Gregg Allman Band Uncle Sam's - Music Review

 

Just a quick word about the new archive release from Greg Allman "Uncle Sam's" live from July 1983. I was definitely interested in grabbing music from this era of Gregg's musical sojourn. This was the time when Gregg was back in the small venues. Venues who am I kidding? We're talking shotgun bars, road houses were you were afraid to use the bathroom. I'll have a bottled/can of beer no I don't need a glass. Have I had my tetanus shot yet? The bouncer smells. The floor is sticky. No I'm not eating here. Okay you get the idea. A dream location for a die hard fan to stand directly in front of the band only this time it's Gregg and Dan.

My expectations were the musicianship would be solid but the crowd would drown out the mix. A just okay bootleg scrubbed up the best they could. But since those early 80's shows were seminal to me I wanted in. I had witnessed this tour but farther down the coast in Wildwood, New Jersey.

I distinctly recall losing our minds in that bar. We jumped and danced and yes rocked on the floor all night right in front of the band. We might has well have been on stage with them. Did I say small venue? Did I say narrow shotgun? Yeah it was ridiculous to be able to see Gregg in that venue. Just eight years earlier he was dressed in white at a white piano at the far end of the Spectrum hockey arena in Philadelphia. We were on a mission from god.

I can still see clearly in my minds eye Dan grinning at me. I was there for the music and the music was there for me. I certainly was air guitaring my brains out. We went off so yes I gotta check the disc out. It was a helluva a night. What a privilege. The stage a small riser maybe six inches off the ground and the entire band right there playing for twenty five to fifty people plus staff. It wasn't crowded on the floor and you could walk up to the bar. I mean ridiculous and sublime to get to see his band in that venue with those few people. That's a private show anyway you cut it and it was a blast so I jumped on this release.


I just want to thank Michael, Devon, Bill, Kirk and John for getting this into my hot hands. So how does it sound? Immaculate. The playing is intimate the voices are almost conversational in dynamics. The sound is achingly clear. The mix is beautiful for a live show. I guess technology has come a long way or back in 1983 they had really tweaked the sound before the gig.

Expectations were low and I was overwhelmed. I can't overstate it and the only draw back is the closer. The sound quality falls off but with every instrument wailing on stage it was a miracle it wasn't a hot mess. Slight mic feedback and Gregg gets pushed back in the mix. He had to with the whole band blowing hard all at once. It's a fiery rendition of Statesboro so it's a minor point. But it should enlighten the reader to how excellent the eight prior tracks sound. A really enjoyable listen!

Gregg is obviously having a good time and is in excellent voice. The band is tight and Dan Toler's work on both acoustic and electric is just beautiful. He accompanies Gregg righteously. Dangerous Dan indeed. The horn section comes in at the right moments and doesn't drown out the band and it really rounds out the sound on those ABB standards. Danny and Frankie lock in at very noticeable moments. Bonham wasn't the only one who could play triplets and it's powerful. Sentimentally we have the Toler Brothers and the Finney Brothers and I was with my Brother at the show. That's just a nice touch.

This release exceeded my expectations by a very long shot. Kind of like the wait, wait, wait this is really good moments you have when you hear a piece of music or see something dramatic. A more than worthy release that will grab your attention in the clarity of sound and the musicianship.

It was a helluva night for us that summer in 1983. My back to the stage I felt a gentle hand on my back. As I turned I felt another hand calmly slide into mine. No thank you Gregg for not giving up!

Growing Up With Chico by Maxine Marx - Book Review

Growing Up With Chico by Maxine Marx. Who doesn't love the Marx Brothers? When I discovered they existed my mind was blown. I couldn't believe it and immediately fell in love. I watched their movies, roared at their bits and loved their shtick. So much so that even when fully ensconced in the legal profession suit and tie matching belt and shoes I still referenced the "Sanity Claus," to see who was paying attention or knew what I was talking about. I never really delved into the Brothers background or looked behind the curtain until this little gem crossed my path. 

 

A lightning quick read by Chico's daughter doesn't pull any punches about her dad, her uncles or herself. Random paragraphs begin with sentences like, "Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy were sitting around..." But the beginning always the beginning on the road starving trying to break into vaudeville hustling on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. I love these snap shots of time and windows into worlds gone by. Even though time has changed the human experience is always at the center some how consistent no matter what the trappings of culture and locality present.

