@martind28 It was written by Jackson Brown. First time I heard it was on a 1967 album by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and it lists J. Brown as the writer. Tom Rush had it out about the same time. I had that album years ago. I think I borrowed it. 

@porkchopbob Thanks man. You cleared up some confusion for me. I always thought the entire album was recorded in 1997 after Gregg was suppose to be sober. I was aware Gregg had brought in Tom Dowd.  Last time he and Gregg worked together I assume. 

The Whipping Post wasn't that bad to me. 

@robertdee oh yeah, I forgot it was a Jackson Brown tune!

Well Bob, you started an argument over Searching. 😛 

Let's talk about the Cher album next.

Two The Hard Way?

which DVD do you prefer, Back To Macon or All My Friends

which do you prefer, I’m No Angel or JBTBFly, LCBlues or Southern Blood.... 

....from the first 2 ABB albums, to the 2 Arista releases & An Evening With vs 2nd Set)...which one

.....which box set is preferential, Dreams, Stand Back or Trouble No More

which Melissa, w/Duane or from EAP etc & so forth

happy holiday folks🎵🤙🎶🙏

@stephen the thread is all about which you prefer, not which is better. Everyone here has different taste.

Posted by: @porkchopbob

@bird72

Hey, dude, I never said he was he was wrong, just expanding on my opinion - I thought I would clarify why I'm not as much of a fan of an album that many people here like. Sorry if you thought I was being definitive, but I don't feel like I have to preface everything with "subjectively speaking" - that is self-evident.

Also, I would not call Searching a "formulaic piece of disposable work", so maybe avoid embellishing when you paraphrase. As I said, I do enjoy a few tracks.

You sure did bash Simplicity, songs not worthy of Gregg, etc.  I will put my take on your bash any way I want, it's the internet.  If you can put up an opinion thread about Gregg's album rankings, then, "expand" by disagreeing with others, I certainly will.  I would expect people to laugh at me if I put up a Bird's ranking of GA albums, as if it was of some value.  

@bird72

Dude, chill. It's just a discussion, sharing opinions, and I even stated repeatedly that I expected disagreement. That's what these types of lists are all about. I was trying to encourage some discourse about our favorite music and I never did anything other than state my personal preference. I would actually love to hear your rankings - or anyone's for that matter.

I didn't take it personally that you didn't like LCB, for some reason you took it personally that I'm not a huge fan of Simplicity. But hey, it wouldn't be a HTN music discussion without someone getting all butthurt about it. Just like old times.

@robertdee:  Regarding your statement here, 

"What IS baffling to me is Johnny Sandlin saying Gregg was tanked everytime they worked on Simplicity because it came out in 1997 and in 1995 Gregg was so embarrassed about being drunk on TV when the band was in New York City for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when he saw them being inducted and the performance of One Way Out that he immediately checked in to rehab and got sober and stayed sober." 

Here's some inside information for you.  I know a lot of people have taken that statement by Gregg regarding getting sober after seeing the Hall of Fame show and interpreted it as gospel truth.  It's only partially true.  I met a lady in a club here in the Bay area a few years ago who was dating Gregg for a couple of years in the mid-90's.  We went out, just once.  She was not a bullsh*tter.  She has shown me pictures of herself from back then and it was easy to see why Gregg was smitten (she's still a looker at 68 years old).  Anyway, I asked her about Gregg's statement regarding getting sober after seeing the Hall of Fame show.  She said, "He stopped but he didn't quit."  I believe her, she's a straight shooter.  In other words, Gregg was stretching the truth.  I mean, it's very dramatic to say on the Dan Rather Interview that he saw himself on TV, had an epiphany and got straight for good.  He only got straight for a short time and then went back to using as he did SO many other times after going through rehab.  From all information I have ever heard, my best estimate is that Gregg didn't get clean until around 1998 or 1999.  And remember that's not long before Dickey was booted.  They wouldn't have had any legitimacy sending Dickey a fax saying he needed to clean up if Gregg was still using too.

@robslob I've read the same (I forget where), that Gregg's alcohol sobriety wasn't as immediate as he liked to claim in later years. It made for a good story, and some public figures who are more private like to control the narrative as best they can.

He was still getting baked, there's a radio interview from the mid-2000s where he is clearly high as a kite.

@porkchopbob:  By getting "baked" I hope you mean smoking weed.  And I consider that herbal medication, which I happen to use regularly myself in the form of edibles.  And when I get "baked" it's only when I have nothing to do but watch basketball on the tube like I was last night and have no reason to get in my car.  But any observer could probably tell I was high.

Posted by: @robslob

@porkchopbob:  By getting "baked" I hope you mean smoking weed.

For sure, I'm not sure what else that would, uh, refer to 😉

I think this is the interview I'm thinking of

Posted by: @porkchopbob

@stephen the thread is all about which you prefer, not which is better. Everyone here has different taste.

