In his liner notes, Anthony DeCurtis calls
Live at the Fillmore "a digitally remixed and remastered version of the 1973
Derek and the Dominos double album
In Concert, with five previously unreleased performances and two tracks that have only appeared on the four-CD
Clapton retrospective, Crossroads." But this does not adequately describe the album.
Live at the Fillmore is not exactly an expanded version of
In Concert; it is a different album culled from the same concerts that were used to compile the earlier album.
Live at the Fillmore contains six of the nine recordings originally released on
In Concert, and three of its five previously unreleased performances are different recordings of songs also featured on
In Concert -- "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?," "Tell the Truth," and "Let It Rain." The other two, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" and "Little Wing," have not been heard before in any concert version. Even when the same recordings are used on
Live at the Fillmore as on
In Concert, they have, as noted, been remixed and, as not noted, re-edited. In either form,
Derek and the Dominos' October 1970 stand at the Fillmore East, a part of the group's only U.S. tour, finds them a looser aggregation than they seemed to be in the studio making their only album,
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. A trio backing
Eric Clapton,
the Dominos leave the guitarist considerable room to solo on extended numbers, five of which run over ten minutes each.
Clapton doesn't show consistent invention, but his playing is always directed, and he plays more blues than you can hear on any other
Clapton live recording. ~ William Ruhlmann