 

Back room card and dice games, the touring troupe gathering onto the train for the next town, the rise of and finally the retirement of the Brothers I would have loved to have seen Chico in a cabaret with his touring orchestra. There he was still hustling after the Marx Brothers stopped making movies shooting down the piano keys, telling stories, throwing dice.

 

Maxine's book gets you a little closer and inside to that world the good bad and ugly it was all there. Same as it ever was only with grease paint a honking automobile horn and lots of leering puns. The Marx Brothers in full gallop were just good fun. Behind the scenes the real world was very much there. Growing Up With Chico peals the curtain back almost like a backstage pass.

 

 

Brothers and Sisters Review - Alan Paul

 

Just a quick shout out on Alan’s Book “Brothers and Sisters.” It’s a quick three hundred page tight compact read. Meaning every line is filled with information, quotes, history, stories, names it’s just over brimming with information and as a fan and/or history buff you will devour it with ease.

While the original six coalesced into a musical ecstasy of infinite cascading thunder and bliss that deserves every second of your indulgence and passion. The Brothers and Sisters branch bloomed in a profound way from that mighty tree of music. Give me more Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams any day of the week. If it’s in the vaults somewhere it deserves to be shared with the music lovers. Until then have fun devouring the pages of the inside story of the album that defined the ’70s. I know I did then and now.

 Alan Paul

Allman Brothers Band

 Kirk West

 

New Song Alert: Waiting On Abigail

New Song Alert: Waiting on Abigail

Written: 9/8/2023

Lyrics:

Swinging on a tree swing

Down by the river

Flying in the air no despair

Breeze in your hair

 

Down by the old fishing hole

Paddling on the lake

Given all my old friends a hug

Not one half baked

 

Plowing up the old cornfield

Running behind the barn

Looking for Abigail

Without fail

 

Giving all the laughter a shrug

All alone here with you

Counting time looking in your eyes

Nothing new nothing better to do

 

Swinging on a tree swing

Giving my life a fling

Save that I’m not sure oh well

Goodbye and farewell

Cotton skies and Hawks sing

Watch them fly and sail

 

Hanging on the old brick wall

Waiting for Abigail

Singing an old river song

Swings without fail

Swinging on a river song

Waiting for Abigail

All Rights Reserved ©2023 Paul Burke DiMarco

90 Miles Outside of Vegas - New Song Alert

Acoustic Set for Susanne 1/16/2023

SET LIST: Pancho and Lefty, Country Road, Three Little Birds, Uncle Johns Band, Sunshine on My Shoulder, Streets of Arklow, For A While, Oh La La, New Speedway Boogie, Coffee Blues, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, Glory of True Love, Tumbling Tumbleweeds, River of Joy, You and Me, Wharf Rat, The Garden Song

Acoustic Session 11-23-2022

Two Hour Set from last nights live broadcast - get your gear out and jam along - covers and originals
Radar Love, Honky Tonk Women, Caravan, Hold Me Now, Come and Go Blues, Stairs to the Mayan Sky, River of Joy, The Valley, Show Me Time, Diamond Girl, Crazy Girl, Black Water, Bertha, Deal, Don't, Coffee Blues, Just My Imagination, Don't Stop Believin, Thank You, Just Like Heaven, Friend of the Devil, Heroes - if you don't recognize the title - it's one of mine.  

Live Stream tonight starting at 6:30pm EST.

 

Show featuring acoustic covers and originals. Highly recommend breaking out your Guitars, Banjos, Fiddles, Cellos, Harmonicas, Flutes and Drums. Approximately two hours of music perfect for accompaniment and/or background music for your pre-holiday gatherings. 

 

Broadcasting to these three pages:

https://www.facebook.com/PaulBurkeDiMarco/

https://www.youtube.com/user/JourneyHome/videos

https://www.facebook.com/JourneyHomePaulBurke

Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters

Brothers and Sisters has taken up residence in my player. Bill put together a beautiful "Super Deluxe Edition" and Scott wrote a beautiful essay with Kirk and many others including EJ contributing. There is a ton of music.

