As a Christmas gift from a very good friend (Euty, BTW, who doth rock out loud) I received two Allman Brothers CD’s–Eat A Peach and *Live At The Fillmore. *
I’ve been listening to them pretty constantly since I got them. Well, mostly I’ve been listening to “Blue Sky” and “Little Martha.” They have this remarkably calming effect on me. They make me peaceful and happy and less desirous of causing harm to my colleagues.
As far back as I can remember, the guitar work of Dickey Betts & Duane Allman (may he rest in peace) has affected me this way. It’s like a drug. I don’t fully understand why, but I know that it can’t be a bad thing (unless, of course, I start playing air guitar at my desk and my boss has to shoot rubber bands at me to get my attention).
And Live At The Fillmore just makes me want to be a rock star.
The original ABB was one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Duane and Dickey were so innovative and gifted that it’s a shame they are consistently overlooked by the general public. The intensity of Duane Allman is absolutley amazing when you consider he died at 24 years old. He did so much work…check out his session work he did prior to forming the ABB.
ps. Even though I LOVE Duane…I personally dig Dickey better. He is one AMAZING player.
Last April I went to where Duane and Berry and buried in Macon. They are side by side in a very paceful and beautiful spot. They have the long stones that completely cover their graves. Duane’s had a guitar carved into it and maybe Berry’s too. Another fan, probably thirty years younger than I am, came by to pay his respects. It was a nice moment.
I know you just got “Live At The Fillmore,” but you may want to pick up “The Fillmore Concerts” as well. It is digitally remastered by Tom Dowd (who produced the original recordings), contains extended versions of all of the songs on “Live At The Fillmore,” plus a few others that didn’t make the original cut. I think it is about an hour of extra music.
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” on “The Fillmore Concerts” will make a believer out of you.
I wouldn’t call them “peaceful,” but the original ABB was one of the greatest rock acts of all time.
My college roommate use to play “Live at Ludlow’s Garage” all the time. This was before “Live at the Fillmore” was released. (Yes, I know the actual dates of release of the two albums. But my roommate worked at Ludlow’s Garage and had an original copy of the tapes.)
I think “Statesboro Blues” is one of my favorite songs ever (though Taj Mahal and Alice Stuart have also done terrific versions).
“Little Martha” is amazing. Leo Kottke, when discussing his cover of the song, said that he did it because he thought it was one guitar. And while Kottke plays it (amazingly, BTW) in open-D tuning, the AB version is Betts and Allman playing together in standard tuning.
I saw the Allmans for the first time this past summer. They were the headline act and Phil Lesh (former Grateful Dead bassist) and Friends was the opener. Excellent show! I knew basically what to expect from Phil and Friends because I had already been to a number of Grateful Dead and GD-offshoot bands concerts. I was very impressed with the Allmans as well, and would like to make it to some more of their shows.
