Eat a Peach [Original recording remastered, Live]

Allman Brothers Band | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 14, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered, Live
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000003CMC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (159 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Blues > Slide Guitar
  • #3 in Music > Rock > Jam Bands > Rock Jam Bands
  • #6 in Music > Classic Rock > Southern Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Having firmly established themselves as "The Grateful Dead of the South" via their enormously successful 1971 Live at the Fillmore East double album, the Allman Brothers had just begun work on a new studio collection when slide guitarist Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident. Undaunted, the group rallied together and completed Eat a Peach, which, via inclusion of the 34-minute-plus "Mountain Jam," blossomed into a double LP. While keyboardist-singer Gregg Allman shone on tracks like Sonny Boy Williamson's "One Way Out" and his own "Melissa," it was second guitarist Dickey Betts who came out from under the departed Allman's shadow with his lead vocal on "Blue Sky" and his incendiary playing throughout. --Billy Altman

Product Description

audio cd

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Brothers Shine - With and Without Duane February 25, 2006

By Richard B. Luhrs

Format:Audio CD

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.

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If You've Been Disappointed.. July 3, 2006

By D. Allen

Format:Audio CD

...in the muddy and muffled sound of ALL previous reissues and remasters of Eat a Peach, including the MFSL release, you're in luck. This edition finally fixes those issues, and I must say that it truly sounds beautiful. They either found a much better tape or they did a sonic restoration job on it, because there's no comparison to anything that has come before it. If you like (or love) this album, you won't regret buying this. To top it all off, it includes the entire June 27, 1971 Fillmore East concert, and it sounds great too, even though the mixing is a little questionable.

75 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How sweet it is... November 1, 2004

By grego

Format:Audio CD

Many thanks are due to whoever is responsible for this fan favorite being mixed to multi-channel SACD. It sounds great! Both the multi-channel and stereo mixes represent a significant advance over the way this disc sounded before.

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I guess we should start by thanking Jeff Glixman who most folks know as the producer/engineer for KANSAS. He certainly has endeared himself to this Allman Brothers fan for his excellent work in mixing "Eat a Peach" to hi-resolution 5.1.

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I compared the new SACD to the most recent edition of the CD - the remastered one released a few years back. I listened to the SACD and the CD simultaneously with the CD in Pro Logic II mode (Denon CD player), while the SACD was played back in a Pioneer universal DVD player. Switching back and forth with volume levels matched, it was easy to hear the improvement.

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The new 5.1 mix has Gregg's voice spread out across all 3 front channels, and the soundstage is much wider than before with the 2 drummers clearly separated between left and right. Soundstage depth is amazing considering that not very much is going on in the surround speakers. Low frequency extension is excellent and fans of Berry Oakley's bass playing will revel in the seismic bottom end. Acoustic guitars sounded like they were being played right there in my living room, while cymbals and other high frequency sounds also sounded like they were being played in my room.

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This new sense of "presence" can be thought of another way. During "Mountain Jam" for example, I felt transported OUT of my living room and right onto the stage with the band. The 3D illusion is so real, it sounded like I was standing between Duane and Dickey's amps, and right in front of and between Jaimoe and Butch's drum kits. The organ and bass sounded like they were coming from everywhere at once, giving me an experiance of immersion in a 3D soundfield.

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Unlike other multi-channel SACD's which throw instruments around the room in jarring and unnatural ways, this SACD uses the surround channels simply for ambient reinforcement of the traditional soundstage which is still up front. The genius of this approach is that it preserves the naturalness of the performance, and the traditional soundstage with Duane on the left, Dickey on the right, Jaimoe on the left, Butch on the right etc., while still creating a 3 dimensional immersive experience.

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Audiophiles who review $100,000 sound systems in magazines like Stereophile often talk about being able to hear the "hall" that the concert was played in as well as the music. The subtlety of Jeff Glixman's approach to this 5.1 mix enabled me to hear the hall (the Fillmore) on my little $2000 system. Kudos to Jeff Glixman for working that miracle!

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The improvement over the regular CD can be boiled down to: a much wider and deeper soundfield that expands to fill the entire room. Greater high frequency and low frequency extension. Any element in the mix that you would care to name sounds bigger, clearer and closer. The twin lead guitars of Duane and Dickey sound natural and clear, not shrill or brittle. Fans of Berry Oakley will appreciate that the bass now sounds like a bulldozer going downhill with the throttle wide open. Hold on!

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For those without a multi-channel setup who are interested in the hi-resolution stereo layer, it's wonderful too. Both high and low frequencies are more extended than before, and the soundstage is wider and deeper than the old CD. The drums now sound full-size and close, whereas they used to sound small and somewhat distant. The soundstage is open and transparent with instruments clearly placed in 3D space with plenty of air around each instrument. It really does sound like you're THERE.