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At Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers Band (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: At Fillmore East
  • Group name: the Allman Brothers Band
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Capricorn Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written inside album cover, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $43.89

At Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers Band

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I may have listened to this at some point, or to some later version of it, but I don’t remember specifically when that would have been. It will be the fourth Allman Brothers record that I’ve reviewed, and the previous three were:

What I expected

Blues, country, rock.

What it was actually like

This was entirely jam music, which was not difficult to figure out because it consisted of only seven songs across four sides, and jam music really is not my favorite. It also contained none of my favorite Allman Brothers songs. Despite that, I thought it was really good.

Side one was all electric blues classics with guitar solos. Statesboro Blues was intense enough to make me feel like I was eating in a barbecue restaurant, and Done Somebody Wrong was more danceable, but I did not like the slower and less fun Stormy Monday as much as the other two.

Side two was another cover, You Don’t Love Me, a great jam with excellent guitars and organ.

Side three was much more jazz, with two instrumental jams, Hot ‘Lanta and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. I thought the latter was the best song on the record, with guitars that made me think at times of Santana.

Side four was Whipping Post, which was pretty good when it maintained its fast tempo, but not when it slowed down.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Climbing! by Mountain (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Climbing!
  • Group name: Mountain
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Windfall Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $43.46

Climbing! by Mountain

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have no familiarity at all with Mountain (the band) or with Climbing! (the record), though I have some familiarity with mountains and with climbing, and also with mountain climbing.

What I expected

I could not easily tell what this was about at first, because the album just makes it look like “Mountain Climbing!”. But my father was able to figure it out, and he also mentioned that he really liked the song Theme for an Imaginary Western, after I read him the track list so he could remember its name.

The back of the album says, “THIS RECORD WAS MADE TO BE PLAYED LOUD” and it’s from 1970, so my guess is hard rock.

What it was actually like

This did turn out to be hard rock and was even a bit proto-metal and, coming off yesterday’s review of Idea by the Bee Gees, I really should have loved it, but it was surprisingly boring. I did think that it was definitely somewhat innovative for 1970, but by that year Led Zeppelin had already released three LPs, so this was not altogether entirely impressive.

The first side was much less interesting to me than the second. It had lots of guitar riffs and a bunch of that metal “crunch,” but not much else.

On the second side, To My Friend was an acoustic instrumental with just guitar that sounded like sitar, which was very cool.

For Yasgur’s Farm was also more fun and rhythmic, with a lot more going on, including a great bass line.

I thought that Sittin’ on a Rainbow was the record’s best song, with the most catchy guitar riff and the best balance of cowbell, gritty and slightly shouty vocals, and badass drumming.

Boys in the Band also impressed for its otherworldly guitar solos, but the rest of the song was not that good.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Idea by the Bee Gees (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Idea
  • Group name: the Bee Gees
  • Year: 1968
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Atco
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $24.98

Idea by the Bee Gees

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this Bee Gees record before, but it’s their second that I’m reviewing, besides Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track (1977). The first, conveniently enough, was called Bee Gees’ 1st (1967), and I thought it was not terrible.

What I expected

Pop rock with vocal harmonies.

What it was actually like

I did not like this record very much. While listening to it, I noticed that a lot of the songs had bells in them. Did they just discover the bells in the late 1960s?

In The Summer of His Years was a particularly terrible slow song, largely piano but also with flute and orchestral backing – of course, with bells tolling. When the Swallows Fly and I Started a Joke were similar, but not as bad, and there was more bad orchestral backing on Kilburn Towers and Swan Song.

Let There Be Love sounded like a Beatles reject from approximately 1965.

The title track Idea was lively, enjoyable and interesting, with lots of guitar, and definitely was not the stereotypical Bee Gees song. Kitty Can was also pretty good, except for these annoying whisper effects they had going in background throughout.

Indian Gin and Whisky Dry were in a psychedelic style, but not very appealing.

