SUNY at Stonybrook

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Recorded live at State University of New York on 9/19/71, just six weeks prior to Duane Allman s untimely accidental death, this 2-CD set contains the only known quality live performance of Duane on Blue Sky , one of the pillars of the Brother s catalog. The crowd that day at SUNY witnessed a band that was at the absolute height of spontaneous creativity, with music that ranged from loose, free-flowing jazz-like improvisation to whiskey-soaked blues, country swing to full blown rock - all of it delivered with a furious, right on the edge intensity. The band truly played as they lived, and lived as they played. With Duane Allman's searing slide and lead lines, the melodic brilliance of Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley playing bass like a third guitar, Gregg Allman's distinct vocals and soothing B-3, and the dual syncopated drumming of Joe and Butch Trucks, the sum total of the Allman Brothers Band was greater than the considerable talents of its individual parts. Five weeks later, while the band was back home in Macon, Georgia, 24 year old Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle c. His death on October 29th, 1971, cost rock music of one its greatest masters, while the Allman Brothers Band lost their founder and cornerstone. Although they would carry on and actually achieve their greatest commercial success without Duane, Stonybrook 9/19/71 features the Allman Brothers Band at their musical zenith before the circle was tragically broken. Review ------ Unlike the Grateful Dead, their obvious and acknowledged model for reissuing vintage live s, the Allman Brothers Band has not shied away from exploring their early work in an attempt to demonstrate that they were as good in 1980 and 1990 as they were in 1970. On the contrary, in such archival releases as 1991's Live at Ludlow Garage: 1970 (Polydor), 1996's Fillmore East, February 1970 (Grateful Dead), and the first release from their own Allman Brothers Band Company, 2002's American University 12/13/70, the Allmans have made a point of sticking to their early years when the original band, led by slide guitarist Duane Allman, was still intact. Their purpose, as band members said in a front-page article in Billboard in April 2002 that announced the formation of their record company, is to demonstrate Duane Allman's prowess. This album, recorded a scant five weeks before the guitarist's death, furthers this goal. Annotator John Lynskey acknowledges that, also unlike the Dead, the Allmans did not vary their set list very much. 'The Allman Brothers might have played the same songs night after night' he admits, 'but they were never played the same way twice.' The album, which compiles material from two shows on the same night, backs up his assertion. The titles may be familiar, but the jamming is not, as the band explores different ways to approach the songs, including one that is still in development. 'Blue Sky', which would not appear on record until the group's next album, 'Eat a Peach', gets an 11-minute that is a showcase for Duane Allman and Dickey Betts' guitar interaction. Six months after the legendary shows that produced their signature , At Fillmore East, and just before they changed forever with Duane Allman's death, this is the sound of the Allman Brothers Band at their peak. --Allmusic.com