And so now the band's sound has changed. Of course it has how could it not? You cannot take the human element away from the creation and not have that creation change in a profound way. No gear or person can substitute step in for another and have it be the same. It’s a physical impossibility. It doesn't matter if you have the licks down, it doesn't matter if you have the gear, it doesn't matter if you have the throat. The human factor, the heart, the hands, the journey, the affinity for the music, the vibe, the understanding, the knowledge, the study, the dedication, the humility, the ego, the upbringing all speak to the particular individual the intent, the focus, the clarity it’s all a part of the mix. Remove something as dynamic as one human individual and it changes. It's in the blood.

The beauty of the ABB is that they knew this quite clearly as Duane and Berry were their own men. And so they forged ahead without their brothers and created a new version of themselves as a band, a group, but more than that they stayed on the mission to stay as pure to the music as they could. They were still listening to each other both on and off stage.

Time doesn't stand still it morphs and changes as we do as well. Along the way it informs us as we mold the clay that is ourselves with our decisions, intentions, actions, thoughts, words and deeds. That is who we are and that is what comes out after we plug in. It sounds like you because it is you and you are who you are and what it is, what it becomes depends on those very factors, those points, that DNA that road you traveled and no one else has – hopefully it’s a good one and you are the hero of your own story. The guy on the left sure as hell was.

Duane Allman - Little Martha/Ain't Wastin' Time No More

Little Martha - whether Duane was referring to an old girlfriend or not is irrelevant. The fans have designated this young soul as Martha. How could we not? After all she stands watch forever forlorn in Rose Hill Cemetery just the way we feel after the smoke has cleared and the show has ended. And the fans do get a say about all of this the ABB fire and passion, life and journey, the gothic southern novel of it all and the revelation of the music.

Little Martha: Two minutes and seven seconds is never going to sound so complete and pastoral. When I finally arrived at performing a facsimile of this song I was there. It was one of my goals to try and learn it and it takes time. There are so many moving parts and I'm not a full time musician but a labor of love and love is after all what it is all about. Of course my version pales to the original I’m only two hands but when I get it moving and it starts to transcend and I follow the melody and inspiration where it takes me well the muse is floating there smiling and I feel as one feels when they get after it and hit the note, take the journey and feel the vibe. That’s why we play isn’t it and why we share of ourselves to bring it all out and bring it all together?

And so we have the closing of Eat a Peach but what about the opening?

What better tune than Ain’t Wastin Time No More expresses lyrically each of our precarious positions in this reality? It’s as much of a lyrical touchstone as Little Martha is an instrumental touchstone. Both are gigantic in their beings complete and resounding at once effortless and complex. A lyrical milestone Ain’t Wastin Time No More covers the whole realm of existence in stanza after stanza. That’s right its poetry and more than a song. Gregg has composed words to live by. I had a friend once say to me, "you can always make money but you can't make time." I fully encourage everyone to play hooky as often as you can. Life is so much more than punching the clock, collecting a pay check and paying a bank. Listen to Ain't Wastin Time No More back to back with Little Martha and hit repeat it's kind of a revelation of juxtapositions with Gregg's lyrics sitting beautifully next to Duane's acoustic poetry.

If you do run the tunes together back to back after Little Martha ends the intro to Ain't Wastin' Time No More is an acoustic piano. There seems to be some righteous acoustic symmetry to that and righteous was the way the brothers – all the brothers in the band - treated their music their creation and that’s why the payoff was so huge.

There’s a lesson in that for all of us in how we choose to live our lives, what we say, how we act and what we do. The lesson is quite literally in the lyric of Ain't Wastin' Time No More and that feeling embodied by that lesson is in the song Little Martha as it translates those words into a painting of notes awakening across the sky of your soul. One preceded the other so perhaps we have Gregg translating for us what Duane was trying to tell us in his music and all you really need to live a life well fulfilled with joy and happiness and prosperity brothers and sisters is to bring some righteousness to what you do and how you live and breathe.

