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Sunday, 8 December 2019

"The Atlantic Albums Collection" by ARETHA FRANKLIN (6 November 2015 UK Rhino/Atlantic 16-Albums Remastered onto 19CDs in a Clamshell Box Set – All Albums In Stereo – 336 Tracks - Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch Remasters) - Guest Musicians Include Ray Charles, Billy Preston, King Curtis, The Memphis Horns, Cornell Dupree, Curtis Mayfield, Duane Allman, Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and many more - A Review by Mark Barry...








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70ts Soul, R 'n' B, Funk, Jazz Fusion
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"...So Sweet The Sound..."

Although it doesn't advertise it too well on the front of the box or indeed on the shrinkwrap description sticker for that matter – the albums contained within this mighty lummox are the Rhino/Atco CD Reissues released across the Nineties. Ably Remastered by Rhino's longstanding engineering duo of tape experts DAN HERSCH and BILL INGLOT - fans will know that some were 'Expanded Editions' - and deck the halls with holistic holly - for Rhino has been smart enough in its digital dotage to include the lot for this rather gobsmacking Atlantic Records retrospective...

I mean the bounty here is staggering - 30 Bonuses across the fourteen Stereo albums Aretha released between 1967 and 1976 - while the final two CD compilations from 2007 offer up a further 14-track live set from 1972 (her vocals in blistering form) and 35 primo studio outtakes, rarities and single-sides from 1967 to 1976. There are 336 tracks in this mini behemoth with much of it being either inspired or just plain brill (take your pick). Amazing Grace, so sweet the sound - indeed. Let's get to the heavenly creatures...


UK released October 2007 - "The Atlantic Albums Collection" by ARETHA FRANKLIN on Rhino Records 081227951993 (Barcode 081227951993) is a 336-Track 16-Album/19CD Clamshell Box Set Housing 16 Repro Card Artwork Sleeves with Remasters stretching from 1992 to 2007 and it breaks down as follows:


1. I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You

(10 March 1967 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8139 in Stereo – 11 Track Album with 3 Bonuses on CD - 41:26 minutes)


2. Aretha Arrives

(4 August 1967 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8150 in Stereo – 11 Track Album - 36:29 minutes)


3. Lady Soul

(22 January 1968 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8176 in Stereo – 10 Track Album with 4 Bonuses on CD – 43:56 minutes)


4. Aretha Now

(14 June 1968 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8186 in Stereo – 10 Track Album – 29:28 minutes)


5. Aretha In Paris (Recorded At The Olympia Theatre) (12 October 1968 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8207 in Stereo – 13 Track Album – 41:06 minutes)


6. Soul '69 
(17 January 1969 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8212 in Stereo – 12 Track Album - 40:49 minutes)


7. This Girl's In Love With You 
(15 January 1970 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8248 in Stereo – 10 Track Album - 35:48 minutes)


8. Spirit In The Dark 
(24 August 1970 USA LP on Atlantic SD 8265 in Stereo – 12 Track Album - 39:12 minutes)


9. Aretha Live At Fillmore West 
(19 March 1971 USA LP on Atlantic SD 7205 in Stereo – 10 Track Single Album on CD1 (most tracks are uncredited as extended versions) with and additional 13 Bonuses on CD2 - CD1: 67:54 minutes, CD2: 60:50 minutes - see NOTES)


10. Young, Gifted And Black 
(24 January 1972 USA LP on Atlantic SD 7213 – 12 Track Album – 44:43 minutes)


11. Amazing Grace 
(1 June 1972 USA 2LP Live Gospel Set on Atlantic SD-2 906 – 14 Track Double-Album. This CD variant is "The Complete Recordings" two-disc version from 1999 with 13 Bonus performances spread across 2CDs (27 Tracks altogether) - CD1: 78:27 minutes, CD2: 78:11 minutes – see NOTES for sequencing of the original double-album from these CDs)


12. Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky) 
(25 June 1973 USA LP on Atlantic Records SD 7265 – 9 Track Album plus 1 Bonus on CD – 51:10 minutes)


