1970-December-1

Derek And The Dominos		Soul Mates 2  (Mid Valley 25/26)

Curtis Hixon Hall		Tampa, FL


Disc 1  -  62.51
1	Layla					 7.19
2	Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad		14.07
3	Blues Power				10.33
4	Have You Ever Loved A Woman		13.05
5	Bottle Of Red Wine			 7.27
6	Got To Get Better In A Little While	10.18

Disc 2  -  72.34
1	Key To The Highway			11.59
2	Let It Rain				15.15



	1970 Aug-Sept	Criteria Studios - Miami, Florida
	1971 April-14	Olympic Studios - London, England

3	Jam					 6.29	
4	Chocolate				 2.34	
5	Evil *					 4.38	
6	Snake Lake Blues			 3.46	
7	Mean Old Frisco *			 4.09	
8	High					 3.13	
9	I've Been All Day			 4.03	
10	Got To Get Better In A Little While *	 5.41	
11	One More Chance *			 3.20	
12	It's Hard To Find A Friend *		 4.38	
13	Till I See You Again *			 2.44	

	* has vocals


        Duane Allman		Guitar (70-Dec-1 only)
        Eric Clapton		Guitar, Vocals
        Jim Gordon		Percussion
        Carl Radle		Bass
        Bobby Whitlock		Organ, Piano, Vocals


This has an odd SQ.  The guitars are definitely easier to hear than on 
Soul Mates 1, which is really the most important thing here, considering
that this show is unique among all live Dominos' recordings in that it has 
Duane on it.  That being said, the recording is still not great.  The drums 
and bass sort of disappear into a low frequency mud, making it almost 
impossible to really pick them out.  SM1, on the other hand has a little 
more overall clarity to it, though the guitars are definitely better served 
on SM2, so take note you Duane and/or guitar fans (like me).  The other real 
drawback to SM1 is that is suffers from repeated dropouts and similar sonic 
problems, resulting in a very uneven listening experience.  I definitely 
feel that SM2 is a better source to have, if just because it does not have 
these sonic irregularities.  And, the guitars are more clear than they are 
on SM1.  Still SM2 is not the upgrade I was hoping for.  So, trader beware.


** Below added later after listening to Twin Flames (Mid Valley) **
The Twin Flames (TF) version is definitely a better balanced recording.
You can hear all instruments equally well overall.  It also has a great 
introduction by the hall's announcer (with a nice southern country accent).
Duane is mentioned. The guy sounds like he screws up the Eric part (calling
him something else), though he gets Clapton right.  Though this is better 
balanced than SM2, it is still not great sounding, though not horrible either.  
You can better hear the voices of the tapers (or those sitting near the mic) 
than you can the music.  SM2 again better displays the two guitars, which is
THE key value of this show.  On TF, Duane's slide is sort of hard to pick out
on Layla, which on SM2 it is pretty easy to hear.  Across the board, SM2 presents
a better guitar sound, which is why it is still the best recording of this show 
for me.  If you are not that concerned about easily hearing the guitars, then 
definitely go with TF.


I reproduced the below from another person's web site:
(http://www.ciudadfutura.com/ericclapton/Discografia/Soul%20Mates%202.htm)


Note: This show is of historical importance, as it is apparently the only 
extant live performace with Duane Allman on guitar. better quality, and more 
complete than Live at Tampa. In addition, it appears to be a 
remastered/modified version, as brought to my attention:

This disc sounds much different than Soul Mates. The parts of Layla where 
you can hear people in the crowd talking are gone, but there is a bit of 
background hiss, and there isn't any on SM1. So I went and dug up Live at 
Tampa, and made an astonishing discovery....SM2 is a cleaned up version of 
the better source tape!!! It still has a bit of the hiss present on Live at 
Tampa, but is much more listenable. (TD)