I guess I was somehow hoping against hope I wouldn’t have to
write this one, but when Gregg Allman entered hospice care last month, it
seemed inevitable.
I was late getting to the Allman Brothers. Growing up as a kid in the 1970s, the only
song that crossed onto the pop charts was “Ramblin’ Man,” and they were
struggling by the end of the decade (although their second top 40 hit, “Crazy
Love,” got significant airplay on AOR stations). By that time, two of the original band
members (lead/slide guitarist Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley) had died
in motorcycle accidents, and much of the rest of the band was plagued with
substance abuse issues and infighting.
After their original label Capricorn went bankrupt in 1979, they moved
to Arista for two poorly-received albums, then stayed apart for the rest of the
1980s. After Gregg Allman resurrected
his solo career, the band reunited with a new lead guitarist, Warren Haynes, signed
with Epic Records, and stayed together more or less through 2014, when Gregg’s
continuing health problems finally led to them calling it a day. (A long-time alcohol problem finally was conquered in
the mid-1990s, but the resulting liver transplant and other health issues
slowed him down.)
The Allman Brothers Band were more focused on live
performances than studio albums (of their 18 major-label releases between 1969
and 2004 excluding hits sets, six and a half were live, and they’ve released 11
retrospective performance albums as well).
The result is a greatest-hits set may not serve all that well as an
introduction to the band. They were also
known for their extended jams – I’m listening to a shuffle play as I write
this, and six of the live songs on the shuffle are over ten minutes long,
including “Mountain Jam” from the Fillmore
Concerts set, which clocks in at 33 minutes and 58 seconds. So the thing to do might be to start with a
greatest hits set, then move on to a live album or two. (At present my collection includes four live
albums, three greatest hits sets, and two studio albums – and come to think of
it, the two studio albums are on an omnibus set.)
This one isn’t all-inclusive, but it sure is good:
This one isn’t all-inclusive, but it sure is good:
This was released just after the CD era started, and Polydor
(who inherited the Capricorn catalogue after the label fell apart) did the job
pretty well. It’s a single disk, coming
in at over 75 minutes with 16 songs, two of which are live. There are no extended jams, but all of the
versions are full length, and it shows the band in their best period. It’s $12.49 for the download on Amazon and
$12.99 on iTunes, but it’s just $3.99 for the physical disk as an “add-on item”
on Amazon (in other words, you buy $25 of other stuff from them and they’ll
charge just $3.99 for the disk). That’s
worth it. Since it’s also gone double
platinum, you can probably find it in used CD stores as well.
Here are the other options.
Links go to Wikipedia entries.
Beginnings (1973) – after the band
hit the big time, Capricorn came up with the bright idea of rereleasing their
first two studio albums, The Allman
Brothers Band and Idlewild South,
neither of which had sold all that well in their initial releases, as a
two-album vinyl package. There weren’t
any additional bonus tracks or anything, but it still sold pretty well, and when
it was released on one CD (or one download), it was a great buy. I have it, and it’s a good introduction to
the group. Universal Music Group (who
took over Polydor and a pile of other labels in the 1990s and 2000s) has made
the album unavailable for download, but there are still some CDs available at
Amazon at $7.39.
The Road Goes On Forever (1975/2001)
– this was originally released in 1975 as a double album, and it was the only
Allman Brothers anthology for years after.
UMG rereleased it in 2001 and made it a two-disc CD set, bumping the
number of tracks from 17 to 30. In 2005,
UMG changed their minds and rereleased it again as part of their Gold series,
an attempt to do for their artists what Sony has done with their Essential sets
(nice try, UMG). I don’t think there was
a concurrent vinyl re-release, so be aware what you’re getting if you buy it on
vinyl, and also note these songs are only from the Capricorn years. The
Allman Brothers: Gold is available for $8.99 for the two-disc set on
Amazon, and it’s available for download at $16.49 (Amazon) and $16.99 (iTunes).
The Best of The Allman
Brothers Band (1981) – I can’t remember if this was ever available in the
United States or not – it’s apparently around in Canada. The track listing doesn’t look much different
from The Road Goes On Forever, so I
can’t really see why they’d bother.
