The Allman Brothers - where to start.

....Warren tears it up on that one! A nice addition to the ABB canon. And yes, not all ABB is golden there are some....duds?
As someone else mentioned, Where It all Begins is another sweet non Duane album!

 

Actually that is great advice, it is one of the best box sets ever assembled and a great way to hear all their phases through the early 90s.

 

Play All Night Live at the Beacon Theatre 1992 is one of the later live albums that is pretty good and still has Dicky Betts in the band.

 

Not sure how you listen to/absorb music but my suggestion is to go slowly or in similar fashion to other faves. I would start with a comp and live with it for a month fully absorbing it. Then try Fillmore and absorb that. At that point you'll know if you want more. Which you will

 

Thanks

 

This!

.

 

I am excited to make this my first post since just joining this forum. . The Allmans are one of my favorite bands and I would definitely agree that Live At Fillmore would probably be a great place to start. It is my one of my all time favorite albums, whether live or studio. It is a fantastic blend of Blues and Rock. Stormy Monday is probably my favorite track and contains some amazing guitar work by Dickey Betts and Duane Allman. From there I would go to Eat A Peach which contains one of my all time favorites songs, Blue Sky. Hope this helps you out.

 

Well, didya get any albums Mr King? Just played the first album again today and am starting to like it as much as many album they ever did.

Quick note: There are two versions of the Fillmore East shows (at least). At Fillmore East was released in 1971 and is largely considered one of the greatest guitar albums of all time. There was some studio melding of a few shows, particularly on In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (the song on the album is a combination of two performances, but it doesn't matter, you won't find anything more enjoyable is the annals of classic rock). Later came "The Fillmore Concerts". Considering they are from the same set of shows, it's a very different album when played. My personal recommendation is the original At Fillmore East, although they are both terrific.

If you are enjoying the journey, I encourage you two seek out Duane Allman's two anthologies. One of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. A true original and will never be duplicated. His premature death is up there with Jimi's on the taken-too-soon tragedy scale.

Interesting that you mention liking Skynyrd. Two opposite bands. The Allmans are more similar to the grateful dead than skynyrd. I enjoy them all though.

 

Far from it!

 

As others have said, get...

S/t
Idle wild
Fillmore
Eat a peach
B&s

The great thing is that you can get all 5 in one box for about $25. While I go DEEP with the brothers, you can make just this one purchase and still have an ABB collection to be proud of.

 

Dreams box is a good one, too. That one put the ABB back on the musical map...right on time for their 20th anniversary, and gave the band a great impetus for the 20th anniversary tour. Bill Levenson hit a grand slam with this one

 

Been listening to some stuff outside of those famous first four LP's with Duane - I have to say One Way Out: Live at the Beacon is mighty impressive. The interplay between Haynes and Trucks really make this the other great Allman Brothers combo, and One Way Out is the album to get if you want a place to start for them.

Not gonna happen, but would love to see those two back Bob Dylan as his new guitarists, it would really challenge him for the first time in a long time.

 

Skipping around chronically (limited to five images)


1969 The Allman Brothers Band at #4


1970 Idlewild South at #5


1971 At Fillmore East at #1


1972 Eat a Peach at #2


1973 Brothers and Sisters at #3

1990 Seven Turns at #9

1991 Shades of Two Worlds at #7

1994 Where It All Begins at #8

2003 Hittin' the Note at #6

 

Please be aware that the Fillmore Concerts is different than At Fillmore East. It has a color cover, and: A good idea that worked out even better, with one small caveat. The Fillmore Concerts is made up of performances from the two Fillmore shows that originally comprised Live at the Fillmore East and the concert portions of Eat a Peach, plus one track ("One Way Out") from a Fillmore show from a couple of months later. The 16-track masters from each show are transferred to digital and remixed by original producer Tom Dowd. The sound is sterling and the two-hour-plus running time makes this a dream for fans of the band, as well as an improvement on the original releases of this material. It is also a slightly less honest release, where "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" is concerned -- Dowd edited the version here together from two different performances, first and second shows, the dividing line being where Duane Allman's solo comes in. Not that this is the only concert album where this kind of editing has been done, but the original Live at the Fillmore contained a single take of the song, and some purists may prefer that. Otherwise, this set runs circles around more than 99 percent of the guitar albums ever released, with breathtaking sound (which, unlike the similarly conceived but less effective Derek & the Dominos Live at the Fillmore, loses none of its bite), and most fans might as well start here.

The Fillmore Concerts - The Allman Brothers Band | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic

So get both.

 

There arent a load of ABB albums. Start at the beginning and work your way through. I think of ABB as 3 phases:

1) Classic lineup with Duane

2) Post Duane

3) Post Dickey Betts

However, they never really lost their roots and sound like the ABB consistently. They werent a band that went left field. Dickey Betts did add a more country feel to the music when he was given the reigns. But still sound like the ABB.

