Recorded live at State University of New York on 9/19/71, just
six weeks prior to Duane Allman s untimely accidental death, this
2-CD set contains the only known quality live performance of
Duane on Blue Sky , one of the pillars of the Brother s catalog.
The crowd that day at SUNY witnessed a band that was at the
absolute height of spontaneous creativity, with music that ranged
from loose, free-flowing jazz-like improvisation to
whiskey-soaked blues, country swing to full blown rock - all of
it delivered with a furious, right on the edge intensity. The
band truly played as they lived, and lived as they played. With
Duane Allman's searing slide and lead lines, the melodic
brilliance of Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley playing bass like a
third guitar, Gregg Allman's distinct vocals and soothing B-3,
and the dual syncopated drumming of Joe and Butch Trucks, the
sum total of the Allman Brothers Band was greater than the
considerable talents of its individual parts.
Five weeks later, while the band was back home in Macon, Georgia,
24 year old Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle c. His
death on October 29th, 1971, cost rock music of one its greatest
masters, while the Allman Brothers Band lost their founder and
cornerstone. Although they would carry on and actually achieve
their greatest commercial success without Duane, Stonybrook
9/19/71 features the Allman Brothers Band at their musical zenith
before the circle was tragically broken.
Review
------
Unlike the Grateful Dead, their obvious and acknowledged model
for reissuing vintage live s, the Allman Brothers Band
has not shied away from exploring their early work in an attempt
to demonstrate that they were as good in 1980 and 1990 as they
were in 1970. On the contrary, in such archival releases as
1991's Live at Ludlow Garage: 1970 (Polydor), 1996's Fillmore
East, February 1970 (Grateful Dead), and the first release from
their own Allman Brothers Band Company, 2002's American
University 12/13/70, the Allmans have made a point of sticking to
their early years when the original band, led by slide guitarist
Duane Allman, was still intact. Their purpose, as band members
said in a front-page article in Billboard in April 2002 that
announced the formation of their record company, is to
demonstrate Duane Allman's prowess. This album, recorded a scant
five weeks before the guitarist's death, furthers this goal.
Annotator John Lynskey acknowledges that, also unlike the Dead,
the Allmans did not vary their set list very much. 'The Allman
Brothers might have played the same songs night after night' he
admits, 'but they were never played the same way twice.' The
album, which compiles material from two shows on the same night,
backs up his assertion. The titles may be familiar, but the
jamming is not, as the band explores different ways to approach
the songs, including one that is still in development. 'Blue
Sky', which would not appear on record until the group's next
album, 'Eat a Peach', gets an 11-minute that is a
showcase for Duane Allman and Dickey Betts' guitar interaction.
Six months after the legendary shows that produced their
signature , At Fillmore East, and just before they
changed forever with Duane Allman's death, this is the sound of
the Allman Brothers Band at their peak. --Allmusic.com