Music Codex

Live at Fillmore West
by Aretha Franklin
from Atlantic / Wea

Tracks

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• CD 1, Track 1 Respect
• CD 1, Track 2 Love The One You're With
• CD 1, Track 3 Bridge Over Troubled Water
• CD 1, Track 4 Eleanor Rigby
• CD 1, Track 5 Make It With You
• CD 1, Track 6 Don't Play That Song
• CD 1, Track 7 Dr. Feelgood
• CD 1, Track 8 Spirit In The Dark
• CD 1, Track 9 Spirit In The Dark (Reprise)
• CD 1, Track 10 Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)
• CD 2, Track 1 Respect
• CD 2, Track 2 Call Me
• CD 2, Track 3 Mixed-up Girl
• CD 2, Track 4 Love The One You're With
• CD 2, Track 5 Bridge Over Troubled Water
• CD 2, Track 6 Share Your Love With Me
• CD 2, Track 7 Eleanor Rigby
• CD 2, Track 8 Make It With You
• CD 2, Track 9 You're All I Need To Get By
• CD 2, Track 10 Don't Play That Song
• CD 2, Track 11 Dr. Feelgood
• CD 2, Track 12 Spirit In The Dark
• CD 2, Track 13 Spirit In The Dark (Reprise)

Music Codexers Reviews

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Customer Reviews

2008-06-28 Longer and Better...

When a concert is released as an album, how accurate a representation of the night should it be? Quite apart from the dubious practice of adding studio overdubs to correct errors and "sweeten" vocals, there is a question of the sound balance - should it reflect the stage monitors that the performers hear, or the sound system that the audience experiences, and since most of the instruments are plugged directly into amplifiers, how important are the building's acoustics to the end result? Then there is the editing - the longeurs between songs while instruments are retuned and technicalities sorted out, the banter and chat between performers and audience - should they be left in? What songs should be excised and should any be shortened?

These questions (and I don't have the answers, by the way) were raised by this reissue of Live At Fillmore West, my third copy of the album, each one a substantial revision of the previous release. Aretha played three nights at the Fillmore and the album was compiled from two of the nights, so it never claimed to be from a single concert, and there is no suggestion of nefarious overdubbing. What fascinates me is how each release adds further clues as to what went down on those nights.

The original album was on vinyl, with all the time constraints inherent in the format. It clocked in at 42:43. Several of the songs were edited and there was little chat between the songs. Dr Feelgood, which ran for seven minutes on its CD debut, was edited to 3:23. The CD ran to 48:12 with most of the rest of the extra time coming from between the songs.

For this CD, Rhino have gone back to the unedited tapes of all three nights, as used on the box set Don't Fight The Feeling: The Complete Aretha Franklin & King Curtis Live At Fillmore West, and used the same performances to recreate the original track list. A note inside says, "Both performances of Spirit In The Dark were edited on the original album release but appear on this release unedited." This means that performances that previously ran to 13:44 on CD now extend to 26:26, with the whole disc now lasting 67:54. Both came from the final night and include an impromptu performance from Ray Charles, plucked from the audience, and are thus especially valuable to hear as originally performed.

I was surprised to discover that many of the other selections were also now longer, apparently the same powerful performance of Dr Feelgood now being 8:58, and there were stage announcements I'd never heard before, which to my mind added to the sense of the event, as Aretha interacted with the appreciative Fillmore crowd, making it more of an occasion. I did notice that the mikes of the band and singers were left open between songs more on this mix, allowing extraneous noise such as coughing and rattling, which may be a more honest representation but which I found mildly intrusive.

The recording dates given here of 5-7 March 1971 differ by a month from those given on earlier releases, and in all the discographies I could check, but are correct, as I was able to confirm from a reproduction of the original psychedelic poster for the event. According to the notes, nearly all of the recordings come from the final night, with Love The One You're With and Dr Feelgood from the second night. However, one very good reason for choosing this particular revamp is the second disc of Alternates And Unused Songs.

This includes seven songs from the opening night, including a Jimmy Webb song, Mixed-Up Girl, not represented on the album. Other unused songs include her own classic Call Me, Bobby Blue Bland's Share Your Love With Me and her current single, a revival of You're All I Need To Get By. The rest of the disc offers alternative performances from other nights to those on the album, with some enjoyable variations and banter, cherry-picked from the box-set which considerations such as keeping a roof over our heads may discourage us from acquiring.

My focus in this review is on this two-CD edition of a very well-known album, originally released in 1971. Therefore I have little to add to the mileage of editorial coverage it has already received. I would say that the perspective of time has been less kind to the material chosen to pander to the Fillmore audience. The lyrically preposterous Love The One You're With and the MOR excesses of Make It With You suffer far more than her fabulous gospel-infused interpretation of Bridge Over Troubled Water, but it is on home-grown material like Don't Play That Song, Dr Feelgood and Spirit In The Dark that Aretha's true brilliance shines. Her new band, featuring King Curtis, the Memphis Horns, Billy Preston, Bernard Purdie, Cornell Dupree and an all-star cast, really make a difference, too. One of the great live albums.

