Jump to content

The Allman Brothers Thread


MS1

Recommended Posts

The20Allman.jpg

If there is a band that I love as much as Led Zeppelin, it is the Allman Brothers Band. I think that Duane Allman is the most underrated guitarist- part of the magic of discovering them was finding out just how good he was and yet I'd never really heard of him before. Besides being a world class finger style soloist, he was absolutely the greatest slide guitarist who ever lived- the Jimi Hendrix of slide.

I plan on posting a link to an Allman Brothers video once a week or so- this is one of the greatest live bands ever, after all. I'm going to start with the video that was played at their Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. All the stuff at the beginning was added by somebody, but by the time it says ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND macon georgia that's what it is. This video was made with two different films of Duane Allman (the only ones of decent quality that are known to exist), plus clips from other eras and still photos. A good intro for someone who doesn't know the band too well, and just a plain cool vid for those who do:

The Allman Brothers Band HOF Video

As many of you will know, this lineup up of the band was tragically short lived, with Duane and Bassist Berry Oakley dying in eerily similar motorcycle crashes in 71 and 72. But the band had their greatest chart success in 73, and since 1989 have been featuring musicians of the highest quality to fill Duane and Berry's shoes. To hold down a chair in the ABB is to be one of the very best- they don't care how you look or act, just if you can play, play, play.

abbguitar.jpg

This collage features a picture of every ABB guitarist from 1969 to the present. If you don't know who any of these guys are, come to this thread and find out! Each one of them is a virtuoso of the highest caliber.

I've seen the band play live over 20 times since 1994 with different lineups. And I can tell you this- each one of them the set list was completely different, and each time the show was completely different- always good, sometimes stellar! Just what I love about Led Zeppelin live.

So who else out there loves the Brothers? Stop by the thread and eat a peach!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a fan but went from the early 90s (Shades of Two Worlds Tour) to this past summer without seeing them. That wasn't by design, it's just how things worked out. The last time I'd seen Derek Trucks he was but a wee lad giving Dickey Betts a run for his money on One Way Out. This summer I saw a newly revitalized Allmans, much the way they were when Warren Haynes helped breath new life into the old beast circa Seven Turns only this time Derek had his own twists to add to the Allman Brothers sound.

By the way, they were also my first concert way back in '75 when I saw them in Savannah, GA. That night the ABB roadies opened the show and Gregg was catching hell from some audience members because of his then relationship with Cher. I hated that we had to leave early but when we did (around midnight) they were still playing Whippin' Post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i love the allman brothers band. i just finished listening to at fillmore east about an hour ago. Duane is one of my favorite guitarists and i wish the original band could've lasted longer. i had my brother buy me the deluxe version of eat a peach two christmas's ago and the allmans became one of my favorite bands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The original ABB was one of the best bands that ever graced a stage. Duane Allman was one of the greatest guitar players to ever pick up the instrument.

They don't make bands like the ABB any longer. Blues, jazz and rock............Duane and Dickey weaving like they did............really, the Allman Brothers Band were one of the very best..............ever.

Nice thread, thanks.

Regards;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, POTS and Jahfin.

Pilot, I love Eat a Peach. Blue Sky never gets old for me. Absolutely gets a spot in my top ten albums ever.

Jahfin, the Shades of Two Worlds tour was a hell of a time to see them! Every show I've seen from the Shades tour they are hot! Here's a vid from the tour of their stop in Germany. For Eat a Peach fans it's Blue Sky with an excellent guitar solo from Dickey Betts. Some of his best playing was in that year, IMHO.

I have a special place in my heart for the Warren Haynes Allen Woody lineup of the band. It's how I first saw them in 1994- and that hooked me for life. I saw them again in 95 and then twice in 96 before Allen and Warren split to do the mule. Here's an image of the band from the live album they put out with performances from the 1991 tour:

l0028733.jpg

Edited by Magic Sam
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The20Allman.jpg

If there is a band that I love as much as Led Zeppelin, it is the Allman Brothers Band. I think that Duane Allman is the most underrated guitarist- part of the magic of discovering them was finding out just how good he was and yet I'd never really heard of him before. Besides being a world class finger style soloist, he was absolutely the greatest slide guitarist who ever lived- the Jimi Hendrix of slide.

