Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great introduction/overview of an astounding band, May 16, 2002
Boxed sets such as this typically are a mixture of "Greatest Hits" material with enough unreleased material to hook die-hard fans into going ahead and spending money. "Dreams" is no exception to this, but it is better organized than most boxed sets. Die hards who already own the albums will get a lot of duplicate material, but roughly a third of it is unreleased and/or difficult to find. Those interested in discovering the group are in for a real treat! This boxed set is the perfect introduction.Disc one is mostly cuts from the Pre-ABB groups The Allman Joys, Hour Glass, The 31st of February, and The Second Coming. When I saw the track listings after buying the set, I was initially disappointed by this, as I have little interest in being an Allman's "completist." However, I was relieved that all of the early cuts are at least pretty good, and at times, sublime! You hear a clear progression from psychedelic cover band to blues virtuosos to jazz/rock/country fusion. The second half of the disc is downright excellent. Discs two and three are, by and large, greatest hits from the ABB golden era. If you don't already have a copy of the amazing Live at Fillmore East, there are three remastered cuts of probably the best tracks from Fillmore. Most ABB fans will already have Fillmore, but if you don't it's great to have these. Over half of Disc four is solo and side project material by ABB members. As with disk one, all of these cuts are at least pretty good, with some really excellent numbers thrown in as well. I'd rate this as one of the best boxed sets available because it doesn't contain any unnecessary filler tracks. You won't find yourself hitting the skip button very much at all. The breadth of ABB's musical heritage is laid out clearly and will continue to amaze after many listens. If you're new to the band, as I was, this is a can't-go-wrong purchase.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An impressive career overview with a few twists, October 24, 2004
This is not the place to start your Allman Brothers collection (unless you have money to burn), but it is a fine stop along the way for devoted fans of the band.
"Dreams" is a four-disc, 55-song compilation, handsomely presented in a LP-sized box with a large, well illustrated and well written 30-page booklet.
It includes songs recorded between 1966 and 1988, so the Allmans' latter-day comeback is not documented. That detracts from "Dreams" as a career overview, of course, but all of that latter-day material is easily available anyway, so no great harm done.
Disc one includes a number of early recordings by Duane and Gregg Allman and their pre-ABB outfits, The Allman Joys, The Hourglass, 31st Of February, and the too-psychedelic Second Coming. Some of it is pedestrian, but there is actually quite a lot of good stuff as well, particularly the three Allman Joys numbers. And the late Duane Allman takes a rare lead vocal on the 1969 single "Goin' Down Slow" (previously only available on the Duane Allman "Anthology" from 1972).
The last two discs also include a number of songs from the solo careers of Gregg Allman and original co-lead guitarist Richard "Dickey" Betts. There is some really good stuff, particularly Gregg Allman's almost spiritual-like version of the Beatles' "Rain", Betts' up-tempo country-rockers "Crazy Love" and "Good Time Feeling", and the utterly beautiful outtake "Nancy". And you also get most of the good stuff from the Allmans' otherwise forgettable late 70s/early 80s LPs.
About a dozen of these 55 songs are previously unreleased (or were at the time), and some are hard-to-find singles or B-sides or just obscure album tracks. Those songs will certainly attract serious ABB fans, but more casual fans will probably find that one of these four discs could have been omitted with no great harm done.
Still, there is no denying that "Dreams" comes awfully close to delivering the definitive word on the Allman Brothers Band. All their classic songs are here, alongside studio outtakes like "Statesboro Blues" (!) and "One More Ride", previously unreleased live recordings of "One Way Out", "Elizabeth Reed" and "Just Ain't Easy", and a live-in-the-studio radio broadcast medley of "You Don't Love Me" and "Soul Serenade".
Serious ABB fans will definitely want this fine set in their collection, and lots of "mid-level" fans (like me) should find an awful lot to like as well. Even if they already have most of the ABB stuff, "Dreams" may well turn them on to the underappreciated solo career of Dickey Betts.
Oh, and that studio version of "Statesboro Blues"? Terrific! Why that one was never released is a mystery.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the top ten boxed sets ever released, October 20, 1999
By A Customer
This was one of the top boxed sets compiled and released along with Clapton Crossroads, and Bob Dylan Biograph.This box mixes great album tracks, outstanding live cuts (the quadrophonic Fillmore East cuts of Whipping Post and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed for example), terrific unreleased tracks (the Idlewild South outtake of Statesboro Blues, as an example), and thoughtful and insightful solo ventures. One of the best paced boxed sets. If you only want one Allman Brothers' release this fits the bill nicely. Oh, and had they done the Doobie Brothers' box (a group that had a similar career) the same way, that would get five stars as well!
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