The Allman Brothers Band: Brothers & Sisters [MERCURY]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 180g reissue comes in a gatefold jacket with an insert. Brothers And Sisters topped the Billboard 200, and "Ramblin' Man" climbed to No. 2 on the Hot 100.

This edition

• Remastered
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Insert included

About the album

The Allman Brothers Band went through more than most bands could bear in the space of a year, and came out of it with the biggest record of their career. Brothers And Sisters is dedicated to bassist Berry Oakley, and it introduced a new chapter. Dickey Betts stepped up as the band's lead guitarist and main songwriter, Chuck Leavell's piano filled the space, and Lamar Williams joined on bass.

Betts wrote the two songs everybody knows. "Ramblin' Man" is a sunny country-rock singalong, and "Jessica" is a seven-minute instrumental gallop that trades guitar and piano leads like a relay race, famous to British TV viewers as the long-running theme for Top Gear. Gregg Allman's "Wasted Words" and "Come And Go Blues" bring the grit, "Jelly Jelly" is a slow blues for the late hours, and "Southbound" is pure road-trip boogie.

Johnny Sandlin co-produced it with the band at Capricorn in Macon, Georgia, and it helped push Southern rock into the mainstream. "Jessica" has soundtracked so many cars driven at speed that we hesitate to play it near the shop's parking spot.

Also at Kops: more The Allman Brothers Band on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Capricorn / Mercury, a reissue of the 1973 album.