The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach
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Free Music Notes for Eat a Peach
Free Music Review: Eat A Peach For Peace
Hit: 5 Stars
I will always be moved and haunted by the voice of Dickie Betts...the Guitar work of Duane, and the collective genius of this important work.
There will probably never be an album like this again. The ease of falling in love with these beautiful songs is a given.
EAT A PEACH is a gem. No 'pitts' inside ;)
Free Music Review: Yes, I'm editing my Eat a Peach review yet AGAIN
Hit: 5 Stars
If you're keeping score, this would be the third time I've rewritten my review of Eat a Peach. By the looks of it, this is the final. It's been a few months since the last time I went through and reviewed it, and a few months and several listens later I'm beginning to see the light. This, ladies and gentlemen, is not only the Allmans' best album, but arguably the greatest double-album of all time. There's nothing that even comes close to filler. I know I bashed Les Brers in A Minor and Mountain Jam on my previous reviews, but those two have grown on me, as has Blue Sky. All right, you're bored now. On with the show!
Right from when the opening notes of Ain't Wastin' Time No More hit, you know you're in for something good. And sure enough, you are. Gregg shines on keyboards (love that little piano blurb at the start!) and vocals, plus Dickey's (not Duane's, he was sadly dead by this point) slide guitar beefs up the tune. Les Brers in A Minor is Betts' obligatory family-sized instrumental. No, it's nowhere near In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (my favorite rock instrumental ever, for what it's worth). Whatever, it's still a good tune, rising from a lengthy, cinematic introduction to a git-down-'n'-boogie second half that's a blast to listen to. As usual, Gregg's organ is a high point. Big-time radio hit Melissa (though it might as well have been called Duane, since that's who it's really about) is by far the group's best ballad - wrenching vocals are a big highlight, and Gregg proves he can write lyrics that are more than good-timey if he tries at it (he repeats the performance with Ain't Wastin' Time).
OK, onto Mountain Jam. This one takes a while to grow on you, for the simple reason that it's longer than a half-hour. But once it does, you'll never look back. For one it's got a great melody. But when that melody ends, the "jam" part opens up (the melody being "mountain" - based off of Donovan's "First There Is a Mountain"). The group goes insane for about twenty minutes, with virtuoso performances all around. And though it's long, it's also truly captivating. Let's face it, these guys were great instrumentalists - all six of 'em, and not just Duane (though he was the best). Speaking of Duane, yes he does appear on this cut, and yes he does play slide guitar. Need I say more? This was recorded live, as were the other two tunes. First is their cover of One Way Out, my favorite Allmans tune ever. Why? For one, if you weren't sold on Gregg's blues vocals, I can't help you. And if you were, the bar-tradin' guitar solo in the middle should only pull you in further. If it doesn't, you can't consider yourself an Allmans fan. Harsh, but true. They also cut a typically good cover of Trouble No More, though both the studio version and Muddy's original are better, I'm a fan of this one!
Now, onto Studio Side #2, AKA The Studio Side With Duane On It. First off is the funky Stand Back, love that little bass solo stuck in the middle! Then there's the huge radio hit Blue Sky, which is one hell of a song. It's true. The postive, feel-good vibes which draw you in are only part of it. Listen to the guitar jam in the middle, man! Vintage Allmans. Probably the best-known song of the bunch. And really, who's gonna wonder why? The album-closer Little Martha is also a highlight, simple but beautifully, lyrically effective. Little tune really tugs at the ol' heartstrings, especially when you consider it was the last bit of music Duane Allman ever put out in his life. Outside of its legacy, though, it's simply an amazingly melodic tune. I can't praise it enough.
If you're a rock fan and don't have a copy of Eat a Peach, I don't know what you're thinking. It's simply that good.
Now, a little shout-out to Duane: we all miss you. If there's a heaven up there, it's about time someone called him down, kept him far away from the drugs, and maybe, just maybe, have him send every guitarist in existence back home, crying in jealousy. Him and Hendrix. Those two should come back (I never knew any of them personally, but I've heard that they were great people in addition to their guitar heroics). BUY THE FRIGGIN' THING!
