Man, this dude's gettin' all Classic Rock on us, man....Sorry, that's the way it goes. I'm old, and I've got a lot of these Classic Rock things, and the fact is, I would like to make sure that the new stuff I write about gets a fair shake and I don't look at what I said about a record in five years and hate myself for it. But this is a good one, I promise.
I bought this copy of Beginnings - The Allman Brothers Band probably just a year or so ago. I had it for a long, long time, but mine was partied out, and partied out bad. Wanna know what I mean? Go look for a used copy of this. It will be beat to snot! Really, it's funny. This is one of the most partied out records you'll ever find, I swear. I don't know why, other than it was a relatively cheap way to get the first two Allman Bros. albums. I suppose it was a gatefold as well, which led to uses that went beyond just holding the records. So finding a used copy that sounds great and costs five bucks or so, takes some work. Keep at it, and you'll find one. Mine has the yellow ATCO labels, so I don't think it's an original pressing (I think those had Capricorn), but it sounds pretty terrific.
The great thing about this album is that when the kids my age got old enough to get into The Allman Bros., this was in print. It consists of their first two albums, The Allman Brothers Band and Idlewild South. Now, I'm not a huge die hard fan of these guys, and for me the first album was the best, the second was really good and then they kind of lost me. So this was like the only deal a record label ever gave fans back in the 70's. $6.98 list for these two great albums? No wonder it had so many kids digging it. I used to be able to tell from a glance over at a person's record crate how we were gonna get along, because number one, if this was in front it usually meant that the person A - Liked guitar bands, and B - Alphabetized their collection (a pet peeve of mine - I hated when people would say, "Grab this record" and I had to look through every album to find the one they wanted).
Getting to the record, man, these dudes were just way ahead of the curve when it came to jamming. I really can't stand pointless noodling and guitar wankery, but Duane Allman and Dicky Betts don't just blast away to hear themselves. They find out what the song needs and they put it there. Dreams I'll Never See is so cool. I can remember just spacing out to that one, and then the bass riff to Whipping Post would fire up and inevitably some zonked out friend (or me) would jump up and just spin that volume knob up to 11 faster than anyone would have thought possible.
I still think Whipping Post is their best song, and this is the best version. They can stretch out too long in concert for me. It might be cool when you're there, but it doesn't work for me on records. Besides, Whipping Post is a pretty brutally emotional song, and five and a half minutes is enough, especially if you're having the kind of day (or week or whatever) where that song really hits home. It's always a killer song, but have one of those bad fights with your woman and you'll really understand Gregg Allman when he lets loose with that Sometimes I feeeel...
Idlewild South is a great album, too. I can remember that BLF Bash or Len Goldberg would play Midnight Rider in the middle of the night, and I would stay up when I was really young and listen to my headphones and hope they'd play it. I still love it and I can space out pretty good while I'm listening to it. The whole first side is like an AOR staple. It's got one of the few instrumental songs I really like a lot, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and I think that's saying something. I can listen to instrumental songs, but not a whole albums worth or anything. But with these guys you can hear so many different layers of music going on that it's hard not to get wrapped up in it.
If you don't have this, you should really consider it. Sure this kind of music can get bloated and boring fast, but these guys are the best, and they don't let that happen here. These albums are beat to crap for good reason, because they're great and you can listen to them over and over without getting sick of it. If all the 70's Southern Rock were this good, I'd be a big fan.
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