Customer Reviews

Eat a Peach

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...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.

Let's set the record straight. When it comes to The Allman Brothers Band, especially the classic Duane Allman / Berry Oakley era Allman Brothers, I can't be objective. Yes, I'll admit, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool, certified fanatic. Having seen the orginal line up a total of five times....make that five, breath-taking, awe-insipiring, super fantasmaglogia times, I'm clearly not an unbiased source. I saw the ABB on one of their first tours in the winter of 1969 at the Capital Theatre in Portchester, NY. No they weren't the headliners. In fact they played third on the bill to Johnny Winter and headliners Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Then I saw them three times at the Filmore East and once at the Manhattan Center on 34th Street, accross from Penn Station.

The best of those five shows was the last "public" concert at the Filmore East. The very last night was a show Bill Graham put on for a celebrity, invited-only audience. I was at the "last public" show and I'll never forget the intesity of their unforgettable performance. The previously unreleased material on disc two of this new Deluxe Edition of EAP was from that last Filmore show I attended. Cue this puppy up to disc two and hang on to your hat, cause you're in for a ride.

Listen to Duane soaring off into the stratsosphere on "Statesboro Blues", "Don't Keep Me Wondering", "One Way Out" and "You Don't Love Me". Hear Berry's oh so thick, so heavy and inspired bass lines. Gregg is in great voice, (never sounding better for my money) and Butch and Jai Johnny are just as steady and precise as a Swiss chronograph. Believe me, it just dosn't get any better than this. The remastering job they did on these thirty five year old tapes is truly magnificent. The unreleased material, as I mentioned earlier is a treasure. The graphics, the packaging, the beautiful vintage photos and the liner notes by Scott Schnider all combine to make this new EAP absolutely indespensible. You can't call yourself an Allman Brothers fan if you don't rush out and purchase this one. It sure brought me back to that hot sweaty June night on New York's lower east-side where The Brothers obliged the crowd's cheer of "Play-All-Night"!!!! What a thrill that was!!!

Man oh man oh man - THIS is the best of the best, the best remaster of the best of The Masters of American Rock/Jazz/Blues ever, The Allman Brothers Band when they were at their peak. The sound engineering on this CD has to be heard to be believed, but take my word for it, it is freaking excellent! Eat A Peach, when I first bought the album as a heartbroken junior in High School, was a great testament to the band and to their fallen leader, the greatest guitarist ever, Duane Allman. Of course the stuff Duane played on was excellent, but what we fans were ultimately saved by were the new recordings they made without him. They were so damn good with Duane, and yet the band was still damn good without him ( or should I say, without Duane's guitar playing, for he was certainly there in spirit when they recorded these songs.). And this superb remastering makes it all sound awesome. AND: added to all this is the second disc which features the entirety of the Brother's performance at the closing of the legendary Fillmore East. The sound quality of this disc is damned good, just a shade less than the original Fillmore recording, but hardly noticeable, I'd say. It's great to hear Duane talking between songs, great to hear his mind-altering guitar playing, great to hear Berry still playing the best bass in the world, and man does Greg sound good here. And of course Dickey Betts is awesome, and Jaimoe and Butch laying down the great double-beat...Jesus Christ! What a band they were! So glad they were with us while they were, but so damn sad Duane and Berry were gone so soon after these recordings. This CD is the best way to remember what was the greatest American rock band ever. Amen!
Now here are some more words a couple of months later. I now think that the second disc here sounds BETTER than the original Fillmore show. The mix is absolutely superb. Perhaps Duane and Dickey are playing a little more loosely here than on the Fillmore CD, but the overall sound here is just perfect, especially on headphones. This Deluxe Edition of Eat A Peach would definitely be on my Desert Island list. It has almost everything Fillmore has, plus the great studio songs they recorded just before and just after Duane's tragic death. I cannot recommend this CD enough - absolutely worth every penny. Listen and enjoy, rejoice and cry, it's all here. Duane Allman was a musical genius. And his band was the best this country ever produced. There's never been anything like him, or them, since.

