Guest Book

Check out this glib bio of the ABB from the music section of http://www.roughguides.com/music/: THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Formed Macon, Georgia, 1969; disbanded 1976; re-formed 1978; disbanded 1982; re-formed 1991.This is a story of sex, drugs and Cher. The Allman Brothers Band are a barely walking concordance of rock lore, open to heroin and hatred, murdered tunes and murdered people. The brainchild of whizzkid guitarist Duane Allman, the band initiated the 70s Southern rock boom that would result in R.E.M.’s world domination. They paid the price, but made some classic rock along the way. Duane was born in Nashville on November 20, 1946, and soaked up the music of the South as his military family moved from state to state. When not tearing around Daytona Beach on his motorcycle, he studied B. B. King and Coltrane. The blond brothers Duane and Gregg (vocals/organ) hung with black musicians – a no-no in the segregated South – and formed the Allman Joys, Brit-invasion blues boomers with a Florida drawl. Gregg shot himself in the foot to avoid the draft and the band toured the garbage circuit before landing a deal with West Coast label Liberty. As Hourglass they recorded two hopeless albums in 1968, and split. Gregg’s whisky-soaked vocals gave him continued employment at Liberty, while Duane worked as a sideman at the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama, coaxing from his bottleneck a battery of tones for anyone from Wilson Pickett to Delaney and Bonnie. When asked how he’d become so ***** hot, he replied, ‘Man, I took speed every night for three years and practised.’ Otis Redding’s manager Phil Walden came out of retirement to snap him up. Duane preferred working off others to composing. He was searching for a new music in a wilderness of jamming. The Allman Brothers Band became his knights: Gregg, Dickey Betts (guitar/vocals), Berry Oakley (bass), Butch Trucks (drums) and Otis Redding’s old drummer Jaimoe Johanson – Duane wanted two drummers to provide the muscle of James Brown’s band. He got a spiritual brotherhood whose bond was such that each tattooed a mushroom to his ankle to reflect their taste for psychedelics. These good ole boys could turn the blues into a rainbow. The pot of gold was at the end of every two-bit dive with a stage, and they played them all. Opportunity knocked when Bill Graham made them fixtures at his two Fillmore venues. They adopted Macon, Georgia, as their home, composing in the local graveyard. The Allmans’ gumbo of jazzy improvisation and apocalyptic ballads respected their Delta roots, explored the hallucinogenic future, and made more sense the more you inhaled. They walked a razor edge, with Duane as an unhinged Aguirre, bullying and cajoling Gregg to greater songwriting heights. THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND (1969) and IDLEWILD SOUTH (named after the Macon mansion the group shared) were as smooth as a cotton gin. Their real heart lay between the grooves of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS AT FILLMORE EAST (1971), a double LP dominated by the sweaty side-long mantra “Whipping Post”. By 1970 they were the American band – a Dead unafraid to boogie. Duane sat in on Eric Clapton’s LAYLA (1970) sessions, too, and dominated the whole album. The great “Layla” riff and closing slide symphony were his, a tribute to Charlie Parker. A motorcycle crash unplugged his amp in 1971, and a shattered Berry Oakley died in a similar accident a year later. The bereaved band remained on the road and attached to a drip-feed of drugs and nymphets, relying on an unruly Mafia of roadies (pictured on the back of the FILLMORE EAST album) to keep them alive. Gregg went from Duane’s whipping post to a drug-filled punching bag, getting it together to record EAT A PEACH (1973) – a grab bag of new and live tunes featuring Duane. “Mountain Jam”, his variations on a theme by Donovan, took up an entire disc. The Allmans still had the courage to make a sterling album like BROTHERS AND SISTERS (1973), but they also made do with slop like WIN, LOSE OR DRAW (1975). Live, they still smoked – with Chuck Leavell (piano) replacing Duane – and played to 600,000 people at the 1973 Watkins Glen Summer Jam. Betts took over the songwriting. His “Rambling Man” reached #2 in the US that year and kept the band afloat and poppy. Manager Walden also ran their Capricorn record company, and screwed them out of royalties. Endless touring paid the bills. But Jaimoe’s jazz leanings pissed off the conservative Betts. Ructions formed. Tired of the view from a Greyhound bus, Gregg fled to LA and married Cher in 1975. The marriage broke up pretty well instantly when he started demanding she call him ‘Mr Allman’ – when he was around, that is, because Gregg could disappear for days, searching out his next fix. Fans got their kicks from the smelly hillbillyisms of Lynyrd Skynyrd, while lame solo projects like Gregg’s PLAYIN’ UP A STORM, DICKEY BETTS AND GREAT SOUTHERN, and Leavell and Jaimoe’s SEA LEVEL filled the bargain bins. The final straw came in 1976 when Gregg testified against his personal pusher Scooter Herring, in return for amnesty. The band now barely spoke to each other, but let Gregg know that he might as well have loosened the screws on Duane’s Harley. The fans were similarly disgusted, although they still turn out in their Stars and Bars-bedecked droves for the frequent cash-register-ringing ‘reunions’ that end with one or more members storming off stage midset. Record sales, if not fraternity, got them inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It was recognition that, in 1970, the Allmans handed the South their pride and musical heritage, while reaching heights many other bands only dreamt of (stand up, Black Oak Arkansas). Losing their most inspiring members was their Gettysburg, and they have toured with the looks of ghosts and the grudge of the defeated ever since. CD Recommendations Beginnings (1974; Capricorn). CD The first two albums – ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND and IDLEWILD SOUTH– on one CD. Standout track is “Whipping Post”, Gregg’s acute analysis of his relationship with Duane, who responds with lashings of guitar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Allman Brothers At Fillmore East (1971; Capricorn). CD On the nights of March 12 and 13, 1971, Duane could have turned water into Old Thunderbird. The voodoo atmosphere is as heavy as swamp gas, and the Allmans play like the future of the Confederacy depended on it. Tobacco juice in the eye for those who say all live albums are crap. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eat A Peach (1973; Capricorn). CD A version of a Donovan song longer than his entire career? Fans swear by it. On “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” the band acknowledged their loss while making felt their intentions to storm heaven in search of their muse. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brothers And Sisters (1973; Capricorn). CD The post-Duane Allman Brothers delivered only once. “Rambling Man” is deft and evocative and, if “Jessica” didn’t exist, car manufacturers would have had to create it. Take the top down!