Must haves of classic lineup:

All of em! Hell, there are only 3 of them anyway. If you dont like these, then you aint an ABB fan.

Allman Brothers Band (debut) up through Fillmore.

You need Eat A Peach. It stands alone as a mountain of an album. The best ABB had to give with Duane shooting by the album like a flaming star. He was dead at the time of this album but it is a tribute to him with some new cuts that hint towards Dickeys more mellow influence. It also has prime Duane. Not just an essential ABB album, but an essential album of the genre period.

Later albums:

Shades Of Two Worlds- at the time a very pleasant surprise comeback album from a group I hadnt really explored as much as I should have. Turned me on to the ABB. But its just a very good album period

Seven Turns- Excellent Dickey and Gregg album that finally shows both of their strengths on one album.

Hittin The Note- a great album. Sadly the only album of the last incarnation of ABB. I really wish they had written more songs and put out a couple more albums. Lucky we got this later day great ABB album though I suppose.

Youll need maybe one or two more live albums. I cant recommend just one. That comes down to performance, time period and what your tolerance is for sound. Reason I say live is a must is because that was where the ABB shone. (cant believe I have to refer to them in the past now... ...)

Im not much a fan of the middle period stuff without Duane. They were floundering most of the time. There are some good cuts here and there.

If I were pushed to pick 3 ABB albums to span their career?

Fillmore

Shades

Hittin

Might listen to those 3 first then go back to the beginning and listen to the first three..then end with Peach.

Thats the way Id do it if I hadnt listened to much ABB.

 

Christgau prefers One Way Out ("the best live album of their career") to At Fillmore East and thinks Haynes and Trucks are/were better than Duane and Dickey.

 

Idlewild South.

 

Brothers and Sisters has their catchiest song, their catchiest instrumental and is wall to wall goodness with no filler.

Eat a Peach is the next stop with their second catchiest tune, some haunting ones, and an epic 2 side jam - which some adore and some find an overlong bore. I am a fan of it myself.

If the 2 sides of jam lead you wanting more like that, pick up Live at the Fillmore East.

 

Found an extensive review from Christgau on the last Allman line-up - his first time seeing them live, but years AFTER he lavished praise on One Way Out.

Robert Christgau: The Allman Brothers

An excerpt:
The Allman Brothers have played New York's Beacon Theatre almost every March since reuniting in 1989. For fans of this Deep South band, Broadway and 74th Street in Manhattan is Mecca: By the time 2013's 11-show "Beacon run" ends March 16, they will have sold out the 2,984-seat venue well over 200 times. Personally, I think they've made their best music there, specifically preferring 2004's One Way Out: Live at the Beacon Theatre to the renowned NYC date that is 1971's Live at the Fillmore. But I'd never seen them there till two Southern friends who make the pilgrimage annually took me to this year's second night on March 2.

With pianist Chuck Leavell and bluegrass-schooled guitarist Dickey Betts departed, the Allmans are a heavier band than in their first heyday--more earth, less sky. They no longer perform their biggest and fleetest hit, Betts' rippling "Ramblin' Man," and Haynes' guitar is very much in the grimacing, squeeze-out-those-fundamentals white-blues tradition. Trucks is also a bluesman first, but like Duane, he's much bigger than that, prone to sudden jazzy licks and a master of the difficult trick in which he slips off his slide and flexes through a verse or two of startling fluidity. At least half the moments that left us all gasping and then cheering came on his solos. It would be facile as well as sacrilegious to say he's Duane reincarnated with all the extra chops, range, and maturity another eight years on earth have afforded him. They're both too singular to equate. But it's not too facile to be glad to hear the dead live on in the spirit of what they created.

 

There's also a DVD taken from the same run of shows that produced the live album. (The two mostly overlap, but besides the extra tracks, the album apparently has different performances of some songs.) Forgot which number, but there's a point where you see Gregg signal Trucks to take a solo, and about 5 or ten seconds into it, Haynes is so damn impressed he grins and Gregg is just beaming, like he's really proud of the kid. Beautiful moment.

 

If you're new to the ABB - look for this:

 

A few, and those are almost exclusively on the Reach For The Sky & Brothers Of The Road

 

Good point...less is more, and in the case of ABB. a LOT more

 

Eat a Peach.....desert island disc for me!

 

The OP is probably in Allman Brother high water now, a veteran, and
knows the catalog better than some. Moving through to 90's, if you've
not scooped up this, it is a hard hitting blues record. Dickie Betts is
still with them and both he and Warren Haynes are absolutely killing it.
I'm listening to Shades now... a powerful listen. Gregg sound great
on this too. The two studio follow-ups were prime (one w/ Derek Trucks),
but as you know the live material is the going to be the peak of the their
output. The 2004 live release exceeds all expectations.