The 25 Best Live Rock Recordings - No. 11: In Concert --OR-- Live At The Fillmore
No. 11 - Derek And The Dominos - In Concert (Polydor, 1973) --OR-- Derek And The Dominos - Live AT The Fillmore (Polydor, 1995)
Sometimes it’s about something too good to be true, but then one wakes up to realize that it never was. Derek and The Dominos was guitarist Eric Clapton’s fourth “supergroup.” John Mayall and the Blues Breakers (1965-1966), Cream (1967-1968), and Blind Faith (1969) all preceded the release of “Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs (Polydor, 1970). For discussion, let’s wedge in a fifth group, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends into the 1969-1970 slot.
In the late 1960s, Eric Clapton became annoyed with the intensive publicity focusing on Cream and Blind Faith. When Blind Faith went belly up in August 1969, Clapton began to reassess and signed on as a sideman for the upcoming Delaney & Bonnie tour documented by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends On Tour with Eric Clapton (Atco, 1970), freeing him up to contemplate the future away from the responsibility of band leadership.
While touring with DBF, Clapton struck up a collaboration with Memphian Bobby Whitlock, and in April 1970 the two began composing music. The bulk of these compositions would comprise Lalya And Other Assorted Love Songs. On an allied front, directly after leaving Delaney & Bonnie for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon caught up with Clapton and Whitlock back in England, where they all contributed to recording George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass (Apple, 1970), and Derek and the Dominos were born.
In August 1970, the band migrated to Miami, FL, and Criterion Studios to record their first album. Meanwhile, while recording their second album, Idlewild South (Capricorn, 1970), Allman Brothers Band’s producer, Tom Dowd, was notified that Clapton would be recording and Duane Allman expressed an interest in watching the new band record. Clapton caught an Allman Brothers show, after which he told Allman to bring his gear and be ready to play. That is how Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs came about.
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs was made up of 16 songs spanning two full LPs. Clapton and Whitlock co-wrote the majority of the original material, including "I Looked Away," "Keep on Growing," "Anyday," "Bell Bottom Blues," "Tell the Truth," and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?" Whitlock alone contributed "Thorn Tree in the Garden," while Clapton alone offered "I Am Yours." "Layla" was credited to Clapton and drummer Jim Gordon, who composed the piano coda.
Five cover songs were included in the original release including Jimmy Cox’s “Nobody Knows When You Are Down And Out,” Big Bill Broonzy’s “Key To The Highway,” Billy Myles' “Have You Ever Loved A Woman,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing,” and Chuck Willis’ “It’s Too Late,” all included in subsequent setlists. The recording was concluded at the beginning of October and the album was released on November 9, 1970.
Once recording was complete, the four-piece Derek and the Dominos returned home to tour the United Kingdom before returning to America for the US tour in the middle of October. Duane Allman performed with the quartet at two shows toward the end of the US tour: at Curtis Hixon Hall, in Tampa, Florida, on December 1st, and at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, New York on December 2nd. The Tampa show was dubiously captured in an audience recording Soul Mates Twin Flames (MVR 309/310).
October 23-24 1970, The quartet was recorded at New York City’s Fillmore East, resulting in the tapes that were to become In Concert (Polydor, 1973). The performance contained Derek and the Dominos songs (six from the album Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, plus “Roll It Over” and “Got To Get Better In A Little While), three songs from Clapton's first solo album, Eric Clapton (Polydor, 1970 - “Blues Power,” “Let It Rain,” and “Bottle Of Red Wine”) and one from Blind Faith ("Presence of The Lord").
In 1994, Live At The Fillmore (Polydor) was released containing six remixed songs from In Concert, the remainder being culled from both nights of performances. These releases are neck-and-neck in quality and content. What would have improved the project would have been the release of both shows in their entirety, an effort rendered moot by the availability of both shows at Wolfgang’s (October 23 show and October 24 show)
Both releases have their charms. The opening Gordon drum salvo alone on “Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad” on In Concert makes it superior to the alternate version on Live At The Fillmore, while the inclusion of a half-speed “Crossroads” tops off Live At The Fillmore. These are inspired performances with Clapton at the top of his singing as well as his guitar game. Bobby Whitlock’s keyboards and soulful singing ring true in the surest rock traditions. Carl Radle could always be counted on to keep the floor down. But, the highlight of these performances has to be the pre-disaster Jim Gordon, whose drumming is so solid and complete that often overshadows the rest of the band. It is good that we are not called upon to choose which is better.
The too good to be true part? Neither Duane Allman nor the band itself survived to make any more music. That would have been something.