Eat A Peach, along with the live Fillmore album represents the Allman Brothers in all their power and glory. Many would agree that, try as they might over the next three decades, they would never be able to shake the unfortunate death of brother Duane and recover that musical edge they had during the Fillmore days. More than any other musical group from the south, they-along with The Grateful Dead, were the proto-typical jam band that could play on until doomsday and then comeback for an encore! So we get the peach album and an extra disc of Fillmore concerts. Technically they would probably be outtakes, since the best stuff was already culled for the Fillmore album just prior to Eat A Peach. Still the original peach album seems to have been cleaned up a bit thereby lending "Les Brers In A Minor" more poignancy than before. "Melissa" and "Little Martha" are very improved--you will swear the ghost of Duane is picking his guitar right next to your ear! As for the live concerts, they are less murky--I always had a problem with the version of "Mountain Jam" on the Eat A Peach album, as it seemed to sound like what you would hear if your were listening to these guys with some ear plugs on. That problem is fixed now of course. As for the second disc, the songs are pretty much the same fare as the Fillmore, but (dramatic pause) also different. The sound quality on the second disc is also superior to what you may have heard in the past--you'd swear you were in the same room!

It's nice when you come across the rare reissues that actually have unreleased material included. This version of Eat A Peach is a gem--70 previously unheard minutes of Fillmore concerts--need I say more? Sure, there are a few performance clinkers here and there (after all, these were rejected in favor of what appears on the classic Fillmore album), but the most remarkable aspect of these performances is noticing how improvised these songs really were--most of the soloing consists of different licks than heard on the original. And the sound is superb--as good or better than the double Fillmore Concerts CD package. Another winner from the vaults of the ABB!!

When the Allman Brothers set out to record Eat A Peach in 1972, it was their first Top 10 album. While recording Eat A Peach, At Fillmore East was certified Gold just two weeks after guitarist Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. The band members were determined to finish the album as a tribute to their brother/friend Duane Allman. This deluxe edition comes with a 11 page booklet with some great pictures of the band as well as an essay done by Scott Schinder to learn more about Eat A Peach and what happened during and after the recording sessions. As you open up the album you will see some cool art with Eat A Peach: Dedicated To A Brother, Duane Allman. As you listen to the first CD Ain't Wastin' Time No More is a strong opener to the CD. As you get into track 4, Mountain Jam is filled with just about everything any Allman Brother fan would want great jams, crying solo's, good drum solo's, groving bass, and much more. The live tracks on disc one are truely great. One Way Out, and Trouble No More are strong songs. Their are countless hits on disc one Ain't Wastin' Time No More, Melissa, Blue Sky, etc.

The sound on this Deluxe Edition is absolutely the best sounding Eat A Peach i have owned throughout my years of reissues of Eat A Peach both complete and incomplete. Disc two is my favorite disc for the simple fact that its the Allman Brothers Final Fillmore East Concert, June 27, 1971 (previously unreleased), except One Way Out and Midnight Rider. From the start Statesboro Blues is a completely different version then on the fillmore all of us Allman Brother fans know. I think disc two is truely incredible!! For me In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed is the best song on this final Fillmore Performence. Whipping Post is also a highlight. I have seen the Allman Brothers a couple of times in their prime and I just cant get enough of these Deluxe Edition CD's, these releases are worth the buy 99% of the time. It was truely a dedication to a brother, Duane Allman!!!! Highly Recommended!!!!!

To me the Allman Brothers creative peak was four LPs: Idlewild South, Fillmore East, Eat A Peach, Brothers and Sisters.

If you are an ABB fan you own this CD already (I did). You can also get this show in trading circles (along with some other fine audience and soundboard recordings) if you want to go to the effort (and ultimately more cost than this).

Released after Duane's death, this was originally a double LP. Great one as well - my personal favorite of the four listed above (it just beats out Fillmore East). Their first top 10 CD and the CD that propelled them into playing Stadiums like RFK or venues like Watkins Glen.

The sound is superb, the songs are excellent. What truly makes this worthwhile is the second disc of live music and the SOUND of that music. The Whipping Post and You Don't Love Me alone are to die for.

Even though I had the Remastered CD (and the SACD as well) I popped for this and don't regret it one bit. I doubt you will either.

