Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Truckin'
2. Bertha
3. Next Time You See Me
4. Beat It on Down the Line
5. Bird Song
6. Dark Hollow
7. Second That Emotion
8. Me & My Uncle
9. Cumberland Blues
10. Good Lovin'
11. Drums
12. Good Lovin'

Disc 2:

1. Sugar Magnolia
2. Loser
3. Ain't It Crazy (The Rub)
4. Paso
5. I'm a King Bee
6. Ripple
7. Me and Bobbie McGee
8. Uncle John's Band
9. Turn on Your Love Light

Disc 3:

1. China Cat Sunflower
2. I Know You Rider
3. It Hurts Me Too
4. Sing Me Back Home
5. Hard to Handle
6. Dark Star - Tom Constanten, Grateful Dead
7. St. Stephen - Tom Constanten, Grateful Dead
8. Not Fade Away - Tom Constanten, Grateful Dead
9. Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad - Tom Constanten, Grateful Dead
10. Not Fade Away - Tom Constanten, Grateful Dead

Disc 4:

1. Morning Dew
2. New Minglewood Blues
3. Wharf Rat
4. Alligator
5. Drums
6. Jam
7. Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad
8. Cold Rain and Snow
9. Casey Jones
10. In the Midnight Hour
11. We Bid You Goodnight

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5335 in Music
• Released on: 2004-08-31
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .46 pounds

Album Description
Grateful Dead, Fillmore East: April 1971

Customer Reviews

Ton of Great Music
This is kind of a companion piece to the "Skull & Roses" live album recorded during this same time frame and beloved by fans. It's culled from a 5-night run at the Fillmore East, a closing run actually. The fidelity is great - clear and strong and crisp. The band were a stripped-down 5-piece, down to one drummer and only Pigpen on keyboards. They would alternate between styles all night and between Garcia, Weir, and Pigpen taking lead vocals. They had a large songbook and could go in one of many directions at any point in time.

There's lots of hard-rocking Dead here, and lots of Pigpen fronting blues-edged material. There's lots of Garcia and Weir here too. Lots of country-inflected stuff, lots of psychedelic tinged jamming, lots of rock and roll. There's just boatloads of stuff. There are many great moments, starting with the opening version of "Truckin'" that boogies slow and strong and proves Bill Kreutzman a superb drummer. 1971 was a fine vintage and this is a caseload of the stuff.

Transitional Dead
I've always seen the `71 Dead as a band changing its sound, or making it more diverse (EVEN more diverse). The dual drum attack was gone with Mickey Hart, Tom Constanten keyboard work was gone too, and new numbers were being added to the band's repertoire. Thus, the Dead's sound was changing. Bob Weir was gaining more well-diserved prominence on stage, usually performing cowboy-like songs (El Paso, Me & Me Uncle), and the sound of the group in general was tighter, less free-form-jam-rock. Anyway, that year featured some expanded "Other Ones" and "Dark Stars" too. So, as you can see, it is not easy to describe what was exactly going on, for it was band with a really continiously-evolving sound. To these ears of mine, it is a year of transition, the immediately preeceding step to the extremely beautiful `72 tour when the sound got richer (EVEN richer).
Anyhow, amongst this confusing commentary, there is surely a certainty: it is a very nice set (recommended most of all for people who have already got into the Dead world). The sound quality is simply great and clear, Pigpen was (as the liner notes rightly say) in his last healthy tour (the "Lovelight" included here is one of the best ever released); Jerry Garcia was playing beautifuly as always; Bob Weir was, as I said before, really growing, Phil Lesh kept on being an outstanding driving force; Kreutzmann was playing better than ever and we even get some nice keyboard touches from special guest T.C.
Who cares 'bout reviews anyway? Let there be songs to fill the air.

The closing of the Fillmore East
This for the most part is picked very well. There are some noteworthy moments that didn't make the cd for various legal reasons like The Beach Boys and Duane Allman. This has the only currently released versions of I Second That Emotion and Ain't It Crazy as well as including an electric Dark Hollow and Ripple. This album also draws on alot of Pigpen material which wasn't used on Grateful Dead like Hard To Handle, ect. TC returns for the Dark Star jam on disc three. The jam after Alligator is one for the books. Some people are not as fond of this period as I am, the jams are REAL short as were the shows during this time, I actually perfer the jazzier period of '72-'74 to spring '71, but this is a pretty good collection of the era in question. Get this with Grateful Dead(Skull & Roses) and relive some really cool music from the spring of '71.