In August 2018, a CD featuring highlights from a three-show stand that The Allman Brothers Band played at New York City’s Fillmore East in February 1970 got its first wide release, and now an expanded three-CD collection containing all of the mastered recordings from the concerts will arrive on June 18.
Bear’s Sonic Journals: Allman Brothers Band Fillmore East February 1970 Deluxe Edition captures the Allmans during the second series of concerts they ever played at the famous venue, while on a bill with The Grateful Dead and Love.
The concerts, which took place on February 11, 13 and 14, were recorded by The Dead’s legendary soundman, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, who died in 2011.
The original album, titled Fillmore East February 1970, features seven performances taken from the three shows. The new collection includes that compilation plus two extra CDs boasting all of the recordings Owsley made, documenting the concerts until he ran out of tape. Some of the tracks feature gaps where Stanley had to change reels.
Among the songs on the collection is the first known recording of Allmans guitarist Dickey Betts‘ memorable instrumental “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” The album also features renditions of “Whipping Post,” the epic, Donovan-inspired “Mountain Jam,” and the classic blues covers “Statesboro Blues” and “Trouble No More.”
The recordings on the deluxe release were transferred and mastered from the original tapes in Owsley’s archives, and have been sonically restored. The collection features new album art and liner notes, some rare photos of the group taken at the Fillmore East in February 1970, and notes from the Allman Brothers Band and the Owsley Stanley Foundation.
You can pre-order the set at MerchMountain.com.
Here’s the complete deluxe Bear’s Sonic Journals: Allman Brothers Band Fillmore East February 1970 track list:
Disc 1
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (February 14)
“Hoochie Coochie Man” (February 14)
“Statesboro Blues” (February 11)
“Trouble No More” (February 11)
“Outskirts of Town” (February 13 and 14)
“Whipping Post” (February 14)
“Mountain Jam” (February 13 and 14)
Disc 2
February 11, 1970
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”
“Statesboro Blues”
“Trouble No More”
“Hoochie Coochie Man”
“Mountain Jam” (reel-change gap)
February 13, 1970
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”
“Outskirts of Town” (end cut)
“Mountain Jam” (start cut)
Disc 3
February 14, 1970
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”
“Hoochie Coochie Man”
“Outskirts of Town” (reel-change gap)
“Whipping Post”
“Mountain Jam” (reel-change gap)
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