About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

Singer and sometimes songwriter Gregg Allman will indisputably go down in rock history as the singing voice of the Allman Brothers Band. He wrote some of the band's signature tunes -- including "Whipping Post" -- and had his share of ups and downs over the decades. While his career as a solo artist has been partially documented on compact disc before, it has been incomplete at best. As a singer and instrumentalist, Allman may love the blues, but he has always been as deeply rooted in Southern soul and rhythm & blues as jazz. His B-3 organ playing with the ABB was one of the group's understated yet nonetheless improvisational strengths. On his solo offerings, he highlighted all of these talents to various degrees, and with varying success critically and commercially.

The Solo Years 1973-1997: One More Silver Dollar documents most of the officially released material from six of his solo albums on both Capricorn and Sony, recorded between 1973 and 1997, and collects a killer duet performance of"Two Steps from The Blues" off Bonnie Bramlett's Lady's Choice album in 1976. Depending on your point of view, there are no cuts here from the infamous Allman and Woman album that he cut with then paramour/wife Cher. Rightfully, this set highlights his 1973 Laid Back album; it's still one of the most underrated -- and undeniably classic -- recordings of the '70s. Produced by Johnny Sandlin, its grooves highlighted Allman's considerable abilities as a singer. From his reworking of the Allman Brothers' hit "Midnight Rider" to the gorgeous love song "Queen of Hearts," and the heartbreaking "Please Call Home," all three of which were self-penned. And then there's the unbearably heartbreaking reading of Jackson Browne's "These Days," which is one of the finest versions of the song ever recorded. There are a pair of tracks off that album that are interspersed in the first half-dozen that comes from The Gregg Allman Tour which featured a larger band and relied on Chuck Leavell's pianism as much as it did Allman's organ. There are four cuts from Playin' Up a Storm issued in 1977. The album is full of great, funky blues and R&B tunes, including "Let This Be a Lesson to Ya'," written with Dr. John. (Admittedly, the tracks from this album suffer a bit from dated, period production.) For those fans of the MTV era, the hit "I'm No Angel," from his debut Sony recording of the same name is here. And there are three cuts from its follow-up, Just Before the Bullets Fly, including the single " Demons." The set ends with three numbers from the Sandlin-produced Searching for Simplicity, the highlight of which is a stunning version of the Dan Penn-Chips Moman tune "Dark End of the Street," one of Allman's most soulful studio vocal performances. As a solo artist, Allman has been silent in the early 21st century, though his performances with the Allman Brothers Band have been electrifying. His voice has simply gotten better with age. If you are looking to discover Allman as a solo artist, this set is the way to go. Given that it cross-licensed, it blows away the two previous compilations: Universal's The Millennium Collection and Sony's No Stranger to the Dark. Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

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