The most bizarre song on the record was I Have Decided to Join the Air Force. It left me scratching my head, wondering what it was that I just heard. Some of its lyrics were:

Mother, I’ve got to join the Air Force, you see
I’ve seen my friends and they all agree
That’s it’s better than joining the Army or going to sea

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Pieces of the Sky by Emmylou Harris (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Pieces of the Sky
  • Artist name: Emmylou Harris
  • Year: 1975
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: could have been either of my parents, but I’d guess it was my father’s.
  • Buy it on Amazon: $44.75

Pieces of the Sky by Emmylou Harris

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this record (as far as I know), but I listened to Roses in the Snow (1980) last year and thought it was pretty good.

What I expected

Country and bluegrass.

What it was actually like

This record was close to evenly split between great and not-so-great.

The not-so-great songs were in a boring and slow country style: Too Far Gone, Boulder to Birmingham, Before Believing and Sleepless Nights.

For No One was also a major disappointment because I was pretty intrigued to hear how Harris would treat this Beatles song that I like:

Good Day Sunshine
So this is the sort of corny stuff that Paul was writing while he was not taking acid with the rest of the group. Noted.
For No One
See above. I do like For No One quite a bit better than Good Day Sunshine, but the best part of it is the French horn part.

Unfortunately, this version was not that good (and had no French horn at all), but fortunately, I was able to find this fairly weird version with all the brass you could possibly want. For a somewhat more conventional version by my favorite Beatles-covering duo, check this out.

On the great side, a bunch of songs were in more of a lively, entertaining country style: If I Could Only Win Your Love, with great harmony from Herb Pedersen; The Bottle Let Me Down, a wonderful Merle Haggard song; Coat of Many Colors, one of Dolly Parton’s finest; and Queen of the Silver Dollar, which was written by (checks notes) Shel Silverstein[1].

The best song on the record was the only one in a bluegrass style, Bluebird Wine.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

References

References
↑1 I knew that he wrote A Boy Named Sue, but I always assumed that it was a one-time deal and never thought that he had written multiple songs.

Fairytale by Donovan (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Fairytale
  • Artist name: Donovan
  • Year: 1965
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Hickory Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $24.00

Fairytale by Donovan

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have never listened to this record, but it will be the third by Donovan that I’ll have reviewed. The previous two were:

What I expected

Folk rock.

What it was actually like

To Try for the Sun was a nice folk style song, simple but pleasant, and might have benefited from a little bit of harmony, but then it might have been a different song. It also included the Dylan-style harmonica-chord-blow technique that I wrote about on The Real Donovan:

And do you know how Dylan would sometimes sing a verse and then blow out a long chord on the harmonica? I don’t know that I had ever heard anyone else doing that until Donovan. Maybe Donovan did it first, though?

Candy Man and The Ballad of a Crystal Man were quite similar in style. Summer Day Reflection Song, The Ballad of Geraldine and Belated Forgiveness Plea were also similar, but without the harmonica. Jersey Thursday was similar, without the harmonica, and also with some more creative and interesting guitar. The Little Tin Soldier was similar, except faster paced and more intense.

Circus of Sour sounded a bit half-assed to me, and a bit Oompa Loompa. Sunny Goodge Street was an unlikely jazz song that found its way onto this folk rock record, with flute and upright bass and a totally un-rock- and un-folk-like sound.

There was nothing particular wrong with Donovan’s version of Universal Soldier, the really obnoxious Buffy Sainte-Marie song, but I did not care for it and generally find “protest music” distasteful.

Colours stole the show, which maybe was not surprising because it’s such a great and classic song, certainly the best on the record. I loved the banjo in it, and loved being reminded that it existed, and then reminded that Donovan and Joan Baez performed it as a wonderful duet, and then reminded that it was not Baez, but Donovan, who wrote it. His manager or producer should have insisted that he only do songs like that. Also, here is a strong cover. And it got me thinking that Morning, Morning by the Fugs was the yin to its yang.

Grade

4/5: would listen again