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Critic's Review
Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Lengthy double-CD package of live and unreleased material recorded by the prime edition of the band in 1965-66, all with Mike Bloomfield on board. Four songs are from their show at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965 (the same day they backed Bob Dylan's electric set, possibly the most controversial performance in the history of rock music). Eight tunes, according to the credits, were cut at Southerland Hotel in Chicago in the spring of 1966, but these sound like demos, outtakes, or a radio broadcast; there's certainly no audience present. The rest was recorded at appearances at the Fillmore West in September and October of 1966. The fidelity is pretty good throughout, though not quite up to official release standards. It's an opportunity to hear quite a few numbers that the Bloomfield lineup did not release on Elektra studio recordings, including "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Come On In," "I'm Going Home," "Dropping Out," "Baby, Please Don't Go," "My Babe," "Kansas City," and "So Fine." The performances are certainly best and tightest on those spring 1966 Southerland Hotel tracks, and least interesting when they go into rock-oriented covers like "Kansas City" and "So Fine." Of greatest interest, though, are lengthy live versions of their two finest moments, the instrumentals "East West" and "Work Song." "East West" is quite good, though unfortunately the performance seems to cut off at the very end, while "Work Song" is much longer (thirteen minutes) than its studio counterpart.