Anyway, $14.84 on disc, not available for download.
Dreams (1989) – four-CD box set, which may be a little much. There’s a lot from Duane and Gregg’s
pre-Allman Brothers Band group The Hour Glass (and even before that, The Allman
Joys), as well as plenty of solo stuff from Gregg (including one song from his
collaboration with then-wife Cher) and Dickey Betts. There’s very little from the Arista albums
(which may be a good thing), and obviously nothing from the Epic years, which
started in 1990. Out of print, but
available for download at $32.99 (Amazon) and $34.99 (iTunes).
Hell & High Water:
The Best of the Arista Years (1994) – both the band and at least some of their fans
think very little of their two Arista studio albums (and apparently the group
broke up rather than recording a third for the label), so this can probably be
skipped. It did yield one minor top 40
hit (“Straight From the Heart,” which sounds more like Pure Prairie League) and
a pretty good AOR track in “Angeline,” but not much else. $9.99 for the download on Amazon or iTunes,
and the disc is now $10.99 on Amazon as an import.
Mycology – An Anthology (1995) – this is a not-quite-complete anthology from the years on Epic Records (they would release another live album a few years later). The Epic years weren’t as good as the Capricorn era, but nowhere near as bad as the Arista albums, so it’s an option, at least. Out of print, and now apparently unavailable for download.
Mycology – An Anthology (1995) – this is a not-quite-complete anthology from the years on Epic Records (they would release another live album a few years later). The Epic years weren’t as good as the Capricorn era, but nowhere near as bad as the Arista albums, so it’s an option, at least. Out of print, and now apparently unavailable for download.
20th Century Masters -
The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Allman Brothers Band (2000 &
2007) – I generally hate these sets with a passion – they’re always 11 or 12
songs on a disc (which is outrageous when you consider some of the bands in the
series were from the 1950s and early 1960s, when every song was around two and
a half minutes long), and are usually assembled with little interest or love
for the music, but exist primarily to grab a buck by issuing a low-price
disc. This one gets a few points for
including the full-length versions, which means the full disc clocks in at 53:43. But that’s the studio version – to confuse
the issue, UMG has also released a live 20th
Century Masters set for the band, with six more songs (fortunately, there’s
no duplication between the two). Since
the “Live” version is indicated in four-point type, the main difference on the
cover is the band photos (the “Live” one is a color photograph). The bad news is all of the “Live” songs are
from the Fillmore Concerts set, so
you’d be better off with that, even with the additional cost. Both are out of print; they’re available for
download from both Amazon at iTunes for $5.99 for the older set and $9.99 for
the live set.
Stand Back: The Anthology (2004) – I saw this at a used CD store a few months back and inexplicably passed on it. Along with Dreams, this is the only UMG set that contains anything from the Arista or Epic years (not a lot, granted, but enough so you get the idea). This is $8.99 for the two-disc set on Amazon (it doesn’t appear to be available for download), so either this or Gold is a reasonable option, depending on how much of a purist you are about the original band.
Stand Back: The Anthology (2004) – I saw this at a used CD store a few months back and inexplicably passed on it. Along with Dreams, this is the only UMG set that contains anything from the Arista or Epic years (not a lot, granted, but enough so you get the idea). This is $8.99 for the two-disc set on Amazon (it doesn’t appear to be available for download), so either this or Gold is a reasonable option, depending on how much of a purist you are about the original band.
The Essential Allman
Brothers: The Epic Years (2005) – this is one of Sony’s many entries in the
series. The title tells it all: it’s only songs from their Epic years, which
included three studio albums and three live albums. But while this isn’t the Allmans at their
peak, it’s still pretty good, and it includes four live cuts of classic songs
originally recorded for Capricorn, including a version of “Midnight Rider” that
is unavailable elsewhere. I’ve got it,
and I’m not sorry. $7.99 for the disc on
Amazon; $9.99 to download on Amazon or
iTunes.
Gregg and Duane Allman have best-ofs of their own, as well. Gregg had an on-and-off solo career during
the band’s fallow periods and when he was having problems with them (and
substance abuse problems as well, I suppose).
