There should be a word which describes a very specific modern feeling - that feeling when you’re watching a Youtube video of something ROCK. It can be anything, as long it's part of rock culture… and then the adverts crash in and you go from your deep dive rock vibe to a shallow stupid advert for shampoo. That feeling. Going from something cultural, fascinating and eternal to a piece of plastic nonsense. The cultural shift almost hurts.
But I’m an auld fella so I probably feel these things more strongly. I’d like to talk to you today about a couple of my favourite songs and how they were played. There have always been groups who play the songs like they are on the record and there have always been people who liked it that way. Not me, I preferred them to be extended live, that was the whole point to me. Who wants to see songs reproduced perfectly?
The first of these is Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain, a fascinating song about Owen Coffin who, weirdly, volunteered to be shot and eaten by his shipmates after a collision with a whale stranded them and they ran out of food. The second half of the number is based on an old Scottish song, ‘The Parting Glass’ and it was used in the 70s as the theme to a current affairs programme, Weekend World. Originally on a wonderful 1971 album of the same name, it made #16 on the Billboard chart and #43 in the UK. But live it was often extended to 30-minutes or more.
The first live version I heard was on Live: The Road Goes Forever On, a Tolkein book title. It was recorded on December 14, 1971 at the Academy of Music in New York City and is 17:38 long and has Steve Knight on keyboards giving it a broader, more nuanced sound. It’s a magical performance with screaming, dramatic guitar, and of course, that slamming, crushing riff and a great bass section where it's a fuzzy, big sound. Each band member gets a chance to shine.
The next version was on Twin Peaks, in 1974, after a year off. Recorded at Koseinenkin Hall in Osaka, Japan on August 30, 1973 with Bob Mann (guitar, keyboards) and Allan Schwartzberg (drums) joining Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi. It’s a humongous 31:49 long, across two sides. Solos all round, it is maybe too long, great though. Now, they’re releasing live shows from back in the day, you can hear other versions because they always played it. It’s always a bit different. The same can be said for the instrumental In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed by Allman Brothers Band. It first appeared on their second studio album, Idlewild South in 1970, written by Dicky Betts after seeing a gravestone for Elizabeth Jones Reed Napier in Rose Hill Cemetery in the band's hometown of Macon, Georgia. It ran for 6:54 at that point.
But it was live where it became an almost religious experience, The version on At Fillmore East was 12:46, spliced together from two performances. Then it was rearranged on the live on Wipe The Windows at 17:19, to feature Chuck Leavell, recorded at Winterland, San Francisco, California, September 26, 1973.
Almost telepathic jamming, you can hear different things every time you play it. It was also on many other live releases the band has released on albums (some of which are archival in nature) include those from other performances on Fillmore East, February 1970, Live at Ludlow Garage: 1970, Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970, Fillmore West '71 (three different versions), Boston Common, 8/17/71, Live from A&R Studios (1971), S.U.N.Y. at Stonybrook: Stonybrook, NY 9/19/71, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: 5/1/73, Live at Great Woods (1991), Play All Night: Live at the Beacon Theatre 1992, and An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: 2nd Set (1992/94), in addition to any number of the group's "Instant Live" recordings.
These are two brilliant songs, large parts of which were made up in the moment, in the manner of great jazz performers. I miss the days when such expression was commonplace and the music was so full of creativity. We took it for granted that bands would take us on a journey and not just reproduce the album version.
