Thanks for the clip, robertdee.  Reminds me of why I never bought, and have never even listened to, Brothers Of The Road.  That is NOT The Allman Brothers Band.  I could barely get through the tune.  But hey, musicians gotta make a living, and ABB's brand of blues/rock/jazz was out of favor at that point in time.  Hard to blame Clive Davis.

That being said, Clive Davis was an absolute legend who launched the careers of many, many more artists than the four you named here.

@robslob Yes when I read a larger notice of Davis' death yesterday afternoon there was a long list of well received artists with whom he was involved. Very impressive list of famous artists. 

Said he began his record company career as a lawyer for Columbia Records. Clive couldn't sing or play an instrument but had an ear for talent. 

The section I wrote yesterday about his involvement with the Allman Brothers Band was not in the notice of his death. That was from my memory of those times. 

I have an old Circus magazine with a picture of Dickey and Clive talking while sitting in chairs and the article was about Dickey signing his new solo band with Arista as Dickey had grown uncomfortable with Phil Walden. 

Dickey had recently quit the Allman Brothers Band over Gregg's testimony in the Scooter Herring drug trial. 

Unfortunately Dickey's Arista albums didn't sell well. Especially the second one, Atlanta Is Burning Down, which didn't sell a hundred thousand copies. Davis was expecting something similar to Brothers and Sisters record sales ( 7 million copies ) and thought Dickey was who was behind that success. 

The Allman Brothers Band got back together in 1978 and Capricorn's Enlightened Rogues sold almost a million copies and was certified Gold. 

But Dickey decided Phil Walden owed him money from Brothers and Sisters and others and sued Capricorn and won a north of seven figures settlement which caused others to file and forced Capricorn into bankruptcy. 

It was noted in the press the arrangement the ABB had with Phil Walden was actually a conflict of interest. Phil Walden was the manager and co-owner along with the original six of the Allman Brothers Band. Yet Phil was also the owner of the band's record lable and promotional team. 

When the Allman Brothers manager was negotiating with their record lable for the best deal possible, the band's management was negotiating with itself as their manager also owned the record company. So more likely the best deal wasn't for the band but for Phil Walden. 

Dickey did go to Phil Walden's funeral and acknowledged in an interview Phil and his money was huge in the Allman Brothers Band success because Duane Allman and the other band members didn't have any money and no connections with a record lable except Gregg with Liberty Records which sucked. With Liberty you recorded the songs they gave you or you didn't record. Dickey said he and the other band members didn't have any money at all and that is why they all lived together and toured in whatever Phil Walden bought them including their sound system and ate with their Phil Walden tour allowance. 

Gregg later said " When my brother was alive it was ' be careful with you meal money. Don't run out before this leg of the tour' then when Duane died the money began pouring in and it was ' order anything you want boys'"

It's understandable Duane Allman signed such a deal as the musicians didn't have any money but wanted to play live tours and record. 

Dickey after the Phil Walden bankruptcy offered the Allman Brothers Band to Clive Davis but Reach For the Sky failed to go gold and Clive Davis, as he said, was in the record business first and foremost and wanted his artists to move a lot of records. Davis moved in and demanded they modernize their sound and how they dress and write some songs designed for Top 40 radio airplay and Clive brought in John Ryan take over the next recording session. 

The album was Brothers of the Road but rebels Dickey and Butch still had their cowboy hats on their heads on the cover. And it sold worse than Reach For The Sky. 

Gregg, Dickey and Butch refused to follow Clive Davis' demands then and they owed him one more album per the contract and Davis refused to let them record an album their way. 

As we know they then backed the band out of the 80's, Gregg took the Toler Brothers and hit the road. Dickey took Chuck Leavell and Butch Trucks as Dickey Betts and Friends which evolved into Betts, Hall, Leavell and Trucks but that band and Gregg's band could not get a record deal from anybody. 

I'm not sure whether Clive Davis had anything to do with Gregg and Dickey not being able to sign with another lable but not as the Allman Brothers Band anyway as Clive Davis had the ABB tied up under contract. 

Finally Gregg was signed by Epic in 1987 after years of playing small venues and bars then they signed Dickey in 1988 too who was also back in small venues and clubs. I saw Gregg and Dickey together in 1986 in a club which held about 200 people. I stood on the dance floor with Dickey about 10 feet in front of me. Then when Gregg played Dan Toler was that close on the little stage. I got my ears folded back from Les Pauls and Marshalls:) The third set had Gregg and Dickey's bands merged for an Allman Brothers set. 

