The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band were, to all intents and purposes, created by
Southern soul svengali Phil Walden (friend and manager of Otis
Redding,
and head of the world's greatest soul music booking agency) to
capitalise on the burgeoning popularity of open-ended improvising bands
like The Grateful Dead.
In common with The Dead, the Allmans featured a double-drummer rhythm
section, withe splendidly-named Butch Trucks joined by Jai Johanny
Johanson from Otis' backing band.
Gruff-voiced organist Gregg Allman was like a more proactive
equivalent of Pigpen McKernan, while the twin lead guitars of Dickey
Betts and Duane 'Skydog' Allman could, frankly, run rings round Jerry
Garcia and Bobby Weir. They had longer hair too.
The band burst onto the scene in 1969 with a shot of rhythm and blues
which provided a welcome antidote to Acid Rock overdose. Their raw
electric blues signalled a return to basics after the dizzy flights of
the Hippie culture.
 Within a couple of years, the Allmans had become the ultimate jamming
band, their reputation boosted by Duane's dazzling guest appearance on Layla,
and cemented by the band's 1971 live double-album At Fillmore East,
with its side-long version of Whipping Post.
Atlantic's Jerry Wexler had initially been reluctant to underwrite
such indulgence, but in the wake of the live album's huge success,
there were no such misgivings when Eat A Peach - the
follow-up double album (and a mixture of studio and live material) -
featured one even longer track spread across two entire sides . . .
An exploratory half-hour opus based on Donovan's There Is A
Mountain (apart from a section 28 minutes in where Duane takes
a brief diversion through Will The Circle Be Unbroken) Mountain
Jam was drawn from the very same Fillmore East concerts that had
produced the live double, and offers an exemplary lesson in just how
rewarding Southern Rock could be, before dullard boogiemeisters Lynyrd
Skynyrd ground the life out of it.
Fluid and energising throughout, the guitar interplay is intricate
and generous, and even the drum solo is interesting, thanks to the
subtle snare flurries that scud along so smoothly.
The firmer backbone that the Allman's R&B roots brought to their
sound is best represented on a live cut of One Way Out, where
Duane and Dickey's thrilling guitar joust echoes the previous album's Statesboro
Blues. Their country influence, meanwhile, comes through most
strongly on Betts' Blue Sky, welcome pretext for another
suitably sky-soaring guitar duel.
Duane Allman died in a motorbike accident in 1971 a few months before
Eat A Peach was released. The band continued without him;
the old two-guitar interplay between Duane and Dicky Betts being changed
to a closer relationship between Betts' guitar and Berry Oakley's
bass. But fate struck again a year and two weeks after Duane's death
when Berry Oakley's motorbike slammed into a Macon city bus on 11
November 1972.
Oakley remained conscious and seemed unhurt, despite being thrown
about 20 yards. He refused to get in the attending ambulance and instead
got a lift home with a passing motorist. A short time later he turned
pale and began talking incoherently. Friends dashed him to the Medical
Center of Central Georgia where he died, apparently of a brain
concussion, about 20 minutes after admission.
Oakley's accident happened only three blocks from where Allman was
killed, also while riding a motorcycle. Both were 24 years old when they
died.
The group was augmented with bassist Lamar Williams and pianist Chuck
Leavell to complete its fifth album, Brothers and Sisters,
which topped the charts and spawned the number two single Ramblin'
Man. But the group split up in acrimony after the release of Win,
Lose or Draw in 1975.
The Allmans re-formed in 1978, this time returning to the sextet
format, with Allman, Betts, Trucks and Jaimo being joined by guitarist
Dan Toler and bassist David Goldflies for the gold-selling Enlightened
Rogues (1979).
Two more albums, Reach for the Sky and Brothers of the
Road (for which David Toler replaced Jaimo and Mike Lawler was
added on piano) were released before the band split again.
Following the release of a boxed set retrospective, Dreams,
in 1989, The Allmans again re-formed, with Warren Haynes on second lead
guitar and Allen Woody on bass, and have recorded and toured extensively
since. The Allman Brothers Band celebrated their 40th anniversary
in 2009.
Historical Note
The band's road manager, Twiggs Lyndon, was arrested for
murder on 30 April 1970, following the stabbing of a New York City
night club proprietor.
|
