Steve Butts

The Allman Brothers Bsnd were a primed and efficient outfit in 1971. Yes, they were a blues and R&B-inflected rock band, but they also could hum along and groove and crescendo into free jazz bombast and drop back into the groove with an absolutely confident abandon in a few short moments. Listening to them in their prime is about soaking in their dynamic waves of sound as if you are riding in a boat. Storms will most certainly come, but the sturdiness of them as a performing unit means that they will always carry you back to safety. The sound on the Syria Mosque recording is incredible and offers you the most isolated sounding drums you might ever hear, it’s much easier than usual to hear the separation of Butch and Jaimoe. There is also some very fat Berry Oakley notes that normally you can feel in your chest but rarely notice audibly. On top of it all, is some of the most gliding and mournful slide playing that Duane ever played. I believe that the goal of their music was a sort of game theory of establishing an unfettered virtual freedom so that we could see what that might look and feel like, albeit briefly through the course of their often close to 20 minute songs.