“My mama died and left me/My papa died and left me/I ain't good lookin', baby/But I'm someone sweet and kind.”
- Statesboro Blues
The question I ran across yesterday was “What's the greatest live album of all time?”
I don't think there's any real debate about that, is there? There's the Allman Brothers At Fillmore East and then there's everything else. I suppose it could be debated, but not with me. My mind's made up. It's the album that let the world know what those who'd seen the band live already knew, a comet had entered the earth's atmosphere.
The Allman Brothers had recorded two studio albums prior to Fillmore but those had failed to capture the energy and depth of their live performances. But with the new album, released in 1971, people found out what they were all about. Man, what a band. That rhythm section of Barry Oakley on bass and the double-drummers laying down the beefy foundation for Duane Allman and Dickey Betts' guitar brilliance and interplay with Gregg Allman's killer B3 organ and the growl of his blue-eyed, soul vocals all came together for a stunning result. The depth and sophistication of their playing was so far beyond their ages. They sounded like scarred and weathered bluesmen from a previous age. It's hard to fathom that they were just kids -- 22, 23, 24 years old. How did they get to be so good so young? Duane Allman had been playing slide guitar for only a brief time. How did he became preeminent in the blink of an eye?
They melded their original compositions, Whippin' Post, Hot Lanta and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, in with blues standards like Statesboro Blues, Done Somebody Wrong and Stormy Monday for a level of masterful cool that is unequaled. It may not be your thing but it's hard to deny its gravity.
In the last seconds of the 19:00 minute opus, You Don't Love Me, the song retards and Duane's bringing it to a close when somebody in the crowd yells, “Play all night!” If I were there, that certainly could have been me.