Yes, that’s just the point I was trying to make - that not one is really ‘better than’ the other (that’s where the NONE came in😮🤙) -

if one said, I like the Laid Back Deluxe Edition better than One More Try, I’d say, cool🤙 - same if vice versa too - as you say, everyone here has different taste

guess one’s preferences are what one thinks are better

@porkchopbob

Here is the Rolling Stones footage Gregg is talking about where Keith Richards takes off his Tele and smashes an excited fan in the face and the back of his head then puts the guitar back on and continues to play as if nothing was unusual. 

@robslob Thank you robslob.  Just noticed this. That is probably why Butch wasn't thinking and almost let the cat out of the bag in a much later interview when he mentioned Gregg's liver as big as a basketball and using drugs and the man said " I thought Gregg got clean, went straight to rehab, after he saw himself on TV at the Rock and Roll Hall induction in New York City?" And Butch quickly said " Well he takes a lot of prescription stuff". 

Yes Dickey wouldn't have gotten the fax in 2000 if Gregg was still a mess. Jaimoe wouldn't have voted for it.  It has since came out in bits and pieces from listening carefully to Gregg and Dickey and even Warren a little that Gregg was more tired of Dickey being mean and a bully and Butch was pissed because Dickey voted NO on ALL Butch's personal business plans involving the band. But both also said Dickey's drinking was messing up too many shows with too many clams and his amp getting louder and louder. Also Gregg admitted that he is aware there were those times when he, Gregg, should have been suspended or fired for being on stage blasted. 

Both Butch and Gregg said Dickey was fired early on by the other surviving original members. But later both admitted Jaimoe wouldn't agree to an actual dismissal so they faxed Dickey to get some help, to get into rehab then we'll get together after the summer tour and see if we want to continue the band. But Dickey got mad, hired a lawyer, claimed he was being impersonated and sued. When that was settled with an arbitrator Dickey walked out. So they decided Dickey quit, which is likely what he did, and they offered his spot to Jimmy Herring who turned it down. Gregg said he then called Warren and if Warren had said no Gregg was going to quit. 

Then by 2014 Gregg was sorry it happened and missed Dickey, began doing Southbound and mentioning Dickey's name on his solo shows and he and Dickey began speaking on the phone for the first time in 15 years. 

That is likely close to what happened I think. 

Wow if she still looks good at 68 then maybe I can find something. We could listen to the Allman Brothers and slow dance to Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra and talk about it if nothing else. 

I think I understand why David Gilmore turned down Roger Waters recently. Gilmore said at his age he doesn't want to do another stadium and large arena tour. Yeah at my age maybe it's safer to stay on the sidelines:)

It may have been mentioned, but I think I heard there are sessions or demos out there of Searching For Simplicity , that are supposedly better/difernt than the released product.

I liked Low Country Blues. I need to spin Southern Blood again.Its been awhile and was kinda hit or miss with me when I first got it.

@porkchopbob:  I just listened to the interview.  Man, you are SO right, Gregg sounds completely "baked".  Sounded like a lot of other folks (sometimes including myself) who love to talk and talk when they are stoned!

Of course we forgot the unreleased solo session Gregg Allman did in early 1969 in Los Angeles for Liberty Records. 

D. I. V. O. R. C. E.  is Gregg's cover of the Tammy Wynette  smash country hit. 

As I understand it The Hourglass owed Liberty Records one more album and though the first two sold less than 10,000 copies and the third album the band recorded for the lable was rejected, they still wanted their third album. Gregg told Liberty the band had broken up and his brother had left town. Liberty said that was fine. That he (Gregg) was the only one worth a darn and with any chance of making it so Gregg will record a third album. They will select the songs for the album and produce it or Liberty will file  lawsuits against everyone in the Hourglass. So Gregg had to do it. Gregg was embarrassed by the session and hoped it would never be released but decades later when the label put out the Hourglass CD some of Gregg's solo tracks were included. 

So I guess that 1969 Liberty Records session was actually Gregg's first solo effort. Who know if Liberty planned to release it as The Hourglass or Gregg Allman. 

But Liberty brought in musicians and background singers but chose not to release it. Liberty did re-release the first two Hourglass albums in 1973 and 4 after the huge success of the Brothers. 

Some of the 3rd album that Liberty rejected plus some of Duane's album with Berry Oakley were released on the Duane Allman Anthology albums.

Johnny Sandlin played drums on Duane's trio session instead of Jaimoe because Jaimoe had no studio experience and felt uncomfortable. 

I'm not certain if Duane let Phil Walden hear the songs recorded because Duane decided the trio idea Phil had wouldn't work. When Duane was ready for Phil to hear what he put together of course Duane showed up in Macon with a six piece band looking for $50,000.00 worth of equipment. Dickey said in the 1990's Phil wasn't expecting all that.

LCB never resonated with me, production, vocals, song selection, but I never could say it was a bad album.  The lack of songwriting was kind of sad as he went on in his career.  He came though with a winner on Southern Blood with My Only True Friend, pretty sad but deep and touching.  But on LCB, his writing effort with Warren, Just Another Rider, to me, is cringe worthy.  Catchy melody, but the lyrics play on the theme of "Just Ain't Easy", "End of the Line", "High Cost of Low Living".  The burned out rock star, who made bad choices, the bad boy pays.  But Just Another Rider took it to new levels, bringing in every cliche possible.  So hard for me to get excited about the album, when his only writing effort is such a formulated thing done before.  

