Customer Reviews

Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, NY 5/1/73

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This show is interesting for the changed lineup following the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. The music is very fine, with some very long jams. The recording quality is very poor. The mix is bad, and all the instruments have a slight bit of distortion, which gets tiring quickly. I'm not sure why ABB offered this show for commercial release when better tapes from 1973 exist..like the June Washington D.C. shows.

5 stars for music, 1 star for recording quality, 3 stars average.

After Duane Allman's untimely passing the Allman Brothers toured as a five piece band for about a year. They first added keyboardist Chuck Leavell to give the band new colors in sound, then added Lamar Williams after the death of original bassist Berry Oakley. This show, the fourth in the Allman Brothers archival series finds this band exploring how far they could take the music in this new context.

While Dickey Betts is a good slide player, his playing lacks that special touch Duane Allman had. Often times it seems he is playing in the holes that Duane would have left. Yet, his performance is satisfactory in its own right. The band features much of the material from Live At The Fillmore, with the additions of several songs from the uupcoming Brothers and Sisters record. Of special note is disc 2, backing up a solid Trouble No More with jam classics You Don't Love Me, Les Brers In A Minor, Whipping Post and Mountain Jam. On all these, especially Mountain Jam, Chuck Leavell shines. Gregg's voice is in great form and the rhythm section is dead on.

This is a scary good record, much better than the dreadful Wipe the Windows disc put out a couple of years later. An essential piece of the bands recorded history. Buy it yesterday

Here's some info on how this release compares to some of the other in this series. Starting with the sound quality, sure it's not the best but I am happy with it considering the tape source and age. You have to expect some limitations and, yes, they do exist. In all the sound here is better than the American University release and most of the Stoney Brook release. But is not quite as good as the Boston Common release.

We all know that Duane and Barry are missing here but the band still rocks like only the Brothers can. The trademark Duane tunes are handled just fine by DB and Lamar fills in nicely. At first listen, it was hard for me to notice the absence of Duane but in the end it is noticeable. Chuck Leavell is present here as well and he adds a great touch.

The real gem here, however, is the track listing. "Wasted Words", "Jessica", and "Ramblin' Man" are real nice to hear this early in the history of the band. All of the other songs are familiar and played in a similar style to all previous releases. No suprises with these.

If you like the others in this series, this one will not disappoint you. Enjoy!

After the double tragedies of losing both Duane and Berry it is amazing that The Allman Brothers were able to carry on, yet as this cd shows they were able to "keep this thing going" as Duane had wanted them to. They became a very different band without Duane. Chuck Leavell's piano playing is inspired and uplifting and creates a whole new genre of Brothers Music. And Lamar Williams plays an awesome bass here. He had HUGE shoes to fill in taking over for Berry Oakley, but the man stepped right in and he sounds here like he's been playing in the band for six years instead of just six months.
For me the best music here is the You Don't Love Me merging into Les Brers In A Minor; Chuck's piano really adds a lot to the original. And this version of Mountain Jam is freaking awesome, especially Lamar's bass solo played along with Butch and Jaimoe's amazing drumming. Really, this band is HOT here, two years after recording Fillmore with Duane and Berry, 18 months after losing Duane, and only six months after losing Berry. How the hell did they do it? As Butch said, Duane gave them the religion, and they had to keep it going. And so they did. This is The Brothers still riding the crest of the wave that began with Fillmore two years earlier. They still had the religion, and they had some great new music and some great new musicians. Sadly it all faded after this era, but such is life, in and out of the world of music.
The sound quality here isn't too bad at all, though I wish such a superb performance was as well-recorded as Fillmore. This version of the band deserves it. They were great - still the best band in America. RIP Duane, and Berry, and Lamar.

This show serves as a preview for the classic album Brothers and Sisters which would be out in about three months although Gregg does say " a couple of weeks" during the show. The show starts out with a great Wasted Words and, while the sound quality isn't perfect, it isn't that bad either and the mix does improve. This release is mastered from standard reel to reel tapes made of the show so it's like really, really good bootleg quality. The majority of the show is very good with new members Chuck and Lamar bringing their A game. The only downside being on some of the songs the band did with Duane where Dickey having not developed all of his slide guitar playing chops yet (as on ABB standards as Statesboro Blues). The band lays down some of it's older songs in fine fashion while the new ones like Jessica and Come & Go Blues fit in perfectly. There's quite a bit of stellar playing on songs like In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, Les Brers In A Minor and Whipping Post. I'm sure most fans will really like this release.

great cd disc 2 is amazing you should buy this just hear les brers in a minor,lamar and chuck just shine on this song and the whole cd for that matter.a must buy play it loud and often.

Eric Clapton was still seeing "Clapton is God!" spray-painted on subway walls worldwide when he began jamming with the Allman Brothers' lead guitar *genius* Duane Allman. Clapton was held in complete awe of Duane's skills. Eric publicly called Allman "the greatest guitarist in the world". Together, as a side project, they formed Derek + The Dominoes, recording one album together, "Layla + Other Love Songs", (1970), before Duane died of massive head injuries in a 1971 motorcycle wreck. (I've hated motorbikes ever since. Damnable death-traps!)

The Allman Brothers themselves rank as my favorite American band. Today's lineup of the ABB (2010) is very, very good. Yet for a few years after Duane's 1971 death, they largely just stumbled along by comparison, period, as this recording shows.