Free Music Review: the best
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the Allman Brothers BEST, I don't need to go on.
Just own it!
Free Music Review: The Brothers Shine - With and Without Duane
Hit: 5 Stars
Released in February 1972, less than four months after Duane Allman's death, EAT A PEACH gathers together the final tracks laid down by the original Allman Brothers Band, the only studio documentation of the short-lived five-man, one-guitar ABB lineup and the remaining performances from the concerts which had yielded the epochal AT FILLMORE EAST album. Far from being a stereotypical posthumous odds and ends collection, however, EAT A PEACH is a treasure trove containing much of the Brothers' best work, and stands right beside FILLMORE at the very apex of their stupendous body of recordings.
Opening with the post-Duane tracks, EAT A PEACH demonstrates from its very first notes that there was - and is - far more to the ABB than one amazing guitarist. Brother Gregg's "Ain't Wastin' Time No More," though written before Duane's crash, is an effective and all-too-poignant rumination on uprushing mortality with excellent playing from the whole quintet. Dickey Betts, tossed into the unenviable position of sole guitar player in rock's most celebrated two-guitar band, more than holds his own here, contributing top-notch picking on every track - most notably his own thunderstorm instrumental, "Les Brers in A Minor," which starts out as a grinding tribute to amplification before morphing into a Santana-esque Latin funk workout liberally spiced with impressive displays of chops all around. "Melissa," a beautiful old ballad co-written by Gregg which the Brothers had first recorded with their previous group the Hourglass, is by contrast epitomally delicate and genuinely moving; Dickey's ethereal lead is a dream.
Next up: thirty-three minutes of "Mountain Jam," longest of the ABB's many long onstage workouts, the Duane-drenched final third of which is at least the equal of anything on FILLMORE and makes me wonder why that album wasn't simply released as a triple, with this LP-length track included, in the first place. Also recorded during the Fillmore East engagement, "One Way Out" and "Trouble No More," which the Brothers had first tackled on their 1969 debut album, are solid blues jams in the classic Allmans vein.
Finally, there are the last three studio tunes featuring Duane, which with fitting irony point to yet more new directions this band might well have explored had it only had the opportunity. "Stand Back," a bouncing number from Gregg, would've been equally at home on IDLEWILD SOUTH; but Dickey's sublime country ballad "Blue Sky," with its brilliant solos from both guitarists, and Duane's only ABB composition, the brief dobro/guitar duet "Little Martha," mine and master new territory and suggest that a more varied range of material, from an expanded group of songwriters, would have kept this band firmly at the front of the pack through all those gigs that might have been.
More than thirty years later, the original ABB's handful of recordings remain one of the great listening experiences to be had anywhere. EAT A PEACH and AT FILLMORE EAST are the very best of the great, which really leaves nothing to say.
Free Music Review: Eat a Peach for Peace...Brother Duane's Swan Song
Hit: 5 Stars
Their best studio album - period. End of discussion. This is the Allman Brothers Band at their 1970s peak. This album was three sides into a four-sided album (back in the days of vinyl) when Brother Duane died as the result of a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971. Having picked up the pieces in the aftermath of Duane Allman's untimely death, the remaining Brothers produced some of their finest work (Melissa, Les Brers in A Minor, Ain't Wastin' Time No More), all of which they still play live today. Of special note is the playing of bassist Berry Oakley. To fill the sonic hole left by Duane's passing, Brother Berry turns it up more than a notch and plays lead bass, especially on the instrumental Les Brers in A Minor. His fat bass lines drive the song like a runaway locomotive. Melissa, Gregg Allman's tribute to his late brother, is probably the finest song he has ever written. It is one of the very few Allman Brothers songs on which Brother Gregg plays guitar (he also plays piano and Hammond B-3 organ). On Gregg's Ain't Wastin' Time No More, Brother Dickie Betts emerges from Duane's shadow and turns in a stunning slide performance. His lead playing on Gregg's Melissa gives the song even more emotional weight. The three live songs cut during Duane's lifetime (One Way Out, Trouble No More, and Mountain Jam) demonstrate the Allman Brothers' fearlessness and prowess as a live unit. A fitting tribute to Duane Allman. A must-have CD.