It’s the ultimate Allman Brothers collectable, a box full of goodies to dazzle the mind, body, and soul. A solid chunk of musical history, weighing in at 26 pounds, it’s as heavy to listen to as it is to pick up. 9 albums, 15 sides of peachy slide guitar, burbling B-3 and bluesy moans re-mastered on vinyl for a sound guaranteed to resurrect a pile of musical memories, paired with a bunch of cool memorabilia.
“OK. The Allman Brothers Band.” For many of us, that simple introduction on The Allman Brothers’ Live at the Fillmore East was our initial gateway to the blues. We believed that “Statesboro Blues” was an Allman original. It was obvious they owned it; swaggering, moaning, and sliding all over it like a bunch of crusty denizens in some backwater juke joint. Their picture on the cover confirmed our suspicions-a pile of scruffy longhairs (and one black man looking like a hippie general in his service uniform coat) slouched against a wall in front of a stack of road cases, laughing at something you knew instinctively had to do with illicit drugs.
We thought jamming had something to do with jazz, or but we didn’t know it could be so glorious, soaring and swooping then diving to the floor to get low down and gritty. 45 years later its still easy to get lost in it, and get lost talking about it. But there’s much more in the crate to look at and listen to.
Universal Music Enterprises /Mercury has re-issued on vinyl what they’re calling the 9 essential Brothers albums, with a few changes from the originals. The Brothers debut, The Allman Brothers Band is now 2 LPs, the original 1969 stereo mix and the 1973 Beginnings stereo mix.
Their second release, Idlewild South, recorded in studios all over the country, gave us “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “Midnight Rider.”
On October 29, 1971, Duane Allman, aged 24, died while the band was in the early stages of making Eat A Peach. “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” and “Melissa” are dedicated to him.
Brothers and Sisters gave us “Wasted Words,” “Jessica,” and the set list “Ramblin’ Man.”
’75’s Win Lose Or Draw was the sound of a band coming apart. Splitting up the following year and not fully reuniting til ’98, the band reformed briefly in ’79 for Enlightened Rogues, their last Capricorn Records release. The last in the series, 1970’s Live at Ludlow Garage has been expanded to a 3 LP set featuring the whole concert with “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed,” and a 44 minute version of “Mountain Jam” added.
It’s a dive into the Allman Brothers’ peachy memory vat from ’69- ’79, and it sounds better than ever. The remastering was done on copper plates, which eliminate one step for the pressing process and result in a cleaner sound.
While you’ve got your head in the speakers soaking up the power and the glory, check out the outsized cigar box full of treasures that comes with. If you’re into piercing, you can pin a button with every album cover reproduced on it to your chest. You’ve also got a set of guitar picks with the album covers on ’em you can shred with, and a set of fridge magnets with reproduced covers as well. There’s also a spiffy deck of Allman Brothers Band playing cards, and what looks like the worlds smallest amp is actually an 8gb USB stick with all nine remastered albums as downloadable 44.1kHz 16-bit uncompressed AIFF audio files. There’s a vinyl platter wiping cloth and a turntable mat as well. Even more goodies are lurking rolled up in a poster tube, double-sided color renditions of the art work and photos from some of the albums. And one more surprise, under the cardboard divider in the bottom of the crate is a trucker hat with the Allman Bros logo.
There are only 500 of the crates being offered, so you need to start picking before this crop is history once again.
