The Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers Band (2LP) [MERCURY]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 2LP set on 180g vinyl puts the 1969 original stereo mix and the 1973 Beginnings stereo mix side by side, cut from the original analog tapes. Gregg Allman wrote most of the songs, including "Whipping Post."

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Remastered from the original analog tapes
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in the Netherlands

About the album

Two lead guitars and two drummers is a lot of band for one stage, and that abundance was the point. Duane and Gregg Allman formed the group in 1969 and made Macon, Georgia home, fusing blues and R&B with rock, jazz and country.

Adrian Barber produced. Gregg's Hammond organ and voice sit at the centre, Duane and Dickey Betts trade lead lines, and Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe drive the rhythm. "Don't Want You No More" opens as an instrumental and slides into "It's Not My Cross To Bear," "Trouble No More" gives a Muddy Waters tune a hard shove, and "Every Hungry Woman" rocks out before the long, slow build of the closing number.

Gregg later called his memoir My Cross to Bear, after the second song here. Two mixes of one album may sound generous, but this band built a career on playing things twice as long as anyone expected.

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

Tracklist

Listen

On Mercury, a reissue of the 1969 album.