Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: The Allman Brothers

1	Trouble No More 3:47
2	Done Somebody Wrong Live 4:16
3	Stormy Monday Live 8:50
4	Can't Lose What You Never Had 5:51
5	Statesboro Blues Live 4:13
6	One Way Out Live 4:57
7	(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man 4:57
8	I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town Live 9:19
9	Dimples Live 4:59
10	Need Your Love So Bad 4:04
11	You Don't Love Me Live 19:17

Barnes & Noble

They practically invented Southern Rock, and they remain at the apex of the genre. The Allman Brothers blended the blues, R&B, jazz, and rock, molding a hybrid music that was as accessible and expressive as it was inventive and improvisatory. This telling collection concentrates on the original -- and definitive -- version of the legendary band with its dual lead guitar lineup of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. Completed by Greg Allman’s soulful vocals and organ, and a mighty double-drum rhythm section prodded on by the skillful bassist Berry Oakley (who, like Duane Allman, was killed in a motorcycle accident at the height of the band’s popularity), the first-edition Allmans took blues rock to new heights. There are plenty of tasty examples here of the sextet’s slamming power and creative interplay as well as Duane Allman’s extraordinary guitar work. (His unsurpassed slide guitar stylings sound as remarkable today as they did 30-plus years ago.) Remaking songs by Muddy Waters, Elmore James, T-Bone Walker, and other blues giants, The Allmans devised their own distinctive sound, one that quickly gave them a vaunted place in the rock pantheon. Steve Futterman

All Music Guide

As any fan knows -- heck, as anyone who's listened to the radio since 1970 knows -- there was much more to the Allman Brothers Band than blues. Blues-rock, however, was a foundation of their music, and that's what you'll hear on this compilation, which is part of the Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues CD series, issued in conjunction with the television documentary series The Blues. As is proper, almost all of this is from the band's early years; all but two of the songs were recorded between September 1969 and June 1971, and none of them postdate 1979. So the accent falls very heavily on their Southern rockified covers of blues songs by Elmore James, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Blind Willie McTell, and Sonny Boy Williamson, including tunes that were among the group's most popular, among them "Trouble No More," "Statesboro Blues," "One Way Out," "You Don't Love Me," and "Dimples." That means there's no room for the considerable chunk of their repertoire that also mixed in pop, straight-ahead hard rock, jazz, and country, like "Dreams," "Ramblin' Man," "Whipping Post," and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." But if you are in the mood for the blues and the blues only, this is certainly a good (and long, running 74 minutes) sampler of the sounds that made them the most esteemed American blues-rock interpreters. Richie Unterberger