I plan on posting a link to an Allman Brothers video once a week or so- this is one of the greatest live bands ever, after all. I'm going to start with the video that was played at their Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. All the stuff at the beginning was added by somebody, but by the time it says ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND macon georgia that's what it is. This video was made with two different films of Duane Allman (the only ones of decent quality that are known to exist), plus clips from other eras and still photos. A good intro for someone who doesn't know the band too well, and just a plain cool vid for those who do:

The Allman Brothers Band HOF Video

As many of you will know, this lineup up of the band was tragically short lived, with Duane and Bassist Berry Oakley dying in eerily similar motorcycle crashes in 71 and 72. But the band had their greatest chart success in 73, and since 1989 have been featuring musicians of the highest quality to fill Duane and Berry's shoes. To hold down a chair in the ABB is to be one of the very best- they don't care how you look or act, just if you can play, play, play.

abbguitar.jpg

This collage features a picture of every ABB guitarist from 1969 to the present. If you don't know who any of these guys are, come to this thread and find out! Each one of them is a virtuoso of the highest caliber.

I've seen the band play live over 20 times since 1994 with different lineups. And I can tell you this- each one of them the set list was completely different, and each time the show was completely different- always good, sometimes stellar! Just what I love about Led Zeppelin live.

So who else out there loves the Brothers? Stop by the thread and eat a peach!

Hi Magic,

I'm going to send you on a mistycal trip back thru time

To a place on the Mississippi where we all drank our wine

This is where my journey began

As a lifetime Allman Brothers fan.

Some pics from the near infamous "Warehouse" New Orleans, LA

warehouse1.jpg

warehouse2.jpg

warehouse3.jpg

Photos by sydney smith

More to come I want to give others time to post Enjoy! :beer:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Magic,

I'm going to send you on a mistycal trip back thru time

To a place on the Mississippi where we all drank our wine

This is where my journey began

As a lifetime Allman Brothers fan.

Some pics from the near infamous "Warehouse" New Orleans, LA

warehouse1.jpg

warehouse2.jpg

warehouse3.jpg

Photos by sydney smith

More to come I want to give others time to post Enjoy! :beer:

Excellent contributions Dzldoc! I've never seen most of those photos before. That is the Chuck Leavell Lamar Williams lineup and the short lived five piece with Berry. (Those shots of Dickey and Berry are the best!) Here's a vid of the Berry lineup on teh "In Concert" program. I read in Scot Freeman's ABB bio that this special aired just after Berry's death and they all watched it in disbelief.

ABB "In Concert" 1972 part 1

These days I think the Chuck Leavell lineup is somewhat underrated among ABB fans.

Here's a vid of this lineup at a show promoted by Bill Graham called Saturday Night In Macon, Ga:

ABB- Saturday Night In Macon GA part 1

Rare examples of Dickey playing electric slide. He does pretty well!This is how the group would have sounded if you saw them at Watkins Glen in 1973 performing with the Dead and the Band in front of 600,000 people.

If you either of these videos, there's a number 2 and 3 for each of them. This guy Scotiadave posts some good stuff!

Keep it coming, brothers and sisters! Glad to see so many Allmans fans here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all,

Anyone read the book: 'Midnight Riders'?

KB

Many times. A good intro to the band- although I have to say that I soured on it just a bit when I found out that the ABB looks at that book about how Zep feel about Hammer of the Gods. It does make sure to tell every last detail of drug abuse and divorce in the band's history.