Allman Brothers Band - In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

In Memory of Elizabeth Reed off of the Eat a Peach Deluxe CD from the June 27, 1971 closing of the Fillmore opens up deliciously smooth and elegant. The band just slides into a relaxed tempo and it’s the most refreshing version of this number I have heard. Here the band is taking its time. The intensity slowly builds like true love making ought to be through this excursion.

The lead work is original and in the moment. The drums splash beautifully in the background as Dickey drives his vision forward with the band having his back all the way. After you play so long together you have a true sense where your band mate is going and you are allowed to listen and get there with them. You can really hear this in Berry’s playing and the drums, oh the drums gently sitting in the mix right where they should be never over powering but well heard. The rhythm section has the anchor and counterpoint in complete subtle sympathetic syncopation.

Gregg jumps in with short chord runs sharply leading the band. The clarity of the mix is perfect with the organ fully heard out front and it chimes and grooves and swaggers righteously. It sounds beautiful, fresh and inventive....then his brother steps up....

Biting, sharp, relentless guitar attacks funk out before sailing off and then returning to a blistering foray all the while Butch, Jaimoe Gregg and Berry keep the tempo locked down as we drift off into a meditative frame punctuated by mid tone arpeggios as the band sways easily like spanish moss....and then the gibsons get vicious, biblical with fierce clean attacks and not overwrought then settling down again for more delicious mid tone punctuations the entire band right there as the drum sticks come forward just a bit then everyone builds together catching fire once more in a tenacious drive while the overall groove stays calm and cool....(how the fuck do you play the guitar like that) fantastic as they perpetuate the drive forward abruptly to the drums briefly and then back to the closing and locking it back down as they close the door on their creation. Holy shit what’s behind that door they just opened and what kind of force, power and vision did they tap into in that graveyard? It's a thing of monstrous beauty whatever it is and strongly rendered. This is a sublime ferocious and beautiful version of a seminal tune.

In Memory of Elizabeth Reed deserves its own spot in the Smithsonian and for that reason I'm singling it out here. We all know the tune there must be thousands of renditions but this one reads all the passages in such a refreshing calm inventive and fierce manner. The nuanced beginning followed by the expansive meditative dynamic giving way to the fiery crescendos and the thundering close. It’s a standout version at once both mellow and intense with a deep deep groove. Upon hearing it again after so many years with fresh ears it is all too clear while some of us have the good fortune to be totally obsessed by this band and their music...

Allman Brothers Eat A Peach - Deluxe Edition Appreciation

Eat a Peach - the Deluxe Edition with the second disc devoted to the closing of the Fillmore in June is a freakin' tour de force. Scorching through the stratosphere Hot Lanta is just fantastic. The mix is stellar and I've been listening to it on crappy car and desk top speakers as well as my treasured Polks. Berry is clearly heard and of course the tone of the guitars is so vintage, biting, just the right amount of fuzz not overwhelming to distort the true tone of the notes just scorching. The twin drums are settled in so nicely and everything is heard with the Hammond B-3 building slowly to a crescendo and then punctuating the soul groove.

The way the band and Berry jump out on Whipping Post is serious. Whether it’s my imagination or not it sure sounds up tempo to me. Berry is more than ready to bring it and it feels like he catches the band by surprise as he furiously launches into the opening... so great to hear and it’s a pace that doesn't let up.... as the boys just go with it - oh my the little touches on the guitar twin attack. I have to stop myself right now or I'll spend the next twenty minutes celebrating every note, turn, phrase, sound and riff just beautifully rendered together. I mean the tone of that band and tighter than tight. Gregg’s vocals are heard beautifully just right above the mix.

When they slow it down you can hear that B-3 just stalking the band the chords sustaining like wind through your hair. Their gentle segues arrive tear inducing as they reach for the heavens follow. If you don't get a lump in your throat you don’t know how to listen to music.

Get Eat a Peach back out and it will seduce you with its magic so passionately. I’m so happy that it was captured in real time for all time just a blistering messianic journey to the soul of creation.

It's mind boggling how a band can sound this excellent, the drive and the power, the determination. Music wasn't a distraction it was a mission.

