Fillmore The Last Days 1972

It's an artifact. Similar to the Woodstock soundtrack, it is variable quality of performances across a wide spectrum of musical styles. So it's not like the record you'll sit around listening to frequently.

The music does have San Fransisco in the late sixties in common. There's more of a unity of sound, at least to a small degree, because of that filter.

There are certainly highlights. The 9-minute White Bird by It's A Beautiful Day is a fine jam, as is Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burnin' by Hot Tuna. Santana's Incident At Neshabur gets a good reading. Tower Of Power show off the horn section on Back On The Streets Again. The Sons Of Champlin have fun with Poppa Can Play.

There are also long stretches without much excitement. Not that much of it is bad (the closing jam session gets awful close), but it's a dated sound today, and many of the song selections are weak choices (Boz Scaggs' meandering Baby's Callin' Me Home, the Grateful Dead's take on Johnny B. Goode, again).

You might feel differently, especially if you loved some of these acts. Elvin Bishop, Cold Blood, Stoneground, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Lamb all show up and play songs. They're OK.

It has it's occasional moments that might make it worth it for the avid fan of the San Francisco music scene. I don't know how many of them are left, and besides, they probably own this already in it's original 3-record vinyl set. The sound is good, but not great.