Still like it, though. The album guide for the band's influences in the back is especially useful- turned me on to a lot of great music!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some more goodies

warehouse16.jpg

warehouse15.jpg

warehouse14.jpg

Great, great photos! My husband and I have been Allmans fans since 1969. He went to his first Allmans' concert in '71 (Fillmore) and I went to my first in '72 (Academy of Music) and it just continued from there. We didn't know one another at the time. Where are the last two photos you posted from?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Filmore East one of the best live albums ever made. Saw the allman Bros in the 70s and saw Dicky Betts on his own at RIT at an unannounced to the public concert (local college here). he is one of my favorite guitarists. Love Jessica and In Memory of Elezabeth Reed.

That must have been cool to see them at RIT! They played at several colleges "upstate" in the 70's.

Fillmore East is one of my very favorite live albums. The concert was about six months before my concert-going years started...which was the Zep concert at the Garden.

There are few Allmans songs that I don't love. Especially love Whipping Post, Statesboro Blues. Midnight Rider. Always a very, special place in my heart for Sweet Melissa. I like the band's cover of "These Days".

I missed the '73 concerts b/c of Zep's HOTH tour but saw the Allmans again in '74. Then I think Gregg got busted and they didn't tour for a year or so. ???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This venue was an unheated unairconditioned cotton warehouse built pre-civil war era

only large exhaust fans later built into the ceilings thus the name "The Warehouse"

Heres a little more history on this rock venue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warehouse_%28New_Orleans%29

warehouse11.jpg

warehouse12.jpg

Down on the farm

onthefarm.jpg

Rest In Peace Guys

RIP.jpg

Thanks for the info. What a great venue!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure when you saw Dickey but since being booted from the Allman Brothers he hasn't exactly been playing the type of venues he was once accustomed to. In other words, he's pretty much been delegated to the bar circuit.

I've seen Dickey three times since he got booted, once in 2001, two shows that I think were in 2003, and this summer at the Lowell Summer Music Series. The Lowell venue is a very nice venue- seats a few thousand people, out doors with trees and beautifull vine covered trellises coming off the sides. I was hoping for a good show, the Dickey Betts shows I saw in 2003 were very good- (even though they were in a 500 person capacity House of Blues venue). As it turned out, though, it was the weakest performance I've ever seen him give. He couldn't hit the harmony parts in Blue Sky and his solos fell to pieces. A lot of people who were at that show posted on his web board they thought he was drunk and Andy Aledort from his band actually posted to defend him. I wonder, though.

Hard times for Dickey. -_-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is true. I heard that he was kicked out becuase he drank too much. Dont know if this is true or not. But I will say I love the man and his playing. I like him more than Greg Allman. and Id rather see him than Allman. Not talking about Duane of course as he left us way too soon like many others.

I'm a fan of Dickey Betts and Great Southern myself but you'd be doing yourself a tremendous disservice if you passed on seeing the current incarnation of the ABB just because Dickey is no longer in the group. Derek Truck and Warren are helping to propel that band to heights I'm sure they never thought were imaginable, especially after Duane Allmans death and the departure of Dickey Betts.

As for Chuck Leavell, who was mentioned earlier in the thread, his commentary during the Allmans' XM's Then Again...Live performance of Eat A Peach is priceless as he describes what was going on during several very intricate musical passages during the making of that record. He also has some very moving things to say about Duane and Berry Oakley, Jr. during what had to be a very, very hard time during the Allmans much storied history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They're one of the greatest bands ever. Saw them in 73 and was blown away. Only wish i'd seen them when Duane was still with us. Boz Scaggs backed them up, and he and Les Dudek joined in to jam. Dudek & Betts were amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love ABB, much because of Duane of course. I must say that I never cared for later incarnations of the band, but I'll have to give props to todays line up, they're not too far from the greatness of the original line up. If they tour over here I'll definitely try to catch 'em.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What hasn't been said about ABB, especially their At Fillmore East album. It's one of the best live albums ever.

Filmore East one of the best live albums ever made.

Fillmore East is one of my very favorite live albums. The concert was about six months before my concert-going years started...which was the Zep concert at the Garden.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...