The Allman Brothers Band

[Fluffy Lothario]

I'm going through my latest Allman Brothers phase, and it's my strongest one so far, probably due to having been spurred on by recent thrashing of Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Before, all I had was At Fillmore East and a Best Of. I now have everything they released up to Brothers and Sisters.

Their debut and Idlewild South are both great examples of short, snappy albums from the late 60s/early 70s that still feel quite complete even today. I think I prefer the debut over Idlewild South; IWS has the stronger top few tracks, but the debut is more consistently solid, and I really like the louder, more aggressive sound they had on that album.

I've also fleshed out At Fillmore East with the complete sessions version, and every new track is just as good as the old, so this album somehow just got even better.

Still need to listen to Eat a Peach and Brothers and Sisters, but I'm a bit hesitant about Eat a Peach and the whole live tracks on a studio album thing, especially since those live tracks are now already available on the complete At Fillmore East. It seems like the band just went, "hey, that album was successful, let's put some of the stuff that was leftover onto the next album to fill it out". I have a feeling it's gonna be hard for me to look at those tracks as being part of the album as much as the studio ones.

[LudwigVan]

The band really mellowed out after Duane died... Eat a Peach and Brothers and Sisters, the 1st couple of albums without him, don't have that hard-edged blues sound.  There's a little bit of a country western tinge to them, but still good though.  I love "Blue Sky", "Jessica" and "Southbound". 

[KevShmev]

Good band.  Not one I really listen to that much anymore, but they have a handful of songs that are mainstays when I go through my classic rock phases - "Jessica," "Midnight Rider," "Whipping Post," "Statesboro Blues," etc.

[Birch Boy]

Been listening to them a lot lately. I'm seeing them at the Beacon Theatre on March 17th, and might see them again, probably on the 25th. I just got into them last year, and I can't wait to see them every year from now on during their Beacon run. Anyone else seeing a show in March?

Also, I was wondering if it's worth paying seventy-five dollars twice to see them twice. I have three of their albums, and love jam bands/improvisation/trippy shows/etc..., and I know they change their set-list every night, but with me not having a car, I'd probably have to pay for a round-trip train ticket each time I see them (another twenty-five bucks), so do you guys think it'd be worth it to see them twice?

[Fluffy Lothario]

I have no idea what they're like live nowadays, though I haven't heard anything about them going sour. Maybe check out one of their more recent live albums. They haven't released one in some time now, since about 2004 or so, but it'd give you more idea, I guess.

The band really mellowed out after Duane died... Eat a Peach and Brothers and Sisters, the 1st couple of albums without him, don't have that hard-edged blues sound.  There's a little bit of a country western tinge to them, but still good though.  I love "Blue Sky", "Jessica" and "Southbound". 

To me, Idlewild South doesn't have it half as much as their debut either though. The style of those two albums is really quite different. It's like on their first, they just thrashed out a heavy blues set, but on Idlewild, they stopped to try and more accurately represent the full spectrum of their sound, with the lighter and the jazzier moments too.


Eat a Peach is, as I felt it might be, a mixed bag, though not in terms of quality. Basically, everything on here is great, but because the album is so obviously made up of three uneven thirds, there's no unity at all. The post-Duane songs are all great, but at, what, seventeen minutes, too brief before the new Fillmore tracks kick in. I'm still uneasy about there being forty minutes of live material in the middle of an album, as great as it all is. And the Duane-era songs are very good, but embedded in the midst of a strong studio album, they'd really feel like they'd been given justice. Here, as ten minutes of studio material after forty minutes of live material, they just sound tagged on the end, like an afterthought. Putting the first and third of the three parts together helps a little, but it still doesn't feel like a complete album. But to be honest, I think the band just had to get this material out of their system, and it's all good stuff, so it works, I guess.

Brothers and Sisters is, like the first two albums, another really strong album. The only track on here I'm not totally sold on is Come and Go Blues. The rest is solid. It's a real pity the band didn't keep up the momentum.

[LudwigVan]

Fluffy, have you ever checked into The Marshall Tucker Band?  Another classic southern rock band, but they're a lot more ecelectic than the Allmans, employing flute, saxophone and fiddle (violin).  Any of their first seven albums is a good starting point: 

The Marshall Tucker Band 
A New Life
Where We All Belong
Searchin' for a Rainbow
Long Hard Ride
Carolina Dreams
ogether Forever

[Birch Boy]

They played a free show fifteen minutes away from me over the summer and I didn't go because I had only heard of them, not heard them. Maybe I'll check them out.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Fluffy, have you ever checked into The Marshall Tucker Band?

Never heard of them. I'll have to check them out sometime. I'm also still to look into Govt Mule, Blues Traveler, Phish and the String Cheese Incident, but they're all on my list.

[Birch Boy]

I'm selling three tickets to the March 17th show at face value ($75 each) because my friend and I are marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City that day and the school won't allow us to stay there, so we need to go back to Brewster with the other kids, and we wouldn't have enough time to get back on the train to the city and make the show. I'm planning on buying new tickets for the show on the 22nd. Let me know if you're interested, if my friend doesn't want them than the next stop is here then eBay.

[jsem]

Bumping this thread because the Allman Brothers are full of win.

Appreciate.

[SoundscapeMN]

mega old bump.

Rest in Peace to Gregg Allman.

He's jamming with his brother up in Heaven I imagine.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7759662/gregg-allman-dead

[Nel]

Damn. I think his new solo album was coming this year too. I don't comment much on this band, but I do like quite a bit of their music (their instrumental tracks are consistently amazing) and Gregg's solo stuff had a few tracks I remember liking too. Rest in peace, sir.

[Stadler]

I just watched "The Big Interview" he did with Dan Rather, I think it was from 2015, and he looked so healthy.   But he's lived a hard, rock and roll life.   Some of my best concert moments were at the Allman Brothers (one that comes to mind is a 45 minute "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", where Warren and Dickie bookended an AMAZING drum solo with some of the tastiest playing I've ever heard in my life). 

[SoundscapeMN]

bump.

jeez. can't believe only 3 posts ago was when Greg Allman passed.

well his bandmate Dickey Betts RIP

https://www.jambase.com/article/allman-brothers-band-dickey-betts-obituary

[emtee]

Sad news. I came to appreciate this band much later in life and it all happened after I heard In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed for the first time. They were a very talented bunch of guys.

[HOF]

So this popped up in my YouTube feed tonight. I know this song from a scene in Field of Dreams. For some reason I had it in my head that it was the Doobie Brothers. Whoops, wrong Brothers!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RYIwiT1gmZE

[Stadler]

Sad that of that lineup, only Warren and Jaimoe are still with us.   Gregg (2017), Butch (2017), Allen (2000) and now Dickie have left the building.

I saw that lineup play a 45-minute version of "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" in Hartford and it was AMAZING.

[hefdaddy42]

I saw that lineup play a 45-minute version of "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" in Hartford and it was AMAZING.

I am quite jealous.