2007-07-16 Aretha has left the building...

Aretha Franklin has always had a knack for taking an already existing, beautiful song and totally re-inventing it with her brilliant arangements. She brings a personal and warm feel to all the songs she covers (see Eleanor Rigby or Bridge Over Troubled Water), making them her own. Not to mention her own original songs (Dr.Feelgood "Don't we all need a visit from you sometimes", And the breath-taking Spirits In The Dark). Truely one of the greatest live albums of the early seventies 'Fillmore' series. Ray Charles guest-appears (God I wish I had been there) and just tears the roof down. And what about the cover of the album, I have always loved the cover, a mature Aretha looking very motherly and angelic. Aretha had definately arrived.

2007-03-14 GET THIS! (BUT KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL CD)...

These 2 cd's contain some of the most blazing live performances I've ever heard. Seriously, for those who think that R&B music begins and ends with Whitney, Mariah, Mary J and other so-called "Divas" of our time, one listen to this fantastic collection should set you straight. Aretha wasn't crowned "Queen Of Soul" for nothing! This album, along with her "Amazing Grace" gospel collection, is Aretha at her most raw and untamed. The vocals are just indescribable--Lady Soul was on FIRE during this engagement. From the first number to the last, she never lets up. Much is written in the liner notes about how her Fillmore engagement was the gig that "crossed her over to the white mainstream", but come on! By the time she appeared there, Aretha had become the biggest female singer of her time, bar none. I hardly think someone who, by that point, had already amassed something like 9 or 10 top ten POP hits and several
classic albums needed to be "crossed over". But whatever. She is at the top of her game here, and that's saying a lot. Her version of "Love The One You're With" could have been a smash, as was her cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water". "Eleanor Rigby" and "Don't Play That Song" are gems, and what can you say about the live version of "Dr. Feelgood"? Wow.
Ray Charles pops in for a reprise duet of "Spirit In The Dark" that makes
one wonder what a powerhouse duo they could have been together had they
recorded an entire album together. The first CD is the "original album",
the 2nd CD consists of alternate versions from other shows from the same
gig, and several songs not on the 1971 album. All are great. I actually
prefer some of the alternates better; on the original CD all the keyboards
are electric, but on the 2nd CD, "Eleanor Rigby", "Don't Play That Song",
"Dr. Feelgood" and "Spirit In The Dark" are played on acoustic piano, which gives those songs more of the classic "Aretha" gospel feel.
Now, I do have one quibble--several of the songs on the first CD are NOT
the same performances on the original release. "Bridge" has an extra
vocal intro in the beginning not on the '71 release, or the original CD
release. "Eleanor Rigby" seems to have some different background vocals,
and "Make It With You" is also different--on the original LP/CD during the instumental break she says "Come on let me whisper in your ear, um hmm...I like ham hocks too!" That's gone. (I'm wondering if there were
some overdubs on the original album which were not used here.) And "Dr.
Feelgood" starts out the same, but the ending riff is TOTALLY different
here. In the original, she sings something like "cross your arms, cross
your legs, look up to heaven and say YEAH!" On this release, she ends with a whole riff with some San Francisco references (fog, the bridge, etc) These differences will only matter to people who, like me, know the
original album, but that's why I think you should hold onto your original
copy if you still have it. But this release will please ANYONE who loves
Miss Ree. She is, was, and always will be the REAL DEAL. ENJOY!

2007-01-24 Aretha at her best...

Aretha fans will love this album and others will be converted - fantastic performance

2006-08-08 Prime live Aretha...

Thanks to Rhino for putting out this double CD culled from the too complete, OP and very expensive box set sold only through Rhino's Handmade label. Besides prime era Aretha live in front of a loving audience and a surprise duet with Ray Charles, she's got the great King Curtis behind her (the Handmade set included his complete performances as opening act too, available in part separately). In spite of the vastly superior talent of the backup on this, I always preferred the much maligned "Aretha in Paris" before, because she was so extraordinary (in part due to nervous energy) in front of the off-key backup band on that recording. Her live version of Willie Nelson's "Night Life" is still the best single recording on either set. But now complete in great sound, if you're buying only one live Aretha, this would be the one. She and Etta James are the queens of soul, and there is no one else who can approach their shared throne, to date. Here's hoping the complete "Paris", if there is any more (sets then were shorter) is issued too; maybe with digital technology the off notes behind her on that could even be straightened out. And there's still a mountain of Columbia Aretha to mine, particularly the undoctored studio recordings tricked up to be the fake live LP "Yeah!", which is almost as good as this.

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This album was release on 2006-07-11.