Not being a dyed-in-the-wool Allmans fan, I can only recommend a few of their albums, and quite obviously the ones I would *most* recommend would be those featuring the original lineup of Duane, Gregg, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe. If you choose to only buy a few Allman Brothers Band albums, start with their eponymous 1969 debut and work your way up to Eat a Peach. (Some will suggest going with the next one as well, Brothers and Sisters, but I'll admit I'm not thrilled as much by that one, with Duane and Berry gone. Don't get me wrong--Dickey Betts is a fine guitarist and has some good country-styled lead vocals, and "Ramblin' Man" is a true rock 'n' roll classic [if a bit overplayed on classic rock radio], but it just doesn't feel the same to me.)

That said, Eat a Peach is one of the best places to dive in headfirst with the ABB's music. For my part, I've had a CD copy for the last 17 years or so, current copy being the 2004 hybrid SACD remaster. I'll hang onto that, of course--there's not a bad track on this album, and remixed into 5.1 Surround, it sounds absolutely wonderful...like travelling back in time to 1971-72 and being present at the recordings and performances of a band who were dealing with a crippling blow (Duane's tragic death) and were shortly to be dealt a second, when Berry Oakley would be killed in another motorcycle accident less than a block from where Duane died in Macon, GA. Through all of this, they managed to create music with an immediacy and a sharpness few other jam bands have ever really managed. "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" could easily be Gregg's statement of purpose--going to carry on no matter what happens. The live tracks are absolutely fine--this performance of "Mountain Jam" is, as far as I'm concerned, the definitive one--and the pre-accident tracks...well, Duane and Dickey duetting acoustically on "Little Martha" makes for one of the most memorable closing tracks on any classic rock album ever recorded.

I am so glad to see that the complete Fillmore performance from June 27, 1971 has now been included. These were the shows that put the ABB on the map as a prime concert destination, not to mention the last days of a true rock 'n' roll institution, which I was not, regrettably, old enough to have experienced (I was just 3 years old when Bill Graham closed the two Fillmores). I will certainly buy this Deluxe Edition, if only for the added live disc.

Not only a gorgeous remastering of the original Eat a Peach album, this rerelease adds on disc 2 the complete final Fillmore East concert. The recorded sound is even better on the complete Fillmore show: what a disc!

As I understand it there are, in the vaults somewhere, five complete Allman Brothers shows recorded by the original band at the Fillmore East. So for thirty years Allmans fans have been waiting for those shows to be released, and now at last we have one of them. Some sunny day there will be an expensive box set containing all five Fillmore shows along with dozens and dozens of good photos of the original lineup...

In 1972, Eat a Peach, released after the death of Duane Allman, one of the most outstanding guitarists ever, solidified the foundation of Southern Rock, much of it laid by the late, great musician and his surviving brother, Gregg. A landmark album in its own right, Eat a Peach was perhaps the first new release that combined music recorded in the studio with that which was recorded before a live audience. This was made so due to Duane's untimely fate. In fact, questions had previously arisen as to whether there would even be another Allman Brothers project after the 1971 classic, Live at Fillmore East. Dedicated to the memory of Duane, Eat a Peach was Gregg's answer, blending together tracks recorded before and after the departure of the elder Allman brother. And a triumphant decision it turned out to be.

Contained are the traditional Southern Rock staples Ain't Wastin' No More Time, the eternal Melissa, and the often-played but impossible to overplay Blue Sky. Included is the longest recorded rock track that I know of that was performed continuously (There was splicing and summing of recorded fragments in other albums such as Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick), which was the roughly thirty-three-and-a-half-minute outtake from Live at Fillmore East, Mountain Jam.

Eat a Peach is a most enjoyable, though sometimes poignant, listen. It has, again, the finely-tuned organ and the top-notch guitar work of the great Allman Brothers. You have the signature live and studio pieces that have preserved the Allman Brothers' legacy.

In the Deluxe CD version is included the Allman Brothers' final performance at Fillmore East, recorded just a few days after the aforementioned, breakthrough live album. It is another nice addition to the Southern Rock repertoire. 'Nuff said.