I would love to see a re-release, and maybe expanded One More Try, never understood why it was pulled, and like many find it such an insight into GA.  I hope for more 69-73 Gregg to come out, when his vocals truly soared.

@bird72 I agree, "Just Another Rider" is just ok to me, like "Just Before the Bullets Fly" mixed with "Midnight Rider" mixed with "All Night Train". Warren goes to the same well pretty often as a writer too. Seems like so much material from Shades on is about overcoming addiction ("All Night Train", "End of the Line", "Devil's Sea", "Temptation is a Gun", "Old Before My Time", "High Cost", etc). I guess you write what you know.

"My Only True Friend" is a pretty great tune, but I think Scott Sharrard wrote it and Gregg just added a few finishing touches. Still, it fits Gregg like a glove. But most artists' outputs are a bell curve and fade with time (unless you're Clint Eastwood). Maybe Gregg just didn't have much left to say.

I'm glad I got my copy of One More Try when it came out. It was promising when the Laid Back Expanded Edition was released with some of that studio and demo material, maybe there's more to come.

I reall6 liked Low Country when it came out,in part as an interesting diversion.  When nothing else happened until Southern Blood I soured on it as a missed opportunity.

IMHO most of Gregg’s solo records are kinda half great, half filler. Even Laid Back sounds like they ran out of gas before they finished.  Simplicity could have been better with the Duct Tape version.  I think Playing Up A Storm holds up pretty well in retrospect, and if they could strip the ‘80’s effects out of Bullets it would be pretty decent 

Posted by: @linus

 I think Playing Up A Storm holds up pretty well in retrospect, and if they could strip the ‘80’s effects out of Bullets it would be pretty decent 

I agree on both counts.  I need to play Playing Up a Storm again, but my impression is a bit polished in style.  I think it is a solid album.  I think it underrated a little.  And Pork Chop Brother, as a completist I now need to get Gregg and Cher on vinyl.  Damn you I have never heard it through.  I don't seem to remember anybody in the old daze after weed and wine, pulling out the album, ha.  I expect to find a song or two I really dig, hearing now.  I particularly like the "Rhythm & Blues" Gregg stuff.  It was his real second niche after rock.  Again, this is entirely PCB's fault I am seeking the Cher vinyl.  I will love and hate you for it.  Thanks, I think

@bird72 I bought it in 1977 but haven't spun it in years. Let me think about it this weekend. Maybe I'll give it away. Never given up anything Gregg or ABB before. Gregg's vocals are good on it and of course Cher sounds like she always does. 

Two the Hard Way was the first album with Gregg NOT to make the charts since Power of Love by Hourglass.  It only sold about 25,000 copies so it probably is hard to find. 

I figured all the Cher fans would buy it so I was surprised it bombed in the record stores. 

Got home a little bit ago and put on Searching for Simplicity. I know a few in this thread disagree but I still think it is a great album. Not epic by any means but a nice, easy listening collection of songs. I wish he had played more of the songs at the live shows that I went to. He didn't really delve into the album when I saw him.

@lee. Gregg chose Jack Pearson to play electric guitar on the album Searching For Simplicity. Gregg bragged about Jack then and not long before his death pointing out that Jaimoe thought Jack's slide style was the closest to Duane Allman and Gregg agreed. 

I use to think it was Derek Trucks but lately people are telling me that Derek's style is clearly different than Duane. 

First time I saw Derek was at a small bar in High Point, N. C. and on songs such as Statesboro Blues I certainly heard a lot of Duane in Derek's playing. 

@robertdee Derek certainly studied Duane while learning, you can hear it hear and there, but his style is pretty different and uniquely his.

Gregg is one One More For The Fans. It's one of my favorite Gregg singing performances. 

Sometimes I wonder if it were not for Duane Allman and his energy and determination would we today even know who Gregg, Dickey, Butch, Jaimoe, Warren, Derek Trucks and several others are?

Dickey said he would like to think that his music was good enough to have found some way of getting recognize but if he hadn't been lucky enough to have been in the middle of what Duane and Berry and the other guys were doing would he have created the music he did create??

Gregg has been a guest singer on several albums too plus original songs for movie soundtracks. From singing on heavy metal guitarist Brad Gillis' album to singing on a Blues Travler album.

@robertdee I looked it up, and according to Wikipedia, Gregg had to go to rehab in 2012 because he apparently became addicted to his medication after his lung surgery in 2011. Luckily he got the help he needed and he was back to normal. Butchie probably meant the prescription drugs but misspoke at first.

This is a really cool ranking! I haven't listened to all of Gregg's solo albums, but I definitely agree with Laid Back and Low Country Blues.

I've listened to Allman and Woman after watching a YouTube review about it, and yeah...It's not good. It's a shame because Cher and Gregg are very talented musicians, but they couldn't make this album work. I don't think all the songs are bad, but a lot of them are just bizarre.