Original Album Classics

AMG Review of Original Album Classics

Steve Leggett
All Music Guide

Arguably the greatest of the '70s Southern rock bands, and certainly the most graceful and elegant, the Allman Brothers Band combined lues-based material with stunning dual guitar leads (handled by Duane Allman and Dickey Betts at the band's creative peak) to create one of the most immediately identifiable sounds in all of ock history. The group's run of albums from 1970's Idlewild South through 1973's Brothers and Sisters remains their high-water mark, although the band attempted a comeback in the '90s with guitarist Warren Haynes standing in for the late Duane Allman, and while they remained a wonderful live act during this time, their studio albums in the '90s were a mixed bag. This box collects those five albums, including 1990's Seven Turns, 1991's Shades of Two Worlds, 1992's An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: First Set, 1994's live-in-the-studio Where It All Begins, and 1995's An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: 2nd Set, and while there is certainly some inspired playing on display, this second version of the band remains a lesser, somewhat diminished act to the group's peak years in the '70s.