{"id":18722,"date":"2020-05-25T05:30:24","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T09:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=18722"},"modified":"2026-07-23T11:05:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:05:52","slug":"album-review-four-early-allman-brothers-related-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/25\/album-review-four-early-allman-brothers-related-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Four Early Allman Brothers-related Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group as great as The Allman Brothers Band doesn\u2019t simply burst forth fully formed. There has to be a back story. And while it\u2019s true that the greatest bands are so often more than the sum of their parts, the creative artistry of Duane and Gregg Allman cannot be denied. Some years ago, the superb Skydog<\/em> <\/a>6CD compilation provided a career-spanning look at the (tragically short) life and work of guitarist Duane Allman, from his early days as a session musician through his landmark work on those early ABB records.<\/p>\n

That collection also drew from the projects Duane did with brother Gregg (keyboards and vocals), which took a variety of forms. Most of that material has been released before \u2013 sometimes many times \u2013 but most of it has been out of print for some time now. Some may dismiss this material because it rarely reaches the heights of Allman Brothers-period work, but to dismiss these early efforts as juvenilia is to deprive oneself of the opportunity to experience Duane and Gregg\u2019s development as artists. Even though these records often don\u2019t sound like the ABB, there are hints of the direction they\u2019d pursue. And even when the music isn\u2019t revelatory, it\u2019s enjoyable on its own merits.<\/p>\n

Newly reissued (by a Universal division called The Allman Brothers Band Recording Company) and available for the first time in many years, four albums cover this early work.<\/p>\n

\"\"Allman Joys \u2013 Early Allman<\/i><\/b>
\nProduced by John Loudermilk \u2013 whom the liner note tell us \u201cdiscovered\u201d the Allmans \u2013 this represents the earliest recording documented on the four new reissues. Recorded in Nashville in 1966, this session features a six (or seven) piece band tearing into material with a decidedly hard rock\/garage character. Gregg\u2019s \u201cGotta Get Away\u201d would have fit nicely onto the Lenny Kaye-curated Nuggets<\/em> compilation; there\u2019s a vague hint of Southernness about the performance, but it\u2019s closer to the 13th<\/sup> Floor Elevators than the future sound of the ABB. Gregg\u2019s \u201cOh John\u201d is a twangy rocker with some strange, percussive organ sounds sprinkled throughout; it has a character not unlike the Sir Douglas Quintet. There\u2019s a melancholy vibe to \u201cYou\u2019ll Learn Someday,” another Gregg original that shows the stylistic breadth of his artistry was evident years before the ABB. And while the group\u2019s take on Willie Dixon\u2019s \u201cSpoonful\u201d is just about what you\u2019d expect from 1966 \u2013 lots of fuzz guitar licks that recall the Yardbirds \u2013 it\u2019s more spirited and fun than Cream\u2019s version. The youthful energy displayed on these tracks suggests a bright future.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hour Glass \u2013 Hour Glass<\/i><\/b>
\nRecorded just a year later in Los Angeles, Hour Glass<\/i> is a very different affair. Sunny, soulful pop of the highest order, this material holds up well alongside the AM radio hits of the day. With prominent horn charts throughout, tunes like \u201cOut of the Night\u201d have an uptempo exuberance that often sounds like a cross between B.J. Thomas and the Black soul music that ruled the airwaves in the early, pre-disco \u201870s. Nearly all of these tunes sound as if they could have been cut at Stax, though the (superbly catchy) horn charts don\u2019t have quite the same Southern feel. Imagine the ABB with a stronger pop sensibility and a commercial sensibility, and tracks like \u201cNothing But Tears\u201d might be the result. Duane gets to take more solos here than he did on the \u201866 record, but his excellent taste shines; he never overplays, adding just the right touches to the songs. The quality that sets this material farthest apart from ABB songs has to be the care put into the vocal choruses that feature throughout. The intro of \u201cCast Off All My Fears\u201d scores points for weirdness, but the song itself is a thrilling, undiscovered pop gem. It\u2019s a testament to just how much good music was being made in those days that Hour Glass<\/i> was somehow overlooked.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hour Glass \u2013 Power of Love<\/i><\/b>
\nThings went well enough with the first Hour Glass LP (though it didn\u2019t really sell) that the band got a second shot in the studio a mere five months later, in January 1968. Whereas the cover art an photo for Hour Glass<\/i> portrayed a shaggy bunch of ruffians who might remind some of the Grateful Dead, Power of Love<\/i>\u2019s cover features the band fronted by Gregg and Duane in their finest duds, dressed like Sgt. Pepper<\/i>-era Beatles or the guys in Strawberry Alarm Clock. (The back cover looks like an Electric Prunes affair.) But the music is another superbly soulful set with a subtle country flavor. The title track features Gregg\u2019s distinctive voice, and while the musical backing isn\u2019t earth-shaking, it\u2019s wonderfully evocative of its era. Again, a great deal of care went into the arrangements, especially vocals. It\u2019s interesting to hear Paul Hornsby\u2019s grooving Wurlitzer electric piano on the swaying \u201cI Can Stand Alone.\u201d And \u201cDown in Texas\u201d sounds more like an Allman Brothers Band tune than anything heard earlier. And in case listeners had any doubt as to when<\/em> the album was recorded, Power of Love<\/i> features an only-in-\u201968 reading of the Beatles\u2019 \u201cNorwegian Wood.\u201d Coral electric sitar, electric piano and gurgling organ are highlights of this instrumental take, which is better than one might expect. Clearly, these guys had something going: the gushing liner notes of the \u201868 LP were penned by Neil Young (then of Buffalo Springfield) and \u201cwitnessed and approved\u201d by Stephen Stills.<\/p>\n

