Allman Brothers Band live box sets coming - both with Duane and immediately after his death

John Lynskey, chief archivist and historian for the Allman Brothers Band Museum at The Big House, reports the following:

We are working on a live box set with the original lineup, 1969 to 1971. It will present the best version of every song they played live. It will be a true live compilation of the original band’s best work and I think that people are going to absolutely love it. We are curating it through a lot of listening followed by a lot of discussion, The team that Bert Holman has put together includes the sonic mastery of Bill Levenson, who wants things as a producer to sound a certain way. Then you have the historical input that comes from tour manager and photographer Kirk West, Richard Brent, (Executive Director of the Allman Brothers Band Museum) and me. It’s a real give and take. However, sometimes it’s a moot point because there’s only one version of a song available.

After the original lineup compilation is released, we want to go to a five-man band live compilation. The five-man band period, which was pretty short going from November of 1971 to summer of 1972, delivered shows that were out of this world. This is just prior to keyboardist Chuck Leavell joining the band. Just listening to how Gregg, Dickey and Berry came together to fill the unfillable void created by the loss of Duane Allman is just amazing. Betts stepped up, not just in his slide playing. But the guy who filled the biggest gap was Berry Oakley. He was a monster during that period playing lead and bass lines at the same time. It was amazing to see them all work together in their grief to make some amazing music. It’s a very overlooked period in the band’s history. I’ve immensely enjoyed digging deeply into the five-man band period and think that most people will find it as illuminating as I have.

Full interview, which includes details on the new release by The Brothers from Madison Square Garden, can be found here: The Allman Brothers and the Making of the 50th Anniversary Concert – PS Audio

 

great news

 

Should be fantastic. I just hope the source material is up to snuff as many of the archive releases are just a notch above audience recordings.

 

Looking forward to this!!!

 

At this point I will always preview for sound quality any new Allman Brothers releases prior to buying. Their record for releases with great sound quality has decreased significantly.

 

Wow... OK!

Given just about everything with Duane that’s of usable quality (And perhaps some that weren’t usable) has been released, this may be the last, best way to preserve and honor Duane’s legacy.

Same for the “Five Man Band.” Let’s not forget those five guys were all great, and important too. Considering the number of official releases with less than stellar sound, this may be the best we can hope for.

Curious to know what “The best version of every song they played live” will mean. I mean, if we get a lot of Fillmore East tracks all over again, for example, what’s the point of that?

Good to hear they’re addressing the question of sound, but we all know ABB didn’t keep a well-maintained vault like the GD so I can understand some skepticism.

Still hoping for full releases of good sounding shows where we know the tapes exist. Mar y Sol, for one.

Some of those late 70s shows, and more 1989-2014 (Including ALL the various lineups, esp. Jack Pearson and Jimmy Herring shows) need to happen too.

 

Interested in the five-man lineup, although I'm still hoping for more stuff from the Chuck Leavell lineup, as well as something official from the Dan Toler and Jack Pearson years.

 

this will probably be just 4 cd's right? they didn't play that many different songs with duane. maybe 20?

 

Hopefully the involvement of Bill Levenson will be some guarantee of sound quality.If there is only 1 or 2 songs that only exist in bootleg quality that is ok but hopefully no more than that.
Agree with the person above that anything from the Fillmore East album -original or expanded-should be excluded as anyone who would be in the market for this would have bought that stuff already-probably several times.
With those provisos I’m in for these.

 

will it all just be already released stuff?

 

The only mystery is which of the 3 or 4 live versions known to exist of Blue Sky will be used. Otherwise, probably the same 12 songs over & over.

 

A while ago, in a different thread, I think I came up with more than 20 but fewer than 30. I’ll see if I can find it.

 

thank you. i'm guessing pretty much all of the first 2 albums, "blue "sky" and a bunch of covers?

 

Can’t seem to find the thread now, but that’s about right. Let’s see::

First two albums: 14 songs.

The various Fillmore East releases: Statesboro Blues, One Way Out, Stormy Monday, You Don’t Love Me, Hot ‘Lanta, Mountain Jam, Drunken Hearted Boy (Did I miss any?) - 7 songs

Various other covers: Dimples, Outskirts, Soul Serenade, and a one-off (?) of Johnny B. Goode. That’s 4 more.

And, as you mentioned, Blue Sky.

So... 26 songs?

 

26, "blue sky"

 

Just corrected that seconds after I posted! Knew I’d missed something.

 

I wonder if one of our forum Staff members could change the title of this thread to:

Allman Brothers Band live box sets coming - one with Duane and one recorded soon after his death

My poor choice of original title words makes it sound like there are two box sets sharing a mix of content. And I call myself a writer

 

Wonderful news!!! I gotta, cana and willa!

 

I think I would rather hear complete shows with best sound quality rather than a compilation of tracks from many different shows.

 

Yes we takes that too, but this is gonna be great.

 

Yes please.

 

I am in the crowd that freakin' demands some Jack Pearson/Jimmy Herring shows properly shown respect.
No question about it.

 

Probably the one from the SUNY archives release. I suspect there will be some unreleased recordings, but I would expect there to be a number of familiar, previously released staples part of the Duane Allman era set.

 

20? To me it seems like it was the same 10-12 songs for most of their earlier shows. The Bros certainly didn't have a varied setlist in those days. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to hear this. However, I don't expect any one-off tunes that we haven't heard before.

 

look above. looks like they played 27