13. Let Me Into Your Life 
(25 February 1974 USA LP on Atlantic Records SD 7292 – 11 Track Album – 43:29 minutes)


14. Sparkle 
(27 May 1976 USA US LP on Atlantic SD 18176 - 8 Track Album – Songs Composed and Arranged by Curtis Mayfield – 33:08 minutes)


15. Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul (October 2007 UK on Rhino/Atlantic 8122-79970-3 – A 2CD 35-Track Compilation of Remastered Outtakes, Alternates and Single-Sides – CD1: 66:15 minutes and CD2: 72:38 minutes)


16. Oh Me Oh My: Aretha Live in Philly, 1972 
(October 2007 US-Only 14-Track Set on Rhino Handmade RHM2 07757. A limited edition of 7,500 copies only – 56:19 minutes)


NOTES: Eagle-eyed collectors will have noticed the oddly long total playing time of 67:54 minutes for the 10-track LP "Aretha Live At Fillmore West". This is because it doesn’t tell you that most tracks are extended in small ways – the Simon & Garfunkel cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" goes from 5:49 to 7:25 minutes, her own "Dr. Feelgood" is upped from 7:02 to 8:57 minutes, the final track "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)" goes from 2:39 to 5:03 minutes and so on. But while the CD label does quietly tell you that both "Spirit In The Dark" duets with guest RAY CHARLES are unedited versions – there are no track times. So the first "Spirit In The Dark" on Side 2 goes up from 5:20 to 7:24 minutes – but what it doesn’t say is that the Reprise entry leaps from 8:38 to a whopping 19:24 minutes. 


The legendary 1972 "Amazing Grace" Gospel Live Double-Album is even more convoluted. What you get here is "The Complete Recordings" issued 1999 by Rhino of the USA on Rhino R2 75627 – the full 27 performances Remastered and Unedited onto 2CDs. What that means is that the original 14-Track 2LP vinyl set of old which was pieced together from performances across both nights is actually spread across both CDs in higgledy-piggledy order. This reissue presents both shows as they were - Thursday and Friday nights, the 13th and 14th of January 1972 in strict play-list order with no nod towards how the original double-album we are all used to played out. So for fans, here is the way to acquire the original from this twofer reissue:
Side 1: Use Track 9 on CD2, 10 on CD 1, 8 on CD2 and 14 on CD1

Side 2: Use Tracks 9, 7 and 12 on CD1

Side 3: Use Tracks 8 on CD1, 11 on CD1, 11 on CD2 and 7 on CD2

Side 4: Use Tracks 5 on CD1, 6 on CD1 and 10 on CD2


To the contents - of course the real beauty with something like this is the discovery. I recall after the late 60ts flourish of genius where it seemed like she was releasing a winner every couple of months - Soul fans and their interest waned a little. British fans probably dipped their feet into the Gospel joy of "Amazing Grace" from 1972 and not much else. LPs like "Spirit In The Dark" (1970), "Young, Gifted And Black" (1972), "Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky)" (1973) and even the "Sparkle" soundtrack from 1976 with Curtis Mayfield are full of Soulful nuggets a-begging to be rediscovered. I've already reviewed the amazing "Rare And Unreleased Recordings..." double CD set from 2007 - here in its entirety. With studio dialogue pre some of the takes, you feel like you are literally eavesdropping on magic being made – and how cool is it to see that retrospective in a gatefold Mini LP Card Sleeve.


The guest musicians list is impressive too to say the least – Bobby Womack, Ray Charles, Billy Preston, Spooner Oldham, King Curtis, The Memphis Horns, Jimmy Johnson, Joe South, Cornell Dupree, Curtis Mayfield, Duane Allman, The Sweet Sensations, Erma and Carolyn Franklin, Bernard Purdie and so many more - all alongside the capable hands of Producer/Arranger legends like Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin.


Niggles: for sure the title carefully avoids the word complete so this box set doesn't contain five later Atlantic albums like "With Everything I Feel In Me", "You", "Sweet Passion", "Almighty Fire" or "La Diva" from 1974 through to 1979. Nor does it have a decent fact-filled booklet, which it’s crying out for, or indeed the Mono mixes of those Sixties LPs. But with the sheer amount of quality on offer here that wish list feels like a completist gripe rather than an actual negative. Better to concentrate of what we do have – huge swathes of fab 60ts and 70ts Soul.