Stand Back I’m laser locked on that tune the way it jumps out and grabs you with that riff. The Allman Brothers knew what they were doing and the lyrics “a dagger in my back while she's calling me honey" just fantastic. Look a lot has been written about the jazz influence on the ABB - granted – and it’s all good and true but don’t forget the funk. They can authentically bring that swing and swagger just funkin, funktastic. Funkified freaks every funkin where they funkin can the ABB throw that groove at a very righteous magnitude with Berry and Butch as far into the pocket with Gregg grinding the soul foundation and Jaimoe painting over the top.

“Hey have you seen my copy of Eat a Peach” wait I can hear it blaring upstairs in my sisters room. As I open the door Amy and her friends are moving to Les Brers as if their lives depended on it – “just don’t scratch it” as the door slams back in my face.

Allman Brothers Band - Eat A Peach

Stand Back - when listening to Eat a Peach and believe me it was almost impossible to get to as I had to pry The Fillmore Concerts out of my player - its beguiling to think, project where and what the band was going to do next had brother Duane decided to stick around for some more studio albums. His contribution to Les Bres alone would have taken that tune to another level and I say that absolutely loving that butt shaking tune that Berry just rumbles through.

Okay so maybe I'm stating the obvious but we really only get Blue Sky, Stand Back and Little Martha as studio cuts from Eat a Peach. It’s an immense rip off by the music gods. I know, I know they are a live band and Duane is more than well represented on the Eat a Peach Album I'm listening to the Deluxe Edition with the June 1971 closing of the Fillmore represented on the second disc. It's a wonderful compilation with excellent liner notes, packaging and throwback labeling on the discs. But contrast Stand Back, Blue Sky and Little Martha for a moment and hold them in your mind. Each tune is in its own right a different genre. While Stand Back is the fuel injected brothers swaggering through their composition Blue Sky is its melodic counter point. Much like their playing these two songs back to back represent the branches of the tree that was the Allman Brothers. They are two tonal opposites yet together much like Dickey and Duane trading riffs. Of course Gregg is writing here and Dickey is writing there but what brings them together the playing of Duane is a very necessary bridge. Not to draw too fine a point on it but Duane was the glue that kept Dickey and Gregg together and without Duane they blew apart and it’s no one’s fault and their personal vision which they were more than entitled too and deserved were different but Duane was the Fulcrum through which their immense talents traveled.

Considering the emergence of the sound that Dickey was bringing forward (Blue Sky) and the swagger of the ABB (Stand Back) and then Little Martha is it really that far out to imagine an all-acoustic album considering Dickey's Highway Call effort (which I freaking love) and Duane's solo work with Sam Samudio as featured on the track Goin' Upstairs? Would it have been so far out of the question that the Allman Brothers with Duane would have done a record sounding like Taj Mahal melded with their swagger? Considering all their influences that were revealed the above mentioned Highway Call and Gregg's Low Country Blues would such a collective effort over time eclipsed or outfitted the Dawg Music genre with the power of the blues as opposed to just Django? It’s fascinating to imagine what that would have sounded like.

Much has been written and spoken about Duane and the Trane - John Coltrane and Miles - righteous brothers indeed and Tom Dowd's jazz cat ways but what about the root of the tree of music as embodied by Little Martha? How much more of that would we have seen and heard (Pony Boy)? What would have Duane's input done to Jessica and Southbound (songs I am passionate about)?

So here we are with Eat a Peach and we just have three studio cuts that are dynamic and all together different and just the greenest of shoots of the myriad of directions this band would have taken, could have taken, fanning off like a giant river oak.

The tree of music that remained and rebirthed time and time again was fortuitous and mighty in its own right and we are all the better for its perseverance, fortitude, drive and power but for a moment play the what if game and use Stand Back, Blue Sky and Little Martha as your jumping off points.

I'm a big fan of the ABB studio work as well, Gregg's and Dickey's solo efforts but imagine if it had all stayed together - just three studio cuts from Eat a Peach point the way.

The Allman Brothers Band and the Simultaneous Groove

My oh my this is a great shot of the original sextet working the simultaneous groove. It looks like its Berry's turn to break out notice where Butch's eyes are watching on Berry's hands.

I can't over emphasis the beauty, power and velocity of talented musicians owning their musicianship fighting the urge of ego, working together and delivering the goods like no other.

