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

The last couple of Duane releases were poor sound quality; grabbed my money cause I'm a big fan, but I regretted it.

 

Great idea to create a compilation of their best live performances. If Bill Levens on is involved then the sound quality should be good.

 

True for most hardcores, and what I did with tapes and cds for years.

But to me, for an official release in some of the later eras to have marketability, they really should be careful to pick really stellar versions. I think this makes it interesting to non-hardcores too.

Either way, I’m buying it all.

 

It’s called the Duck Tape Sessions and has circulated. I may have a copy around here somewhere and if I do I’ll post it.

 

They could do a 3 or 4 CD live compilation from each year and I'd be happy.

 

Exactly. I’d dig a multi-era set too. I made a 4-disc set when I went to the first Wanee that was a lotta fun to listen to over the years.

 

I totally agree with this and would prefer full shows to a compilation of shows. Some compilations or "best of" titles I have are of varied SQ from song to song.

This could very well be true. But who thought that there was more quality recorded music from the March 1971 Fillmore East shows before the release of The Fillmore East Recordings in 2014? I certainly didn't and when released in 2014 it was a joyous moment for sure! So I'm going to be optimistic and hope there is still quality recordings of unreleased music from the ABB archives.

 

I must say I didn't enjoy Live in Texas 71, due to the poor sound quality. I listened a couple of times when it was released, but never again.

I'd like to see more Duane-era releases as long as they have a decent quality for an official release. I doubt there are any left in the vaults. Otherwise, I'd rather have a better recording from some other era.

 

I'm skeptical that there is much untapped good-sounding live material from the 1969-1971 period. If it just rehashes already released songs from Fillmore, Atlanta, etc., what's the point? The alternative is likely bootleg-sourced material that will be a chore to sit through. That said, I'll be happy to be wrong about this and to be surprised at all the new, great material they were able to source.

 

It's a dilemma for me. The ABB has always been my favorite band, but the last couple Duane era releases have a definite bottom-of-the-barrel feel about them. After hearing samples online, I didn't purchase them.

I would be interested in the 1972-73 era shows, but again, I worry about the SQ.

 

Here’s hoping!

 

They never did release a deluxe issue of the first album that I'm aware of so they must be saving any bonus live material for these upcoming sets.

 

I realise that this is an aficionado's/collector's response & it's genuinely not meant to sound elitist, but the taping of multiple nights for the LAFE record was pretty well-known prior to that point - we even had some new performances released on The Fillmore Concerts back in the 1990's so, albeit that it wasn't ALL there (at least some of it was missing from the vaults, until the early 00's), it was long known that there were more performances to be had from that run.

 

Interesting point, one I'd not thought of (nor has the band apparently), release some good live material as extras on a deluxe version of the debut album.

This would be great b/c outtakes from that session have never surfaced, which I've always lamented because I'd love to hear about 10 more versions of "Dreams." But that was the case about a lot of albums in that era. Tape was expensive for bands already living on the margin b/c of poor record sales. Heck, even the studios themselves reused tape!

The only other studio output we have from 1969 are the four demos they recorded in April at Capricorn, two of which, "Dreams" and "Trouble No More" have been released already. IIRC, "DWYNM>Cross to Bear" has not yet.

So live goodies make a lot of sense to this fanboy.

ps: For those interested, Hans van Ryswyk has posted the demos on his amazing Duaneallman.info site: STUDIO DEMOS 1969

 

I went into it thinking this would be small investment so they'd keep releasing material. No, they weren't good sounding. But my fear is that if sales were anemic, we'd never get more. I'm hoping the return on my investment will be these sets and then more to follow. Who knows.

I love the Instant Live series and have dozens back to 2003. I'm very happy with the sound of them, overall. You can also still find these relatively easily out there for normal prices.

So, if you include those, then they are extremely well-represented from 2003-2014.

We have An Evening With and Second Set for some live material from 91-94. Peakin' at the Beacon for 2000 and One Way Out for more from 2003. We have a big blackout period from 1994-2000 (and, just a little from 91-94 as it is). I would like that gap filled in.

 

I agree with evrything that you are saying. The frustrating thing is that there are numerous bootlegs/recordings from 1990 through to 1996 that appear to me to be professional recordings (or at least very good soundboards).
I would find decent sounding releases from these periods far more appealing than poor sound quality releases from the Duane era.

 

Your point is well taken. If these upcoming box sets rely largely on unreleased material, it is safe to assume the SQ will be questionable, if not substandard.

 

if they really use "the best versions of every tune they played" i'm guessing most of it will be already released stuff

 

Being a Duane fanatic I wanna hear every note he played and I buy every release. That being said i tend to listen to better sounding shows than poorer sounding regardless of the music. I think the problem is the limited songs set list they stuck to especially in ‘71 What I want is the Duane video Eddie Kramer and John McDermott and 104.3 alluded to last year

 

Same. If it's got Duane, I'm getting it. There was no way in hell I wasn't picking up the Final Note, but ...I've still only played it once.

 

I'm a huge Duane Allman fan but if new releases have substandard SQ I'm not buying it. Listened to the Final Note on Tidal and the SQ is pretty poor.

 

We knew that 10 months ago when it was released. Why I had no sympathy for those whining about the sound of the vinyl from this recent RSD.

 

Give me a 1990-1994 live box set.
They was was on fire then too!!

 

IMO this is the era where Dickey Betts was at his best. He fully developed his ringing tone at this time. Interestingly it was also a time where he went "off the rails".
It would be great to see official releases from the gigs where David Grissom &/or Jack Pearson subbed for him.
There are numerous high quality sound bootlegs from this ear. Many suggest that they have been professionally recorded.
Part of this era also involved the excellent Johnny Neel

 

From your lips to God’s ears.

Dickey was, indeed, near the very top of his game in much of this era (I’ll always defer to 1972-75) and I was *just* thinking about how great those sit-ins were over the years and how cool a collection of them would be.

I agree with both of y’all. We fans want something more than the same old, same old. Give us more of some of the other 43 years of the band’s history.