"The Atlantic Albums Collection" by Aretha Franklin is a beautiful little thing and like Rhino's similarly well-endowed 2012 Joni Mitchell box set "The Studio Albums 1969-1979" is frankly an embarrassment of classy musical riches (with aesthetically pleasing matt card sleeves repro'ing the original period-gorgeous artwork and quality mastering - both look and sound cool too). 

Got a few bob to spend on pressies for your hip-replaced loved one ("The Atlantic Albums Collection" is currently on Amazon in December 2019 for under £47.00 as new including P&P) – then look no further my myopic messieurs and mademoiselles. And thanks Lady Soul for your passionate voice, beliefs and Dr. Feelgood-sounds oh so sweet...

Saturday, 7 December 2019

"Everybody's In Show-Biz - Everybody's A Star" by THE KINKS - 1972 2LP Set on RCA Victor Records (3 June 2016 UK/Europe RCA/Legacy 2CD LEGACY EDITION with 17 Bonus Tracks – Vic Anesini Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...







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"...Unreal Reality..."

In a new interview conducted with renowned writer David Fricke in 2016 - principal songwriter RAY DAVIES and heart of THE KINKS, explains things used to be easier. Back in their 60ts heyday, the famously caustic British band would tour the States for maybe three weeks – but in 1972 after a prolonged four-year absence from American stages – gigging lasted nearly three months. Five lads in their mid-20s grinding through day-after-day of "...anonymous hotels, fleeting acquaintances and desperate homesickness..." atop product demands (give us an album a year or else) and the usual daytime radio promotions from people pretending to be interested. But that touring strain see-sawing with up and down emotions, creative splurges and a triumphant March 1972 live-sets at New York's Carnegie Hall (Sides 3 and 4 of the original double-album) set up what many now feel is one of the band's truly great 70ts pieces - the 2LP "Everybody's In Show-Biz - Everybody's A Star" (actually shortened to just "Everybody's In Showbiz" for American copies). For sure, it was not greeted with genuflection at the time by everyone – well in show-biz – but time has been kinder to the difficult Seventies.

As legend would have it and with titles like "Sitting in My Hotel Room", "Motorway" and "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" - the double album was to be a concept piece and film about life on the road for our Celluloid Heroes initially entitled "The Colossal Shirt". Named after an elaborately embroidered cowboy shirt Ray Davies wore on stage most nights during late 1971, this (wisely discarded) moniker was in itself a line taken from John Schlesinger's 1969 film masterpiece "Midnight Cowboy" starring Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman and Brenda Vaccaro. There is a filmic quality to the songs and especially the deep and voluminous amount of lyrics – which brings us to this rather fab 2016 twofer reissue on RCA/Legacy as a LEGACY EDITION.

Fans will know that the last decent digital go at "...Show-Biz..." was the expensive and now deleted US Box Set "RCA Years" – six SACD Remasters by Bob Ludwig and Alan Silverman issued 31 October 2006 on Koch Records. That variant turned up two new previously unreleased live tracks from the original March 1972 gigs at Carnegie Hall that made up Sides 3 and 4 of the original double - "'Til The End Of The Day" and "She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina". This new definitive June 2016 'LEGACY EDITION' gives us those two bonuses back again (Tracks 1 and 12 on CD2) along with a juicy 15 more Previously Unreleased cuts on that same disc. The 21-track double-album from 1972 is on CD1 with the whole twofer shebang newly remastered by ace Audio Engineer VIC ANESINI - a name many admire and trust. Long-time Kinks catalogue associate ANDREW SANDOVAL put the package together (he did all the Deluxe Editions for Universal covering their Pye Years) and is even issued on VINYL as a truncated 3LP set (see below). Here are the finite details...

