Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Got to Get Better in a Little While
2. Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad? [#]
3. Key to the Highway
4. Blues Power
5. Have You Ever Loved a Woman
6. Bottle of Red Wine

Disc 2:

1. Tell the Truth [#]
2. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out [#]
3. Roll It Over
4. Presence of the Lord
5. Little Wing [#]
6. Let It Rain [#]
7. Crossroads

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11148 in Music
• Released on: 1994-02-22
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .29 pounds

Customer Reviews

Uneven, but a "must-own" for the highlights
Derek & The Dominoes. They made one of the most essential classic rock albums of all time and - lucky us - they also laid down some live stuff. Here's how it holds up to their studio genius.

DISC ONE

"Got To Get Better" (13:52) ...WOW. This is the best live song I have ever heard, bar none. I would say that it now rivals the Stones' "Tumbling Dice" for the title of My Favorite Song Ever. This CD is well worth the asking price, for "Got To Get Better" alone.

"Why Does Love Got to be So Sad?" (14:49) is almost equally amazing. The first 3 minutes Eric gets into some cool riffage and soloing on a wah-wah pedal; if you didn't have the CD cover to tell you, you would never know what song he is starting. Then, he moves fluidly into the song itself and does an 11-minute rendition that dwarfs the (already awesome) studio version. SWEET.

"Key to the Highway" (6:25) is shorter, leaner and louder than the jammy studio version. In fact, THIS sounds like a studio version. Very good.

"Blues Power," as usual, is no good as a live song. "Have You Ever Loved" is pretty good, but "Bottle of Red Wine" verges on annoying. I usually don't listen to these three when I'm listening to disc 1.

DISC TWO

"Tell the Truth" (11:04) is decent. Different enough from the studio version, but not a different song by any means. Good soloing. Too slow, though.

"Nobody Knows You" (5:33) is terrific, and very interesting particularly if you are used to the studio version. The Layla version of this song was quite tough, but this is a totally mellowed-out, laidback blues groove. Very nice.

"Roll It Over" (6:40) is good. I'm not familiar with this song from anywhere else - was it on a Clapton solo album that I am forgetting? - but it is good.
**edit: I finally paid attention to the lyrics on this song. Kinda tasteless ("Roll it over, let's take it from behind ... means so much to me").

"Presence of the Lord" (6:16) is WAY better than the Blind Faith version, and I LOVE the Blind Faith version. It is the highlight of disc 2. Like "Nobody Knows You," this one is much mellower and more stretched out than the studio version. This song has a lot of cool transitions, and it's fun to hear the crowd expecting each one and cheering when it comes.

"Little Wing" (6:13) is very good. At least as good as the studio version, but not the same at all. More like Hendrix's version.

"Let It Rain" (18:19) is the extended jam of disc 2. It's good. There's a long drum solo that, surprisingly, doesn't get boring. I love the studio version of this song so much (my favorite song of Clapton's) that I'm tempted to say this live version is not as good; but that would be apples and oranges. This is not even the same song - instead, it is a very enjoyable jam.

"Crossroads" (8:29): Every other live take of this song that Clapton has done in his career has sucked next to the Cream version, but this one stands up. It's very slinky and funky and cool. It's definitely amusing to hear the typically-shy Clapton finally include the line, "You can squeeze my lemon babe till the juice runs down my leg...you know what I'm talkin' about." Robert Plant, sure. Eric Clapton? Haha.

In sum, this has fast become one of my very favorite CDs. Eric Clapton, as a jam-band leader, puts Jerry Garcia and Trey Anastasio to shame. At the same time, even people with little tolerance for the extended length and increased sloppiness of live music will enjoy most of the songs here. The highlights of this disc are certainly among the highlights of Clapton's career.

Clapton's Mona Lisa
If you're reading this review to help you decide whether to purchase this disc, just stop here and buy it. This is the finest live blues/rock album available to man. It was recorded at the peak of Eric Clapton's career, before drugs made a mess of his life, with his best set of songs in hand, at the peak of Rock 'n Roll's most illustrious era. The only drawback is that he isn't playing with the most accomplished bandmates he ever assembled, but when you're competing with the likes of Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, and Steve Winwood, what do you expect?

