7 comments

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  Tom Watson

  2 years ago

  I love the Allmans, especially the Duane years - who doesn't? It was pure southern charm, but "enlightened" as Gregg likes to say - these guys made their biggest marks in NYC and LA.
  Their resurgence with a mixture of the old dudes and the younger guys has been a thing of beauty, clearly driven by Warren Haynes, who has really emerged as a force - I think this is because he's got terrific range. And that's important.
  The Allmans' sound has never been pure blues or country rock - it's always mixed in jazz elements. Their best work swings; it's loose within a broad, specific context. These guys listen as they play - they don't just knock 'em out.
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  The Viscount

  2 years ago

  driven by Warren Haynes, who has really emerged as a force - I think this is because he’s got terrific range.
  
  Yeah, I agree. He has such a rich musical vocabulary. I think he is the backbone of the new configuration, and can he sing! I love his background vocals on classics like "Midnight Rider" and his lead vocals on the new ones like "Worried Down With The Blues."
  
  I hafta say though that Derek Trucks is a guitarist in a class by himself...
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  Rockwell

  2 years ago

  I have had similar feelings about the Allmans over the years.
  
  It is great to see them back and cookin' again with a multi-generational line-up. That bodes well for the future.
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  Chris the cop

  2 years ago

  There is simply nothing like Live At the Filmore East - before or since. Hot 'Lanta, Stormy Monday, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed - never has drumming sounded like poetry - Time Magazine (Jay Cockc-I believe) once called the U-2 Live Album the greatest lvie albun of all time. He had no idea what he was talking about. I could listen to that drum solo on Hot 'Lanta 50 times (and did) and would air-guitar Stormy Monday for hours. I was 15 years old.
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  The Viscount

  2 years ago

  Live at Fillmore East ... Stormy Monday
  
  Gotta be my all-time favorite version.
  
  Definitely check out the "One Way Out" live record they did a couple years ago. While nothing will ever again be Fillmore East it is a fantastic record.
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  estiv

  2 years ago

  To link Fillmore East with the jazz influence--I read somewhere that every night before those shows, they'd listen to Kind of Blue. Once you know that, you can hear it.
  I get, to put it plainly, real fucking tired of people who try to convince me that, say, Ted Nugent is a great guitar player. No, he's a good guitar player but mostly a "character." Duane Allman was a great guitar player, someone who put music above everything else. (Not that that choice will give you a great life, it must be added.) And I agree that Derek Trucks is heading in that direction, if he's not already there.
  With hindsight I can see that one of my key learning experiences in appreciating music was seeing Count Basie in a high school gym in 1978. He was old, the piano was out of tune, and they were playing in a small town high school gym, for Christ's sake (it was a benefit). Didn't matter. They. Were. Hot. If the performer can set aside everything else as much as possible, including lack of a sizeable audience, then the magic can be conjured up. A "show" has its appeal, but eventually either the music is cooking or it's not. And if it is, the spirits may manifest themselves.
  A week after I saw Basie I saw the Sex Pistols, but that's another story.
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  The Viscount

  2 years ago

  estiv:
  
  Excellent comments. Thanks for reading.
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