UK released 6 June 2016 (same date USA) - "Everybody's In Show-Biz" by THE KINKS on RCA/Legacy 88875112362 (Barcode 888751123625) is a LEGACY EDITION 2CD Reissue and Remaster with Fifteen Previously Unreleased Tracks (Plus Two 2006 Rarities) that plays out as follows:

Disc One THE ORIGINAL ALBUM (71:19 minutes):
1. Here Comes Yet Another Day [Side 1]
2. Maximum Consumption
3. Unreal Reality
4. Hot Potatoes
5. Sitting In My Hotel
6. Motorway [Side 2]
7. You Don't Know My Name
8. Supersonic Rocket Ship
9. Look A Little On The Sunny Side
10. Celluloid Heroes
11. Top Of The Pops (Live) [Side 3]
12. Brainwashed (Live)
13. Mr. Wonderful (Live)
14. Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues (Live)
15. Holiday (Live)
16. Muswell Hillbilly (Live) [Side 4]
17. Alcohol (Live)
18. Banana Boat Song (Live)
19. Skin And Bone (Live)
20. Baby Face (Live)
21. Lola (Live)
Tracks 1 to 21 make up their tenth album "Everybody's In Show-Biz - Everybody's A Star" - a 2LP set released 26 August 1972 in the USA as "Everybody's In Showbiz" on RCA Victor VPS-6065 and 2 September 1972 in the UK as "Everybody's In Show-Biz - Everybody's A Star" on RCA Victor DPS 2035. It didn't chart in the UK, but peaked at No. 70 in the USA.

Disc Two BONUS TRACKS (62:22 minutes):
1. 'Til The End Of The Day (Live)
2. You're Looking Fine (Live)
3. Get Back In Line (Live)
4. Have A Cuppa Tea (Live)
5. Sunny Afternoon (Live)
6. Muswell Hillbilly (Live)
7. Brainwashed (Live)
8. Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues (Live)
9. Holiday (Live)
10. Alcohol (Live)
11. Complicated Life (Live)
12. She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina (Live)
13. Long Tall Shorty (Live)
14. History (Studio Outtake)
15. Supersonic Rocket Ship (Alternate Mix)
16. Unreal Reality (Alternate Mix)
17. Sophisticated Lady (Rehearsal For Early Version of "Money Talks")
Tracks 1 and 12 first appeared as Previously Unreleased Album Outtakes on the "RCA Years" 6xSACD Box Set issued 31 October 2006 in the USA on Koch Records VEL-CD-79821 (Barcode 634677982125)
Tracks 2 to 11 and 13 to 17 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED [15 in total]
Tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 recorded 2 March 1972 at Carnegie Hall, NYC
Tracks 3 and 13 recorded 3 March 1972 at Carnegie Hall, NYC
Track 14 recorded 1 March 1972 at Carnegie Hall, NYC
Track 15 recorded 9 February 1972 at Morgan Studios, Willesden in London
Track 16 recorded 1 June 1972 at Morgan Studios, Willesden in London
Track 17 recorded 22 March 1973 at Morgan Studios, Willesden in London

There is a 3LP VINYL variant of the 6 June 2016 'Legacy Edition' of "Everybody's In Show-Biz" by THE KINKS on RCA/Legacy Edition 88875193561 (Barcode 888751935617). It puts the double-album on Discs 1 and 2 with a truncated third LP containing 9 of the 17 cuts on the second disc of the 2CD Legacy Edition set. Using Disc Two above, the nine song titles on LP3 are, Side 1: Tracks 1 to 5, Side 2: Tracks 11, 13, 14 and 15. Fans will note that Side 1 of the third LP is live while Side 2 has alternate mixes of album tracks including the recently discovered studio outtake, "History".

The 28-page booklet recreates the lyrics that adorned the inner gatefold whilst the new DAVID FRICKE liner notes feature a Ray Davies interview and the text peppered with live photos of the band as they toured the USA, magazine reviews and a two-page memorabilia spread towards the end. There is a repro of the rare Dutch picture sleeve for the 45 "Celluloid Heroes" b/w "Hot Potatoes" on Page 12 and of course full track-by-track credits on the last pages. But the big news is the VC ANESINI Remasters – an Audio Engineer who is normally associated with Sony/BMGs vast back catalogue – Elvis Presley, Paul Simon, Santana, Byrds, Nilsson, Mott The Hoople, Moby Grape, Laura Nyro, The Jayhawks, Simon and Garfunkel, Aerosmith, Spirit and many more. He’s done a bang-up job here because this is the best I’ve heard these recordings sound. Let’s get to the miserable mattresses...

