One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band (55 page)

SUNY at Stony Brook: Stony Brook, NY, 9/19/71
(2003, ***
) captures the band six months after the Fillmore shows and just five weeks before Duane’s death. This is the kind of tape that used to be traded religiously by the faithful. Bad sound quality for the first few songs is offset by a great performance—and the chance to hear one of the few live Duane versions of “Blue Sky.”

Macon City Auditorium: 2/11/72
(2004, ***) documents the band playing as a five-piece and coming to musical grips with Duane’s death. His absence is sometimes deafening, but this set captures the band’s amazing ability to keep on keeping on. Oakley’s bass rumbles with extra fury and Dickey Betts’s evolution and ability to start playing slide and step to the fore as the sole guitarist is rather remarkable. Hats off to the cat in the hat, though it’s hard not to feel sad at times listening to this recording.

Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, 5/1/73
(2005, ****) was cut just three months before
Brothers and Sisters
was released and includes “Wasted Words,” “Jessica,” “Come & Go Blues,” and “Ramblin’ Man” from the forthcoming album. This was one of the first shows played with bassist Lamar Williams and keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and it illustrates the band’s brilliance in reimagining themselves in the horrible shadows of Berry Oakley’s and Duane Allman’s deaths. You can hear how they beautifully reimagined Dickey and Duane’s harmonies into three parts featuring Chuck’s keys and Gregg’s organ. This was the start of a short-lived second run at the brass ring.

Boston Common—Boston, MA, 8/17/71
(2007, ***
) Six weeks after the release of
At Fillmore East
and ten weeks before Duane’s death, the band returned triumphantly to the Boston Common, where they had played free shows as an unknown band just two years prior. The highlight is a 26-minute “You Don’t Love Me.”

SOLO OUTINGS AND OTHER BANDS

Gregg Allman

Laid Back
(1973, *****) is probably the best solo album by any ABB member. The soulful, folk-infused rock always resonates. “These Days” and “All My Friends” are masterful interpretations. In retrospect, the fact that Gregg remade two songs from
Idlewild South
just three years after its release was a warning about a coming lack of songwriting productivity, though both “Midnight Rider” and “Please Call Home” shine in their new versions and offer revealing hints of Gregg’s own musical vision versus that of the collective ABB.

The Gregg Allman Tour
(1974, ***
) is a great document of GA’s ambitious post-
Laid Back
solo tour, featuring an orchestra, full horn section, and sweeping backup singers. Lush and soulful.

Playin’ Up a Storm
(1977, ***) has some very nice moments, but the L.A. production sheen prevents it from reaching the heights of
Laid Back.

I’m No Angel
(1987, ***) has some worthy tracks, notably the title song, but much of it sounds dated; the same production that allowed the album to be a hit in 1987 has not helped it age well. The album closes with GA’s reprise of the ABB’s “Don’t Want You No More”/“Cross to Bear”—cool to hear him perform live but a pointless exercise to record and indicative of a lack of creative spark.

Just Before the Bullets Fly
(1988, **
) has one standout track—the title cut, written by Warren Haynes, who was soon to help Gregg and Co. resuscitate the ABB.

Searching for Simplicity
(1997, ***
) has a few throw-away tracks, but it is a strong album—Gregg’s finest new solo work since
Laid Back.
He once again tackles an ABB classic with the album-opening “Whipping Post,” but this time the song is refashioned and driven by Jack Pearson’s slide guitar.

Low Country Blues
(2010, ***) Producer T-Bone Burnett pulls out a series of blues and R&B chestnuts and Gregg delivers them well, but the album leaves me feeling that it could have been so much more, as hinted at by the excellent cosmic cowboy version of “Midnight Rider” Gregg performed with Burnett’s large orchestra for several benefit shows. Backed by horns, pedal steel, and mandolin, Gregg took his old standby somewhere new and it would be great to hear him tackle more tunes in a similar fashion. Burnett went sparse, but Gregg also shines going grand.

Worth Searching For

One More Try
(1996, ****) I wrote the liner-note essay and helped compile this collection of outtakes and alternate versions, so color me biased, but it is late night/early morning music at its finest. It’s a true shame that this collection, which so beautifully reveals a hidden side of Gregg—vulnerable, acoustic, aching, soulful—is deeply out of print.

Dickey Betts

Highway Call
(1974, ****), credited to Richard Betts, was the guitarist’s chance to fully indulge his love for country and Texas swing. Pedal steel guitar and fiddler Vassar Clements complement Betts’s great songs and sweet, melodic guitar on one of the unsung classics in the ABB musical family.

Dickey Betts and Great Southern
(1977, ***
) is somewhat inconsistent, but includes several standout tracks, including the galloping “Run Gypsy Run” and “Nothing You Can Do” and the gorgeous “Bougainvillea,” which can stand up to almost anything Betts has written.

Atlanta’s Burning Down
(1978, ***) is not as strong as its predecessor, but the title track is a moving ballad about a Confederate soldier’s horror.

Pattern Disruptive
(1988, **) is significant because it was the first time Warren Haynes recorded with the ABB family. There’s not too much else to recommend it, however.

Let’s Get Together
(2001 ***) was an impressive statement by Dickey. He made clear just a year after he was told he was no longer wanted in the ABB that he was far from done making music. Unfortunately, it sounds like it was recorded in your basement.

The Collectors #1
(2002, ***) was a sweet acoustic follow-up, which included the Irish instrumental “Beyond the Pale,” a swinging take on jazz pianist Horace Silver’s “The Preacher,” and Dickey’s version of Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue.” Unfortunately, the sound quality was even worse than on
Let’s Get Together.
This one sounds like it was recorded in your grandfather’s garage, which is a pity because the tunes are great.

Sea Level

On their self-titled debut,
Sea Level
(1977, ***
), Jaimoe, Lamar Williams, and Chuck Leavell are joined by guitarist Jimmy Nalls for this hard-swinging set. On his own, without partner Butch Trucks, Jaimoe’s diverse work is a revelation and Leavell proves himself to be a solid singer, but the instrumentals carry the day.

Released less than a year after their debut,
Cats on the Coast
(1977, ***) is less to my taste. Though still solid, the expanded ensemble leans heavily toward fusion. Jaimoe’s role is also reduced to mostly percussion. This album has not aged as gracefully as its predecessor.

Jaimoe was back in the Allman Brothers by the time Sea Level recorded
On the Edge
(1978, **
), replaced by Joe English, and the band seems to be trying to catch some disco grooves. Still plenty of instrumental prowess, of course, and some nice flights of fancy, but not enough of the good stuff here.