Gregg Allman:

Laid Back: (1973)

Yes, I could've started this little section with the Allman Brothers Band, but this is how I'm doing this, so leave me alone. The debut solo album form Gregg Allman is...well, anything but laid back. Rich in slow brewing emotion. Before the Allman Bros. Band, back when they we're Hour Glass, record executives had tried to get Gregg to ditch his band, and go solo. Hell, a recording session for an Hour Glass album where they replaced almost the entire band nearly created a solo album for Gregg, but he walked away and it wouldn't be until 1973 that this album came along. Sure, he reworks some tunes he'd already recorded with the Allmans, but what reworkings they are, with string and horn arrangements that take the songs to a different place. This album also contains the cover of the Jackson Browne song These Days, and it was this version that Browne sited as unlocking the true power of the song. But, perhaps the biggest reason for this solo album was the death of a brother. Duane had passed in October 1971. Maybe that adds to the lonesomeness heard in Gregg's voice on this album, and leads to the album closer, Will The Circle Be Unbroken which would also serve as a show closer on the subsequent tour. Which leads us to...

The Gregg Allman Tour: (1974)

Taking the band Cowboy on the road for back up, Gregg launches a solo tour that would become his second solo album. This album is tight, but for me has never been the most exciting live album. Part of it was recorded at Carnegie Hall, and seems a little like people might have been sitting down for this show. Again, that's just how it's always felt to me. Great playing, and great songs. You know, part of it could have to do with the overly clean sedate recording techniques of the 70's. In any case, Gregg's voices is always killer.