A friend of mine asked me to differentiate between the grateful dead and the allman brothers after I laughed out loud (its a blotter vs mushrooms, roses vs peaches thing) I thought for a moment. Please know I'm a veteran of decades of both bands and I would simply state the ABB locked in more often, stronger and together. It's degrees of variation but while the grateful dead was more of a cosmic soup sloshing around the bowl of existence lapping up side to side with solar flares of transcendence over heart aching ballads and thundering reverberation following Jerry religiously no matter what blind alley he lead them down, through or up the Allman Brothers Band in contrast jumped on that first note like a skim boarder ridding a wave as far as it would take them then turning and charging after the next wave of music and consciousness shredding the lip catching air, turning and pivoting with the waves. Tighter by necessity the ABB driven by a freight train of rhythm, organ and bass achieved thundering elevation immediately while the Dead meandered wobbly floating seemingly directionless then focusing sharply in an Escher like pattern getting there sooner or later but getting there they did.

I watched Pelicans dive for game yesterday afternoon striking their targets, diving in directly from over head in a straight line quickly and with acceleration hitting their targets repeatably over and over again - the visualization of screaming marshals and stalking thundering rhythm in a cascade of movement and righteous glorious splash reversing gravity throwing water in the air as they submerged and reemerged floating then taking flight again seemingly effortlessly sweeping through the air wings fully extended only to recoil and strike again. It was something to marvel at and behold and it looked like music to me and felt like something heavenly

Contemplating Gregg Allman

Contemplating filling up another music hall and the people who he doesn't know or may ever see again who absolutely love him. It would make me wonder as well as to the gift that was larger than myself yet so very much a part of who I am and the universality of it all and yet here I stand just a man but then again all this has evolved before my eyes and so it informs me and I inform it and it being the music and if it ever becomes more than the music I lose my way, my frequency, my channel, the signal, the muse with the confusion, cloudiness and static of the ego and yet my soul, my journey, my life informs the art and distills the creativity so much bigger than who I am but still entwined and coalesced around my very soul and being and the love and the passion and the energy and the enthusiasm from so many strangers and their life's trajectory and myself with friends, family and lovers swirling through the score and yet alone here leaning on my Hammond informed by the vision, reminded by the words as I play and sing, and contemplate and listen and listen and listen some more digging deeper into the moment ....so I can hear it, so I can feel it so I can share it and help to try and bring it forward with all of you and everyone about to arrive, who set the stage and play along and this is what I imagine Gregg Allman is here/there thinking.

Beginnings - The Allman Brothers Band

Beginnings: It's still so highly inconceivable that these young men in their twenties created such an abundance of sophisticated music. Go back and listen to the first two albums (ABB and Ildewild) reissued in 1973 as the album Beginnings. The level of musicianship is already in place and each track is a mini symphony of blues, gospel, soul, jazz and screaming rock and roll played not only with fire but nuance. Check the 3:12 mark of Dreams as Duane dances dramatically on point literally sliding through the song seemingly effortlessly. The road had taught tightness but each member brought their own life experience to the band. Dickey grew up in a family full of musicians, Jamioe had been playing in Otis Reddings band, Duane had worked with as many top notch musicians and artists as one possibly can. This wasn't a garage band. This wasn't just a bunch of stoned out hippies. These guys were deadly serious about their music. Lifting the arm of a 45 player with your foot studying the old blues masters I mean come on I love my guitar and to play out live but I freaking hate changing my strings.

Go back and listen to each song deeply and take the time to notice the interplay between Butch and Jaimoe. Listen for the bass how it runs along side of the guitar leads while still holding down the rhythm, listen to that organ as it stalks the whole movement in the background and then when it captures the front of the mix and the words. World weary at such a young age already confronted by a record industry selling them out and the music out to churn out a buck, witnessing the struggles of a single Mom in the 1950's and 1960's these men had a depth of character and a level of commitment and a vision they were not going to relinquish.

Get Beginnings if you don't have it put it in your car player and listen. There is a tidal wave of interplay going on each and every cut a miraculous layering of acoustic, electric rhythm and voice. If you are in a drum circle focus on Jaimoe and Butch. The subtleness and sensitivity in which these twenty year olds played right out of the gate on their first two albums is beyond incendiary.