There are moments in music where you just know.January 17, 1971 was no outstanding day in rock music history. The Allman Brothers Band(ABB) played this date at a place called the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their set list is similar to many of their other thousands of shows in their short careers with their original lineup.
But there is a moment in this particular song, You Don't Love Me, where for me, they hung the moon. It's around the 9:07 minute mark.
Enough of my particular reminisces with this particular show.
What are the Allman Brothers Band to me? They remind me of the smell of a pine forest, or ice tea sipped on my great aunt's wraparound porch back in Alabama. They remind me of my first beer. What does this band have to do with these seemingly random events and remembrances. Nothing, but yet everything. Listening to ABB takes me to a place that is at once familiar yet almost forgotten.
I can say little that has not been said about this band, before and by more accomplished authors. But I can tell you how this band makes me feel. Listening to an ABB band album is like eating comfort food. It comforts me and makes me see what people in this world are capable of when there is a combination of talent, hard work, and desire.
What can you say about a band with the talent of Duane and Gregg Allman, Dickie Betts, and Berry Oakley, the guts to have an African American drummer, Jaimoe in the post Jim Crow/fall of segregation South, and the desire to seemingly endlessly wander the country playing the music they loved for the masses? What you CAN say, is this is the quintessential American (not necessarily Southern) band. It simply does not get any better than this. An ABB song, instantly improves my mood and outlook. While many of their songs concern dark places, memories, and experiences, there is a positive feeling amongst this material that will forever stand the test of time.
This blog will have many spots dedicated to the ABB memory and legend.
Jason's Band Rating: 10 of 10
Seminal Tracks: Whipping Post, Dreams, Melissa, Statesboro Blues(Taj Mahal), Don't Keep Me Wonderin', You Don't Love Me
Essential Album(where to begin): Live at Fillmore East (this is in my opinion, the finest live album ever made in the history of music)
RIP, Skydog and Berry
My interest in the Allman Brothers Band goes back a long, long time, almost to the beginning of the band. I was at the National Guard Armory in Auburn in July 1969 to see some hippies in a band. There were two-three local bands before the hippies, so I had to leave before they came on. (I was 15 and had a curfew. I probably was wearing my Church clothes, too.) Another friend stayed and watched them. He stood about five feet from Duane. He and his brother remembered them when they were the Allman Joys and played at the Red Barn, where Auburn Mall now stands.
ReplyDeleteA year later, another friend asked me if I wanted to go to the Atlanta Pop Festival, which was held in Byron, which is south of Macon. My father knew if I went some drug-crazed hippies would convert me to a devil worshipper, so was not allowed to go. (He told me he was 50 feet from the stage, and as Duane was warming up, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.)
That fall, I had a friend who had been going to Piedmont Park and seeing them. Before he could take me there, he was killed in a car wreck leaving Piedmont Park.
The final opportunity to see the original band came in the summer of 1971. But I was working the 11-7 shift at a cotton mill, making a big $2.05 an hour, and didn't want to give up that $16.40.
I guess that's one of the reasons I'm obsessive when it comes to Duane's shows. I've got to have them.
There was nothing like the original band. It had two guitarists who pushed each other, a bass player who played like he was playing a lead instrument, a pair of drummers who complemented each other and pushed the rest of the band, and a singer whose lonesome voice was perfect for the music.
Today, listening to those early shows, I can't help to think about what could have been if not for the tragedies of 1971 and 1972.
Brian of Cleveland
Moving stuff, Brian. As many of you know Brian, I will be asking him to Guest Contribute here on Books, Betties and Beats. His knowledge of the Allman Brothers Band is simply unparalleled.
ReplyDeleteWar Eagle.
It's almost as extensive as my knowledge of The Bay City Rollers.
ReplyDeleteI may not be asking for contributions on that subject... But you never know.
ReplyDeleteWar Eagle.
I just had bowel movement that produced a rather huge loose stool. Guess what it reminded me of? You guessed it... The Allman Brothers Band.
ReplyDeleteDidn't the guitar player die in a fire? Please tell me more about this band. Having grown up in the Deep South, I'm vaguely familiar with this outfit, but no one seems to have really explored their music.
Keep up the excellent prose!
I'll take that as ball busting rather than criticism, Walter Plutskowski, ahem. JWPBWP, IYAM.
ReplyDeleteWar Eagle.