The Allman Brothers Band

If you've never heard the version of "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'" on this live album, then you need to set the volume to 100 and wait for Duane Allman to come blazing in with such ferocity, you'll want to tear your teeth out because he's not around anymore. Then there's an hour of the best blues-rock band ever, nailing everything in sight.

This is the archetype. Before it, Southern rock as a separate genre was an amorphous
curiosity. After it, redneck hippies with chops were entitled to all the worship that had
previously been thrown at Brit hippies with chops. And what chops the Allmans laid on an
unsuspecting world in 1971. Although the electric guitar has gone in many exotic
directions since, the contrast between Duane Allman quavering on slide and Dic... More >

Four sides comprising seven titles--only two of them repeated (ad infinitum) from the band's studio albums--and they sure do boogie. But even if Duane Allman plus Dickey Betts does equal Jerry Garcia, the Dead know roads are for getting somewhere. That is, Garcia (not to bring in John Coltrane) always takes you someplace unexpected on a long solo. I guess the appeal here is the inevitability of it all. (Grade - B-)