Often described as the first Southern rock album, the Allman Brothers Band’s self-titled debut album was first released on November 4th, 1969. The album features a number of the band’s most well-known songs, like “Dreams”, “It’s Not My Cross To Bear”, and “Whipping Post”. It still looms large as the defining moment that the Allman Brothers were born.
From 1965 through 1969, brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman went through a number of band line-ups—both separate and together. It took four years for the siblings to travel the world and get back to the basics in the South, putting together a major jam session that featured all of the band’s initial players: Berry Oakley, Jaimoe, Butch Trucks, and Dickey Betts. This would be the lineup for several years until Duane’s untimely death.
In August 1969, the band was just cutting their teeth in the South when record executives enticed them to make the album. Between a few blues numbers and some originals penned by Gregg Allman, the band made their way from Macon, GA to New York for a recording session.” The Allman Brothers Band” was recorded in just two weeks and quickly turned around for a release a few months later.
The album initially flopped on a national level, as the band’s Southern-influenced rock sound failed to take hold, but it had turned Macon from a sleepy town into a vibrant musical community. That’s when the band knew they were onto something. “They wanted us to act ‘like a rock band’ and we just told them to f*ck themselves,” remembered Trucks.
Now, we can look back at this album to see a wildly talented band in its earliest days. The Allman Brothers Band may have had a lot of drama over the years, but at the heart of it all is its undeniable thirst for authentic Southern rock and roll. That’s what you hear on “The Allman Brothers Band”, musicians who take their craft seriously but also know how to let loose and rock out. It’s a great record.
The Allman Brothers first few albums are essential for collectors of blues-based rock music. The band blow hot from the first searing notes of lead guitar on ‘Don’t Want You No More’. This instrumental segues into ‘It’s Not My Cross To Bear’, with virtuoso cameos shared out. What is most impressive is how they maintain a compelling intensity and seething energy across the album. ‘Trouble No More’, the album’s halfway house provides a little relief from this, but the last three tracks pick up the mood again, each distinctive from everything else. The organ-led ‘Dreams’ is strongly atmospheric and ‘Whipping Post’ tops everything off superbly. At just thirty-three minutes, this album leaves you hungry for more,
The Fat Angel Sings 