Raymond Betts

Six weeks before the Allman Brothers Band played the shows immortalized on At Fillmore East, they played three gigs at Bill Graham's left coast venue, the Fillmore West, in San Francisco in January of 1971. They were slotted between openers the Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band and Hot Tuna. These three shows are presented in their entirety in a four-disc set. Sourced from original two-track, reel-to-reel soundboard masters, they were held in ABB crew members Twiggs Lyndon's, Joe Dan Petty's, and Mike Callahan's closets for nearly five decades. They were then acquired by archivist Kirk West, who set the painstaking restoration process in motion. The quality here, while very good throughout, is muddy in some spots (mostly on disc two). In addition to the complete shows, West added a 45-minute "Mountain Jam" from March of 1970 at the Warehouse in New Orleans to disc four to fill it out.

The British band the Immaculate Fools became so popular in Spain that they eventually moved there. Formed in London, England, in 1984, the Immaculate Fools was comprised of Kevin Weatherill (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, bass), Paul Weatherill (acoustic bass, backing vocals, percussion), Brian Betts (acoustic guitar, slide guitar, percussion, mandolin), and Barry Wickens (violin, dulcimer, acoustic guitar, accordion). Although the group landed on the charts in Britain, their hybrid of Celtic music, folk, and alternative rock found even more success in Spain and Germany. In 1987, their LP Dumb Poet was released in America by A&M Records and the Psychedelic Furs-esque track "Tragic Comedy" was a minor hit on college radio.

Blue Floyd, an all-star jam band performing variations on the material of Pink Floyd, are a spin off from Gov’t Mule, featuring Allen Woody and Matt Abts from Gov’t Mule, Berry Oakley (son of Raymond Berry Oakley from The Allman Brothers) on bass, Mark Ford (The Black Crows) on lead guitarist, and Johnny Neil (Dickey Betts Band And The Allman Brothers) on keyboards. This 3 disc set was recorded on the bands 2000 tour in Alexandria, Vancouver. Gov’t Mule have recently toured Europe, promoting their new releases including Dark Side Of The Mule, following on from Blue Floyds reinterpretation of the Pink Floyd catalogue.