In the Glam Rock/Prog Rock landscape of approaching summer 1972 , I suppose you couldn't blame RCA for trying the Caribbean Islands friendly rhythms of "Supersonic Rocket Ship" as a lead-off 7" single. Released May 1972 in the UK with another album cut "You Don't Know My Name" as its B-side (RCA Victor RCA 2211) - it didn't raise pulses let alone booties on the dancefloor. Far better but inexplicably late to the party after the double-album's release (2 Sep 1972 in Blighty) - RCA went again with a firm fan fave-rave in late November 1972, the full 6:02 minutes of "Celluloid Heroes" b/w "Hot Potatoes" on the flip. This wistfully strummed winner opens with "Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star...In every house and on every street...their names are written in concrete..." Even now it seems absolutely extraordinary that this singalong ballad was ignored - a commercial 45 failure that shouldn't have been and therefore I suspect grated even worse. And I suppose if you were to niggle even more (especially given the playing-time room on Disc Two), RCA could have included the American 45 edit of "Celluloid Heroes" on this Legacy Edition which running at 4:39 minutes is also said to be a remix according to some sources - but alas.

Optical illusions as far as the eyes can see, bemoans Ray on the New Orleans brass of "Unreal Reality" (not one of his best I think) - while our hero sits thinking of the countryside in "Sitting In My Hotel" - watching the world go by - perhaps thinking of The Beatles with those brass overlays in the mix. He's got no time to use the John in the sexy guitar/harmony vocal opener "Here Comes Another Day" and its very hard to please the people all the time in the decidedly acidic "Look A Little On The Sunny Day" where Ray advises what you need to be a success in pop is a 'happy wappy song'.

I suppose what threw people was the 'live' Sides 3 and 4, where it feels like a different band to me at times and on a different emotional tip. Things open up with a kicking "Top Of The Pops" where Ray reckons this songwriting thing might turn into a steady job with some help from the BBC and the NME (don't count your chickens Douglas). But what gets me even now is that you can 'feel' the band is on fire with songs like "Holiday" - like they know they've got the metrial if only they can get someone to listen to it - even if some of the other tunes feel just a tad too flippant – like the show is more a Jethro Tull-ish pantomime than a Rock concert. Speaking of "History", the unheard studio cut is 5:20 minutes of primo 'dirty hotel' Kinks that compliments an Alternate Mix of "Supersonic Rocket Ship" where the feel is more McGuinness Flint and Slim Chance strummed banjo and mandolin than the steel drums that seep through the LP version.

"Everybody's In Show-Biz" is a really cool 2CD Legacy Edition in THE KINKS reissue catalogue (I've also reviewed "Muswell Hillbillies") - and it's currently selling for less than eight squid on Amazon (December 2019, use the Barcode provided above to locate the correct issue). 

Time to dig in again methinks and reassess this misunderstood and ignored silver screen of the Seventies...

Thursday, 5 December 2019

"Eat A Peach" by THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND – Double-Album from February 1972 on Capricorn Records – Featuring Duane and Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson (October 1997 UK Capricorn Classics CD Reissue – Suha Gur Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...





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"...Dedicated To A Brother..."

Always somehow the dribbling younger brother to the puff-chested mighty older sibling of "...Live At Fillmore East" from 1971 (their real breakthrough moment) - February 1972's double-album farewell to the cruelly taken Duane Allman is nonetheless the Allmans classic I return to more than even "Brothers And Sisters" (a 1973 LP I adore). 

Like most guys of my age, I love a good double-album. And here it sits in a Bezos warehouse for a paltry three quid in a top notch CD remaster – soiled, unloved and forgotten like a December 2019 election manifesto promise to lob untold billions with financial abandon at some tiresomely worthy cause or other (like pesky nurses wanting a proper wage or those women with whiskers wanting a new pair of slippers come the cold spell). Oh dear...let's get to the mountainous jams my desert-island darlings...

