Brothers and Sisters
1973's BROTHERS AND SISTERS was the first full-length studio album from the Allman Brothers Band in nearly three years, during which time the band had lost both guitarist Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley, who were replaced as it were by pianist Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams. Surviving Duane's death had been nothing short of miraculous; surviving Berry's, without a major shift in the group's sound and sensibilities, proved impossible.
For this reason, as well as the remaining bandmembers' ongoing slide into the personal and chemical excesses which have always made the big time what it is, BROTHERS AND SISTERS presents a largely revamped ABB, with songwriting replacing jamming as the chief priority and a crisper, more commercial attitude than that of any previous Allmans release coloring the results. Guitarist Dickey Betts, having already proven himself capable of singlehandedly tackling the string-strangling front line he'd once so famously shared with Duane, here also takes the lion's share of composing credits; it is clearly his vision which predominates on this, the ABB's last genuinely great LP.
The first two tracks on BROTHERS AND SISTERS were the last to feature Berry Oakley, and the tragedy of his sudden exit is underscored by the fact that one of them, Dickey's country-rock anthem "Ramblin' Man," would become the band's only major hit single. It's a phenomenal piece of work, to be sure, with stinging guitar work from Dickey and guest strummer Les Dudek and a made-for-radio chorus which suggests that the Brothers could still go anywhere and do anything if it involved making music. Gregg Allman's opener, "Wasted Words," is a bit too similar in both title and mood to EAT A PEACH's "Ain't Wastin' Time No More," but that hardly makes it bad.
As for the post-Berry cuts, Gregg scores winners with both the soulful, lovesick "Come and Go Blues" and the updated Ray Charlesish "Jelly Jelly," while Dickey contributes "Southbound" - a tune so much in Gregg's vein that he gives Gregg the vocal - and a bright instrumental ("Jessica") which, inevitably, would be greatly expanded upon in concert over the years. "Pony Boy," the closer, a down-home acoustic number on which Gregg doesn't even play, is one of the album's strongest numbers, mixing clever and humorous lyrics with a flawless instrumental track which must have left listeners at the time wondering whether the next release from this group would be credited to the Allman/Betts Band.
It wasn't, of course, though perhaps it should have been. In any case, more than three decades later BROTHERS AND SISTERS stands as the right bookend on the ABB's top shelf of recordings, posthumous live releases by the original sextet excepted of course. A fully worthy addition to the catalogue, nevertheless; Duane and Berry would have been proud.
For this reason, as well as the remaining bandmembers' ongoing slide into the personal and chemical excesses which have always made the big time what it is, BROTHERS AND SISTERS presents a largely revamped ABB, with songwriting replacing jamming as the chief priority and a crisper, more commercial attitude than that of any previous Allmans release coloring the results. Guitarist Dickey Betts, having already proven himself capable of singlehandedly tackling the string-strangling front line he'd once so famously shared with Duane, here also takes the lion's share of composing credits; it is clearly his vision which predominates on this, the ABB's last genuinely great LP.
The first two tracks on BROTHERS AND SISTERS were the last to feature Berry Oakley, and the tragedy of his sudden exit is underscored by the fact that one of them, Dickey's country-rock anthem "Ramblin' Man," would become the band's only major hit single. It's a phenomenal piece of work, to be sure, with stinging guitar work from Dickey and guest strummer Les Dudek and a made-for-radio chorus which suggests that the Brothers could still go anywhere and do anything if it involved making music. Gregg Allman's opener, "Wasted Words," is a bit too similar in both title and mood to EAT A PEACH's "Ain't Wastin' Time No More," but that hardly makes it bad.
As for the post-Berry cuts, Gregg scores winners with both the soulful, lovesick "Come and Go Blues" and the updated Ray Charlesish "Jelly Jelly," while Dickey contributes "Southbound" - a tune so much in Gregg's vein that he gives Gregg the vocal - and a bright instrumental ("Jessica") which, inevitably, would be greatly expanded upon in concert over the years. "Pony Boy," the closer, a down-home acoustic number on which Gregg doesn't even play, is one of the album's strongest numbers, mixing clever and humorous lyrics with a flawless instrumental track which must have left listeners at the time wondering whether the next release from this group would be credited to the Allman/Betts Band.
It wasn't, of course, though perhaps it should have been. In any case, more than three decades later BROTHERS AND SISTERS stands as the right bookend on the ABB's top shelf of recordings, posthumous live releases by the original sextet excepted of course. A fully worthy addition to the catalogue, nevertheless; Duane and Berry would have been proud.
No comments:
Post a Comment