Gregg has three sets available: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium
Collection: Best Of Gregg Allman ($5.99 for the download on Amazon or
iTunes, disc out of print), which is probably almost all from the 1970s (and
includes one Allman Brothers cut, “Melissa,” which is on just about every
regular Allmans anthology), No Stranger
To The Dark: The Best Of Gregg Allman ($4.99 for the disc and $8.99 for the
download on Amazon, $9.99 for the download on iTunes), which I’m pretty sure is
all from his 1980s and 1990s Epic solo years, and Playlist: The Very Best Of Gregg Allman ($7.99 for the download on
both Amazon and iTunes), another Epic anthology with a few less songs.
Duane never released a proper solo album, but between his Allman Brothers output and his sessions work and guest shots with others, Capricorn was able to assemble a pair of double albums after his death. An Anthology ($12.49 for the download on Amazon, $12.99 on iTunes) features an early Hour Glass cut, session work on songs like Wilson Pickett’s “Hey Jude,” Aretha Franklin’s “The Weight,” and Boz Scaggs’ “Loan Me a Dime,” five Allman Brothers songs, and “Layla,” which he did while guesting with Derek & The Dominos. (I would hope everyone would have this song somewhere in their collections.) An Anthology Vol. 2 ($12.49 and $12.99 for the download as well) isn’t nearly as fine, but still has several solo songs, session work from artists from Herbie Mann to Lulu, and a few more Allmans cuts. Dickey Betts has no official best-ofs, but a couple of his 1970s albums are available as two albums on one disc.
Duane never released a proper solo album, but between his Allman Brothers output and his sessions work and guest shots with others, Capricorn was able to assemble a pair of double albums after his death. An Anthology ($12.49 for the download on Amazon, $12.99 on iTunes) features an early Hour Glass cut, session work on songs like Wilson Pickett’s “Hey Jude,” Aretha Franklin’s “The Weight,” and Boz Scaggs’ “Loan Me a Dime,” five Allman Brothers songs, and “Layla,” which he did while guesting with Derek & The Dominos. (I would hope everyone would have this song somewhere in their collections.) An Anthology Vol. 2 ($12.49 and $12.99 for the download as well) isn’t nearly as fine, but still has several solo songs, session work from artists from Herbie Mann to Lulu, and a few more Allmans cuts. Dickey Betts has no official best-ofs, but a couple of his 1970s albums are available as two albums on one disc.
The Allman Brothers Band didn’t really chart a lot of music,
so the list below isn’t representative, but it’ll give you an idea. “Nevertheless” and “Louisiana Lou and Three
Card Monty John” were from one of their lesser Capricorn albums, Win Lose or Draw, while “Angeline” and “Straight
From the Heart” are from the Arista years (I suspect “Angeline” charted fairly
high on the Mainstream Rock charts, but whoever compiled this for Wikipedia missed
that fact).
Song Title
|
Year Released
|
Billboard Hot 100
|
Billboard Mainstream Rock
|
A Decade of Hits 1969-1979
|
Gold / The Road Goes on Forever
|
Stand Back: The Anthology
|
Revival (Love Is
Everywhere)
|
1970
|
92
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Ain't Wastin'
Time No More
|
1972
|
77
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Melissa
|
1972
|
86
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
One Way Out
|
1972
|
86
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Ramblin' Man
|
1973
|
2
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Jessica
|
1973
|
65
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Nevertheless
|
1975
|
67
|
-
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Louisiana Lou and
Three Card Monty John
|
1975
|
78
|
-
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Crazy Love
|
1979
|
29
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Angeline
|
1980
|
58
|
-
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Straight From the
Heart
|
1981
|
39
|
11
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Good Clean Fun
|
1990
|
-
|
1
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Seven Turns
|
1990
|
-
|
12
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
It Ain't Over Yet
|
1990
|
-
|
26
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
End of the Line
|
1991
|
-
|
2
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
No One to Run
With
|
1994
|
-
|
7
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Back Where It All
Begins
|
1994
|
-
|
29
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Firing Line
|
2003
|
-
|
37
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
