Photo of Sam and Dave at the Fillmore East by Tony Costa for Rat Subterranean News (1969) Sam and Dave have continued to amaze me. They were called in at the last minute to replace the Jeff Beck Group for one night and went on stage Friday immediately from a bus ride up from Memphis, but the force they project at the start of their set, a sort of spontaneous combustion, is more powerful than most groups achieve after a forty-minute build-up. I’ve written about Sam and Dave before in terms of electricity and that metaphor keeps coming back. They have this plug-in non-stop energy that draws you in completely. Not the type of energy that is irrelevant to their performance, as I felt was often the case with Otis Redding on stage and Wilson Pickett the last time I saw him—their dancing and stage business tended to be only jive distraction. But every movement of Sam and Dave and the separate members of the band (there is so much to watch), like every interaction of voice with voice instrument, is perfect and graceful and physical MUSIC as the music is the direct embodiment of the movement.This is most beautifully illustrated in their version of Redding’s I’ve Been Loving You Too Long. Their voices combine and interact, with Sam (I think) sometimes just wailing sweetly or moaning in the background where the lead guitarist is doing subtle wahwah pedal stuff that is somehow exactly right. Their entire set was long and varied (Satisfaction, Luck Old Sun, Soul Man, Night Time is the Right Time) and when they came out for an encore much of the audience in front ran up to shake their hands. Now, Have you ever seen that at the Fillmore before? Look, Sam and Dave are the absolute best soul group in existence and they will knock you OUT if you only let them. —Vince Aletti
Pop-upView Separately

Photo of Sam and Dave at the Fillmore East by Tony Costa for Rat Subterranean News (1969)

Sam and Dave have continued to amaze me. They were called in at the last minute to replace the Jeff Beck Group for one night and went on stage Friday immediately from a bus ride up from Memphis, but the force they project at the start of their set, a sort of spontaneous combustion, is more powerful than most groups achieve after a forty-minute build-up. I’ve written about Sam and Dave before in terms of electricity and that metaphor keeps coming back. They have this plug-in non-stop energy that draws you in completely. Not the type of energy that is irrelevant to their performance, as I felt was often the case with Otis Redding on stage and Wilson Pickett the last time I saw him—their dancing and stage business tended to be only jive distraction. But every movement of Sam and Dave and the separate members of the band (there is so much to watch), like every interaction of voice with voice instrument, is perfect and graceful and physical MUSIC as the music is the direct embodiment of the movement.

This is most beautifully illustrated in their version of Redding’s I’ve Been Loving You Too Long. Their voices combine and interact, with Sam (I think) sometimes just wailing sweetly or moaning in the background where the lead guitarist is doing subtle wahwah pedal stuff that is somehow exactly right. Their entire set was long and varied (Satisfaction, Luck Old Sun, Soul Man, Night Time is the Right Time) and when they came out for an encore much of the audience in front ran up to shake their hands. Now, Have you ever seen that at the Fillmore before? Look, Sam and Dave are the absolute best soul group in existence and they will knock you OUT if you only let them. —Vince Aletti

15 Notes/ Hide

  1. ichiandeezee reblogged this from babylonfalling
  2. mvgl reblogged this from babylonfalling
  3. 5f1 reblogged this from babylonfalling
  4. stevelinc reblogged this from babylonfalling
  5. nickminichino reblogged this from babylonfalling
  6. babylonfalling posted this