00c2\u00a0 He needs a haircut. But he cares more about his music than his look.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s beautiful about him is on the inside.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn’t need a good line of patter, he didn’t need to read Neil Strauss’s book how to manipulate and pick up women.\u00c2\u00a0 His playing was enough.\u00c2\u00a0 A magnetism so strong he was irresistible.<\/p>\n
What would J. Lo say about this?<\/p>\n
Her jaw would drop.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s out of her experience.<\/p>\n
And Randy would not use the word "pitchy", he’d start testifying about his days playing the bass, talk about his inspiration, his influences.<\/p>\n
And Tyler would metamorphose into the guy he once was, who played in cover bands waiting for his one big break, which happened three years after this video was shot.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone hungry, someone with something to prove.<\/p>\n
The light show pulsed.\u00c2\u00a0 The music filled every nook and cranny.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d say this is like how it was, but this is LITERALLY HOW IT WAS!<\/p>\n
\nThe Allman Brothers Band
Whipping Post Fillmore East (New York, NY) Sep 23, 1970<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n________________________________________________<\/p>\n
I don’t know how Wolfgang’s Vault gets this stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 A great deal of it has rights issues.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, you can protest and not watch or dive in.<\/p>\n
And when you do, you’re mesmerized.<\/p>\n
I want you to watch Lynyrd Skynyrd’s "Whiskey Rock-A-Roller":<\/p>\n
\nLynyrd Skynyrd
Whiskey Rock-A-Roller Winterland (San Francisco, CA) Apr 27, 1975<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nEd King is UGLY!\u00c2\u00a0 He’s a bit overweight, he’s got a cigarette dangling from his lips, but he’s engrossed in the music, he’s wailing.\u00c2\u00a0 This is all there is, the music.\u00c2\u00a0 The lifestyle.\u00c2\u00a0 Back when that was enough.<\/p>\n
And you can see why Ronnie Van Zant resorted to wearing hats, he’s got a receding hairline.\u00c2\u00a0 And he’s not pretty either.\u00c2\u00a0 But he can sing the notes.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s in a rock and roll band.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s practiced for YEARS for this.<\/p>\n
It’s not the best performance, but you can feel the energy, it oozes off the screen.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what we’re looking for, that’s what makes acts great, that quality of being alive.<\/p>\n
And you can watch the Ramones to evidence your punk pedigree.<\/p>\n
Better yet, catch Jethro Tull, who’ve somehow been forgotten, but were unique and great and the album cuts were as good as the singles, if not better.<\/p>\n
And I’d recommend that you check out Manassas.\u00c2\u00a0 A criminally overlooked Stephen Stills project that is the best thing he’s ever done outside the Springfield and CSNY.<\/p>\n
All the great cuts are here, "Johnny’s Garden": <\/p>\n
\nManassas
Johnny’s Garden Winterland (San Francisco, CA) Oct 7, 1973<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nAnd "Treasure", which was long enough to set your mind free and let you drift: <\/p>\n
\nManassas
\nTreasure Winterland (San Francisco, CA) Oct 7, 1973<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nBut be sure to check out "Find The Cost Of Freedom": <\/p>\n
\n