I'm not sure how Epic got the Allman Brothers Band away from Clive Davis but Epic eventually told Gregg and Dickey what they wanted was the Allman Brothers Band but they refused to record until the did a test drive on that 1989 tour as both Gregg, Dickey and Butch did not want to damage their legacy anymore than what had already happened during their time with Clive Davis. 

Obiviously they somehow got away from Clive Davis so they could record Seven Turns. 

Anyone know if Epic paid Clive or what? 

Signed the Outlaws at the urging of Ronnie Van Zant. 

A popular joke among television and movie production types is, "a producer is someone who doesn't know an F-stop from a bus stop".  There are a number of record producers who do not play music.  Seems odd, but there are folks like Rick Rubin, Jimmy Iovine and even the late, Clive Davis - all of whose musical instrument of choice is apparently the cash register. 

When Clive did good, he did great!  Whitney, Springsteen - it's a long list of great albums by great artists.

Hard (for me) to personally blame him for "bad" or low-selling albums.  I think the Allman Brother's Band - like many others, fell to the double-edged wish for higher record sales.  Clive likely just hired a producer and assigned him to the band.  Careful what you wish for.

There is an oft-used quote (so often, I don't know the originator) that says something like, "if you do things the same way you've been doing them forever - don't expect different results".  Not an accurate quote, but words to that effect.  I can imagine Clive and the producer advising the band to rethink their traditional approach.  This can work, but usually the band or artist starts sounding like EVERY OTHER ACT on the radio.  I have friends who can't discern Journey from REO Speedwagon etc.

Most every ABB fan groans at the mention of the Arista years.  My own gripe - some good stuff in there (you gotta dig) but it just doesn't sound like the Allman Brother's Band.

RIP to Clive Davis.  Thanks for the good stuff.  

@rusty The Doobie Brothers changed their basic sound with the addition of Michael McDonald and brought new fans to the record store. 

Fleetwood Mac changed and became bigger. Even huge. 

Didn't work for the ABB but you are right. Some of the Arista tracks are not bad. 

In 1990 Warren Haynes recommended the band go back to square one and have an approach like the original band. It worked critically but record sales were not huge but were decent. 

Where It All Begins was the only one to go Gold ( 500,000 plus copies) and none went Platinum ( 1 million plus copies ). 

But all the post 1990 albums sold decently except Peakin' At the Beacon and One Way Out their last album which also was live. 

One Way Out was released in 2004 I think and that was the last new album the band released not counting special release things such as the Fox Box. 

They played their last 11 years with no new studio album with Gregg occasionally claiming they would do another and Butch saying they would not. 

Gregg eventually said in an interview around 2008 they are going back in the studio and will WITHOUT Butch Trucks if necessary. But it didn't happen. 

@robertdee:  Hittin' The Note (2003) was the last record they did of original material.  Instrumental Illness got a Grammy nomination for best instrumental but lost to Jeff Beck.  Google says:

"The album peaked at number 37 on the Billboard 200. Sales are generally estimated to be in the tens of thousands worldwide, a modest total typical of latter-day rock catalog titles, with archival database estimates tracking around 60,000 equivalent units." 

In other words, it didn't exactly sell like hotcakes.  But I love that record, and it was universally praised by critics.  Google also says that airplay was extremely poor for Hittin' The Note.  No One To Run With was ALL over the airways, which is probably why Where It All Begins sold 500,000 copies.

@robslob Yes "Where It All Begins " sold north of 500,000 copies earning a Gold record award for band members. It was the ONLY album studio or new live material album ( First Set, Second Set, Peakin' At the Beacon, One Way Out) to sell over 500,000 copies and I guess you are correct. The big airplay " No One Left To Run With " got is the biggest reason. Ramblin' Man being such a big hit single is probably why Brothers and Sisters sold 7 million copies. They never had as album sell like that before or afterwards. I've read the band was going to record a Bob Dylan song for that spot on the album but Kirk West suggested No One To Run With as he remembered it from Dickey's 1982 solo band. 