\"\"Duane & Gregg Allman \u2013 Duane & Gregg Allman<\/i><\/b>
\nThe last and latest in this series of pre-ABB reissues is both the oddest and the most well-known. After moving back east, Duane and Gregg cut these nine song in south Florida under the direction of Steve Alaimo, former featured cast member of Where the Action Is!<\/i> The session was ostensibly a series of demos for the band 31st<\/sup> of February (featuring one Butch Trucks on drums) but hearing it now, it\u2019s Allman Brothers through and through. The song selection reflects the tastes of the other participants (two songs penned by the band\u2019s bassist David Brown, plus Alaimo\u2019s own \u201cWell I Know Too Well\u201d) but a cover of Tim Rose\u2019s \u201cMorning Dew\u201d shows that the ABB era was dawning. A more subdued and mature vocal is the presiding characteristic of Gregg\u2019s original \u201cGod Rest His Soul.\u201d Another version of Eddie Hinton\u2019s \u201cDown in Texas\u201d shows that the brothers could take it different places (yet though it\u2019s buried in the murky mix, Duane plays nearly the same solo as he did on the Hour Glass version). And Gregg\u2019s delightful electric piano on \u201cNobody Knows You When You\u2019re Down and Out\u201d suggests that Gregg listened to a lot of Ray Charles. But it\u2019s the band\u2019s recording of \u201cMelissa,\u201d a tune Gregg co-wrote with Alaimo, that connects this set most firmly to the future. Here it still displays the melancholy character Gregg\u2019s Laid Back<\/i> version has, but it\u2019s a bit more pop in its execution.<\/p>\n

Ardent fans of the Allman Brothers Band will definitely want these discs, but they\u2019re strong enough to be appreciated on their own, apart from the ABB legacy and as examples of the rich creativity that flowed in the U.S. in the second half of the 1960s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group as great as The Allman Brothers Band doesn\u2019t simply burst forth fully formed. There has to be a back story. And while it\u2019s true that the greatest bands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,51,62,64,65,69],"tags":[170,171,4190],"class_list":["post-18722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-garage","category-pop","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","category-soul","tag-allman-brothers","tag-allman-brothers-band","tag-hour-glass","cat-33-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18722"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32010,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18722\/revisions\/32010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}