Six of the tracks included on 'Live At the Fillmore' are the same tracks that were originally made available on vinyl in the early 1970's on the 'In Concert' double-LP. The band played four shows over two nights at the Fillmore East (rumor has it the band was not aware that recordings were being made), so alternate takes of the remaining three songs from 'In Concert', 'Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad', 'Tell the Truth' and 'Let It Rain' are offered on 'Live At the Fillmore'. I assume this was done to protect the integrity of the 'In Concert' discs, which are still highly valued because the concensus is that the takes of these three songs on 'Live At the Fillmore' are of lesser quality. Nothing is wrong with the alternate recordings, but the 'chemistry' seems less vibrant than on 'In Concert'. Small things can be noted, such as Bobby Whitlock's chiming piano on 'Tell the Truth' being much less prominent, but for the most part the discrepencies are intangible, and perhaps a matter of taste. On the upside, the 'Live At the Fillmore' discs offer 4 songs that are not offered on 'In Concert'. One wonders what other gems lie in the vault...

The biggest problem you'll encounter with this two-disc collection is figuring out which one to slide into the player first. Each is a great mix of rock and blues. On disc one we open with the firry 'Got To Get Better In a Little While' and 'Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad'. More than their titles are lengthy, with running times of 13:52 and 14:49 respectively. Needless to say, there is a wealth of wonderful wah-pedal guitar heroics from Clapton on every song. 'Key To the Highway' follows, and along with track 5, a cover of Billy Myles' 'Have You Ever Loved a Woman', wanders into some deep blues territory. The joyously rocking 'Blues Power' adds another 10:31 of serious jamming, and 'Bottle of Red Wine' closes the first disc out on another 'high' note.

Disc two offers more mid-tempo fare, including 'Tell the Truth', 'Roll It Over', and even the encore, 'Crossroads', which Clapton frequently rides like a jet train. The only true blues number is a cover of Jimmy Cox's 'Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out'. 'Little Wing', though a great number, is owned by Jimi Hendrix, and so any cover of that is bound to pale in comparison, and Clapton's does. 'Roll It Over' is bound up in funky sensuality, while in contrast 'Presence of the Lord' is high-minded spirituality. No wonder Eric turned to drugs. An eighteen minute-plus version of 'Let It Rain' completes disc two, with Jim Gordon offering the requisite (given the year was 1970) drum solo. Despite all the great songs included here, 'Let It Rain', which reached number 48 in 1972, is the only charting song (and it obviously wasn't this lengthy version) performed.

Derek and the Domino's were short-lived, offering only two albums in the early 1970's, not including their stints with George Harrison on 'All Things Must Pass' and 'The Concert For Bangla Desh'. Their limited output however is like the flash of a camera. This moment of illumination should not to be missed, as it is the closest thing to perfection a soundboard at a rock concert has ever captured.

Jamming hard at the Fillmore just like the Allmans
Derek & The Dominoes was one of rock's first jam bands. Whereas their classic album LAYLA (1970) can be best remembered as the prime mixing of the blues and dual rock lead guitar, IN CONCERT is the testament of their impressive jamming abilities. They were associated with the Allman Brothers Band due to Duane Allman's crucial contributions on the Layla CD. However, the core quartet(Clapton, Whitlock, Radle & Gordon) were on their own for the subsequent 1970 tour. The Allmans' spirit was certainly there on the concert stage. In 1973, they released the album IN CONCERT, which is the main source of this more recent box set. Although the 1973 release met little fanfare (the band had already broken up 2 years prior), a listen revealed that this album rivaled the intensity and beauty of the Allman's Fillmore East classic album, which was recorded around the same time. Both albums contain extraordinary guitar solos, extemsive drum solos, essential blues reworkings, and plainly intense jamming. In the early '90s, both albums were remixed and similarly repackaged by Polydor: The Allman's FILLMORE CONCERTS and Dominoes' LIVE AT THE FILLMORE. Each box sets contained new liner notes, extra tracks. Everything sounds brilliant in its remastered glory. Eric Clapton and his American bandmates were at the top of their game when they came to the Fillmore in October 1970. This extraordinary box set faithfully preserves the mind-boggling complete live show they presented.
Very few people actually had a chance to attend a Dominoes concert, so this double CD certainly shows the rest of us what it was like.