Where It All Begins

Performer: The Allman Brothers Band
Engineer: Jay Mark
Producer: Tom Dowd
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: The Allman Brothers Band: Gregg Allman (vocals, piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Dickey Betts (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Warren Haynes (vocals, guitar, slide guitar); Allen Woody (bass, fretless & 6-string bass, background vocals); Butch Trucks, Jaimoe (drums, percussion, background vocals); Marc Quinones (congas, percussion). Recorded at BR Ranch Studios, Jupiter, Florida. This live-in-the-studio set isn't the Allman's best album of the '90s--that honor goes to the groundbreaking SEVEN TURNS--but it is a thoroughly solid effort with some inspired moments that play off the band's traditional strengths. Among the highpoints: "No One to Run With," which plays its all-my-rowdy-friends-have-settled-down theme against a ferocious Bo Diddley beat; the title song, which features the most inspired dual-guitar work on the album; and "What's Done is Done," a straight-ahead blues shuffle (harking back to the band's first album) featuring one of Gregg Allman's most assured vocals.

Rolling Stone (7/14/94, p.104) - 3 Stars - Good - "...Twin leads, two drummers, an impossibly soulful vocalist--no American band ever emerged with the sheer power of the Allmans..." Q (10/94, p.105) - 3 Stars - Good - "...an outfit capable of turning out lively, fresh sounding Southern boogie..."

They're known as the founding fathers of Southern rock, but the Allman Brothers were actually much more progressive than the musical school they inspired. They reclaimed the US-influenced blues-rock of Cream et al. and brought it back to America, adding country and jazz touches. They were noted for their improvisatory skills, particularly the inspired dual-guitar work of Dickey Betts and the late Duane Allman. Even after the deaths of Duane and original bassist Berry Oakey and the departure of Betts, the band soldiered on strongly into the 21st century, led by founding singer/organist Gregg Allman.

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