UK released 14 October 1997 (reissued July 1998) - "Eat A Peach" by THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND on Capricorn 531 261-2 (Barcode 731453126121) is part of their 'Capricorn Classics' Remastered CD Series and offers the entire 9-Track February 1972 part Live/part Studio double-album onto 1 CD. It plays out as follows (69:56 minutes):

1. Ain't Wastin' Time No More [Side 1]
2. Les Brers In A Minor
3. Melissa
4. Mountain Jam (Theme From "There Is A Mountain") [Sides 2 and Side 4 - see Notes]
5. One Way Out [Side 3]
6. Trouble No More
7. Stand Back
8. Blue Sky
9. Little Martha
Tracks 1 to 9 make up the double-album "Eat A Peach" - released February 1972 in the USA on Capricorn 2CP 0102 and in the UK on Capricorn K 67501.
NOTES: On the original vinyl 2LP set the live "Mountain Jam" was spread across Side 2 and 4 clocking in at 19:37 and 15:06 minutes respectively; on this Capricorn Classics CD reissue it has been amalgamated into one track at 33:41 minutes and placed as Track 4 overall. Tracks 4, 5 and 6 were recorded live at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East venue in New York – the other six studio cuts at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida. Produced by TOM DOWD - the double-album peaked at No. 4 in the US LP charts in 1972 (didn't chart UK).

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND was:
GREGG ALLMAN - Lead Vocals, Organ, Piano
DUANE ALLMAN - Lead and Slide Guitar (Tracks 4 to 8, Acoustic Guitar on Tracks 8 and 9)
DICKEY BETTS - Lead and Slide Guitars (Tracks 1 to 9 - Acoustic Guitar on Track 9)
BERRY OAKLEY - Bass
BUTCH TRUCKS - Drums and Percussion (Tracks 1 to 6 and 8)
JAI JOHANNY JOHANSON - Drums and Congas (Tracks 1, 2 and 7 - Drums only on Tracks 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8)

The three-leafed double-side foldout inlay reproduces the Jim Holmes and David Powell painting artwork that graced the inner gatefold along with those song-by-song musician credits/original double-album recording data details that were on the insert. There are no new liner notes - mores the pity. The see-through CD spine sports the Capricorn Classics Logo, as does the inlay beneath the CD tray. Adequate but not too much to write home about for sure – still the SUHA GUR Remaster is superb - especially on those cool studio cuts like "Stand Back", "Melissa" and the short but gorgeous acoustic farewell from Duane - "Little Martha".

April 1972 saw the slick sliding peach that is the Side 1 opener "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" issued as a US 45 on Capricorn CPR 0003 with Gregg's truly lovely "Melissa" as its flipside. Personally, I can't help thinking that "Melissa" would have been the better A - but whatever way you look at musical history - in my book - CRP 0003 is one those fabulous 45s where both sides rock - where both sways are equally brill. The gargantuan "Mountain Jam" is either a test-your-patience moment or testament to their Blues-Rock genius - probably a bit of both if truth be told. For sure in 2019 it's a brave soul indeed who can last the half-hour in full - but I still love it - especially Duane's playing that starts to explode from about 8 minutes in and that interplay between him and Betts. Betts would of course come to songwriting fruition with stuff "Jessica" on the Brothers And Sisters LP in 1973, but you can so hear how in 1972 he was already the unsung hero in the band overshadowed by his buddy's loss (he contributed "Blue Sky"). Their cover of Elmore James' "One Way Out" and the Muddy Waters classic "Trouble No More" allow the trio of guitar players to strut their rockin' Bluesy stuff. Gregg and Berry Oakley co-write the fab "Stand Back" - a Rock band in the 70ts getting funky while the album ends on the beautiful duetting acoustic guitars of Gregg and Dickey - 2:07 minutes of sweetness in "Little Martha".

You can't help think that between 1970 and 1973 - this Southern Boogie Rock band were on fire and of course led the way for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Grinderswitch and even The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Few bands could produce two double albums year after year that remain essential to this day - but then the combo of talent that was The Allman Brothers Band was always that little bit special...

INDEX - Entries and Artist Posts in Alphabetical Order