Blogcritics Comments on Allman Brothers Alive Again

Comment by jerry

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:27:47 EDT

i've been listening to the allman brothers since 1974, when duane didnot play slide i cant tell him and dickey apart. who took the first solo on whipping post?how can you tell them apart?

Comment by Brian R

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:36:33 EDT

I don't know if anyone uses this anymore to post comments, but I have a question since you all seem to be knowledgeable fans. I am a huge Clapton and Allman Bros fan, and I have been searching for videos of the Allman Bros as well as video of Derek & the Dominos. Does anybody know of a video with Clapton and Duane?

Comment by gerrard

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 21:44:12 EDT

Both the album that's the topic of this post and "Layla..." are favs of mine. I even enjoy the Dominoes+Allmans jams on disc two of the Layla boxed set. How would you rate the mix on the new deluxe edition of Fillmore?

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:56:07 EDT

And Natalie, yes, I certainly agree with your assessment of Layla as a masterpiece. It remains my second-favorite album of all time, though it is not one I listen to all that frequently.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:55:39 EDT

T, good point, but still all pre-Layla work was done in a very "loud" sort of anonymity. If you think about it, the process is actually the reverse: he played in various bands and shared the spotlight with Mayall, Yardbirds, Cream, D&B (he was a "friend"), Blind Faith, even D&D was under an assumed name and was definitely a group. It wasn't until after all this that he became the solo artist, and, ironically, "retreated" as you put it.

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:53:22 EDT

I'm not real big on August or Pilgrim either, now that I think about it. These things come to me just after I hit the Post button.

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:52:24 EDT

I'm afraid I have to admit it - I am a Clapton fan, both pre- and post-Layla. With the exception of Money and Cigarettes, I really enjoy almost all of his stuff.

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:39:05 EDT

In my litany about his pre-Dominoes bands, I neglected to mention the band that was largely responsible for the lineup on Layla - Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, in which he retreated from the God image that had been painted for him and hung out behind the stacks. Delaney and Bonnie was where the fundamental shift from frontman to anonymity began, prior to his disappearance following the Dominoes.

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:34:10 EDT

Point conceded - there is a paradigm shift induced by his heroin fog.

Comment by Natalie Davis

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:18:00 EDT

>>Bluesbreakers with Clapton were not Yardbirds were not Cream were not Dominoes were not Blind Faith Indeed. But all were excellent and adventuous (well, save BF), but all, even BF had their moments of transcendence. >>comparing two albums post-Layla, say 461 Ocean Blvd. to Money and Cigarettes, or Slowhand to From the Cradle, is like comparing apples and tire irons. Perhaps. But I have to side with Eric: The artist who created them all was a changed man from his previous incarnation.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:13:45 EDT

Perhaps, but there was a fundamental change that happened in and around Layla - he went into a heroin fog for like two years after the Layla tour and didn't come out until 461, which is a very nice album, but as if from a completely different artist. Looks like I'll have to post something on this.

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:09:24 EDT

I think lumping Clapton's career into two phases is a bit overly simplistic. Bluesbreakers with Clapton were not Yardbirds were not Cream were not Dominoes were not Blind Faith, and comparing two albums post-Layla, say 461 Ocean Blvd. to Money and Cigarettes, or Slowhand to From the Cradle, is like comparing apples and tire irons.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:44:51 EDT

right on Nat, your taste is phat

Comment by Natalie Davis

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:43:43 EDT

Indeed, there are those who love pre-Layla Clapton and can't abide post-Layla Clapton. No doubt there are those who prefer post-Layla Clapton to pre-Layla Clapton. I trust that number is a small one. I assume most of us can agree on "Layla"'s deserved status as a masterpiece. And this music fan (who prefers early Clapton) believes Layla and Ohter Love Songs is damned fine, even magical, from beginning to end.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:37:36 EDT

There are also two very distinct phases to Clapton's career: before and after Layla.

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:19:18 EDT

Seems to me that the music of Clapton is like black licorice - people either love it or hate it - there's no middle ground.

Comment by Taloran

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:18:18 EDT

The last cut of Layla, Thorn Tree in the Garden, serves as a marvelous musical counterpoint to the hard-driving blues-rock of the rest of the album. It defines the Dominoes as well as the title cut does.

Comment by Al Barger

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 04:39:07 EDT

Clapton really, really goddam annoys the bejesus out of me- yet even I have to agree that the Derek and the Dominoes album is the shiznit.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 23:11:16 EDT

Oh Dave, oh Dave, the album Layla is deep and wide as the ocean, the song "Layla" is just the centerpiece. It is a run through blues history as filtered through two of the greatest guitarists ever, at their most profound and mystical. And Clapton really sings. Please listen to it again: the band is incredible, Bobby Whitlock's keys and background vocals are a moon unto themselves, and the album is a universe. You know what's what, just check it out again.

Comment by Dave

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:46:10 EDT

I never saw what the big deal was about D & the D's except for "Layla". I have enough other A-Bros stuff that I still have to get, so I think I'll give this set a pass.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 15:07:42 EDT

Couldn't agree more, the high point of Clapton's career, a high point in rock history, and the end of an era - Clapton has never been the same, Allman was gone shortly thereafter, the Beatles were gone, the '60s were gone.

Comment by Taloran

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 14:55:24 EDT

"He made everyone in the band better... and especially inspired fellow guitarist Dickey Betts to his greatest recorded work." Not to mention inspiring Eric Clapton to his greatest recorded work. Patti Boyd may have been the primary inspiration, but without Duane pushing EC to his considerable limits, Layla might have been just another ol' album.

Comment by Mark Saleski

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 14:32:23 EDT

yep.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 14:30:41 EDT

you're a doomed music romantic

Comment by Mark Saleski

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 14:29:00 EDT

oh yea, i didn't mean to implying that i wasn't gonna buy it...far from it. five years from now they'll put out another version with outtakes of greg allman bitching out a roadie about his setup...i'll probably buy that too.