Live at the Fillmore East & West by John Glatt (Lyons Press, $26.95, 413 pages)
Live at the Fillmore East & West by John Glatt is an entertaining overview of the rock scene in the late 60s and early 70s, but it did not provide quite as much information as I expected. The book is not an accounting of all or most of the bands that played at the Fillmore East in New York City or at the Fillmore West in San Francisco (which was once my veritable second home). Instead, it is a snapshot of the times, with particular focus given to – as noted on the cover – Bill Graham, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, and Carlos Santana. One’s enjoyment in reading the book will depend on how interested you are in these four figures. So much has been written about Joplin that there’s little new here, and there’s likely too much about promoter Bill Graham as Glatt earlier wrote Rage & Roll: Bill Graham and the Selling of Rock.
Another issue is that in attempting to humanize these figures, there’s too much attention paid to their flaws and conflicts and personal relationships; too little attention is paid to the music they created. As with most rock and roll stories, sex and drugs are over-emphasized. Graham is quoted as stating that, “…cocaine came in and cocaine ruined the music.” Even if this is true, focusing on musicians’ drug use grows boring quickly – very, very quickly.
The most fascinating part of Live is the detailed explanation as to how the Fillmore East came to be born. Fillmore West likely gets less attention than it deserved. It’s worth restating that the music fails to get the attention it deserves. Glatt’s account ends somewhat suddenly and anti-climatically with Graham’s accidental death, after the closing of the rock palaces.
Although Live lacks the depth and detail that its subtitle promised (“Getting Backstage and Personal with Rock’s Greatest Legends”), it nevertheless makes me want to read Glatt’s earlier rock and roll book.
Recommended, for those seeking a less than fully comprehensive look at the subject matter.
Joseph Arellano
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
Note: The hardbound release contains several errors/typos. For example, Spencer Dryden is referred to as Spender Dryden. The Monterey Folk Festival is called the Monterrey Folk Festival. And the drug Halcion is called Halcyon. These mistakes will hopefully be corrected in the trade paperback edition.
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