And it's claimed by Butch Trucks that Warren Haynes brought Rocking Horse to the band and he ( Butch liked it and gave it his approval) was expecting it to be on the album but Dickey had one titled Mean Woman Blues and demanded it be on the album instead and refused to discuss it further with Butch which Butch said pissed him off big time as Rocking Horse was a much better song. 

I remember Butch saying on his blog Hitting The Note sold about 200,000 copies. Maybe that was how many they pressed. See the band put that album out itself. They didn't have a record deal then.  Whatever it was Butch didn't see the point of the band spending the money to put out another studio album if it wasn't going to sell much especially since the band was doing very well with live shows. Thought the band was mostly a live act now which sells seats very well. 

Butch was rather adamant on his blog the band was through with new studio albums. Some years later Gregg said in an interview they will record a new album and WITHOUT Butch Trucks if necessary. Interesting thing for Gregg to say. But it didn't happen. 

"Firing Line got a lot of airplay on the two album rock stations I could pick up here and I assumed it did across the country. 

I thought it was a good song and track. My favorite in the album. 

It sounds like something the original band would have done. 

I couldn't get radio stations in Kansas City to play anything from Hitting the Note. I spoke to several people at several stations, excuses was all I got. it just wasn't happening. Perhaps with a big label record company behind them it would've happened. 

@kcjimmy Butch Trucks wasn't happy with the push the ABB was getting from Epic and Butch, Gregg and Dickey wanted a better deal with Epic including the band's cut. Epic wasn't interested in renegotiating so the ABB chose not to record a new studio album to finish their contract. By 1999 both sides agreed the ABB could fulfill the last album with a live release recorded at the Beacon and the band could move on. 

I think that is when the band decided to put out there own studio album which became Hitting The Note and getting out from under Dickey perhaps inspired Gregg and Butch also to do a studio album with no songs from Dickey as Butch didn't care for some of the songs Dickey put on Where It All Begins and he and Gregg didn't care for Tombstone Eyes, JJ's Alley and Rave On which Dickey added to the sets in the late 90's. Butch and Gregg didn't mention those songs by name in interviews but they said they didn't like what Dickey was putting in the sets and those are the three that I remember from the late 90's. 

Peakin' At the Beacon came out but Epic didn't promote it at all, it got no airplay, didn't chart and I understand sold less than 30,000 copies in the US making it the least selling new ( not archival or compilation ) album the band ever had.

To me the album produced by the band and Bud Snyder, sounds like a good sound board recording and NOT where a remote truck was put outside. There is something a bit cheap sounding, for lack of a better word, about  Peakin' At The Beacon I think.

But the band was done with Epic, a lable that did give Gregg in 1987 and Dickey in 1988 an invitation to sign and record, the first such opportunity for them since 1981. Both men went through most of the 1980's without a record label.   I'm not sure how they got out of the third album for Clive Davis. Maybe Epic worked it out as Gregg said it wasn't long until Epic wanted the Allman Brothers to record and that Gregg thought that was why Epic didn't give Just Before The Bullets Fly and Pattern Disruptive the support those albums needed. They pushed I'm No Angel the year before strong and it sold over 500,000 and went gold. 

So Hitting The Note not having a big label behind it probably did hurt. 

Phil Walden's lable Capricorn struck a deal to be promoted and distributed by Atlantic. I'm not sure why they made a change, but after At Fillmore East, Capricorn signed a new distribution deal with Warner Bros. starting with Eat A Peach and Eat A Peach became their first to sell over a million copies. At Fillmore East eventually did later. 

I was reading an interview with Tommy Lee of Motley Crue and he talked about their first lable Electra and how the suites came in when they were recording their first album rejecting some songs and wanting others to be shorter for top 40 radio. Said if a song was like Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd and wasn't ripping your face off in the first three minutes they gave it the thumbs down and stopped it before the big kick on the song kicked in like Free Bird does. 

Lee said after that first album they refused to let the suites at Electra in the studio. They made it clear they were to stay out!! Lee said they were not musicians and did not write music or lyrics and were only motivated by expanding their bank accounts by ripping on bands. 

Unlike what Clive Davis did to the Allman Brothers, Electra didn't refuse to allow Crue to record their way, stayed out and they finished their contract with Electra and with the label's good luck wishes Motley Crue moved on to another lable. 

They had some internal band members suing each other later on but I won't get into that.