Search - Allman Brothers :: 3 Pak: Evening With / 2nd Set / Seven Turns

Great deal

kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 02/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are three CD's from the early to mid-nineties. They are packaged together at a low price. If you don't already own one of these CD's, then this is a great deal. All three CD's are excellent.In 1989, the Allman Brothers reformed, adding Allen Woody on bass and Warren Haynes on guitar. The addition of Haynes was great. Instead of being just another sideman or soloist, he became an important part of the band. He wrote some great songs and added new depth to the group. They recorded three studio albums, "Seven Turns", "Shades of Two Words" and "Where It All Belongs". "Shades of Two Worlds" was their best studio album since "Brothers and Sisters". Unfortunately, it is not available. "Seven Turns" is a nice substitute.The titles of the two live CD's is misleading. They are not the 1st and 2nd sets of the same show. The 1st set was from 1991 while the 2nd set was from 1994.I was worried that these live CD's wouldn't be any good. It would be another case of a dinosaur band milking the old hits and playing inferior new songs. But this is a complete surprise. The old songs are played in new and exciting ways. Southbound is played funky and there are interesting guitar duets in Blue Sky and Melissa. Jessica is a free form jam with bits of Mountain Jam thrown in. There is even an accoustic version of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. And the new material is fantastic, especially Back Where It All Belongs and Nobody Knows. After this, Haynes and Woody left the group to concentrate on their side project, Gov't Mule. Their CD "With a Little Help From Our Friends" is fantastic, especially the limited edition 4 CD set. Allen Woody died last year and Warren Haynes is playing with Phil Lesh and Friends. The Allman Brothers have reformed with Butch Trucks' nephew on guitar and Dickie Betts has been kicked out of the band."

Three great albums

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 04/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is not a box set in the traditional sense...there is nothing here which wasn't on the albums as they were originally issued, no new liner notes or bonus tracks or anything like that. It's merely three of the Allman Brothers Band's 90s albums in a cardbord box.

But if you're a fan of the band, and don't have any of these three CDs, this is a good way to acquire them. You'll even save something like fifty cents!



The two live albums are magnificent, the sound is great, the mix of old and new songs, hits and rarities, is excellent, and there are numerous highlights on both discs: "Get On With Your Life", "Soulshine", "Sailin' 'Cross The Devil's Sea", "Back Where It All Begins", the acoustic slide guitar blues "Midnight Blues", and the classic "Melissa".

"Seven Turns" isn't quite as immediately accesible, perhaps, but the Allmans' bluesy 1990 comeback album is definitely worth as listen as well. It features a number of really great songs, including "Good Clean Fun", "Low Down Dirty Mean", the hook-laden "It Ain't Over Yet", and the acoustic title track, and it is generally strong all the way through.



All in all, this is a great collection of music, well arranged, well produced, and superbly well played.

4 1/2 stars - highly recommended."

2nd Set and Seven Turns are great... 1st Set not so great

D. Jack Elliot | Omaha, Nebraska | 06/10/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The best disk of these three is 2nd Set, which is as good as anything the Allmans have released on record short of the Fillmore Concerts. The highlight is Back Where it All Begins, which is the best Dickey Betts jam I know of.Seven Turns is a good disk as well, though very different than 2nd Set. Turns sounds more like a Lynyrd Skynyrd album (Skynyrd minus the rowdiness, that is) than an Allman Brothers album: it's radio-friendly stuff, more tune-oriented and less jam-oriented.As for 1st Set I can't say I enjoyed it much. The band had only been back together for a couple of years when they played the concerts these takes come from, and they hadn't found their groove by then as far as I'm concerned. But a couple of the tracks are all right and if you're a serious enough Allmans fan to be buying Seven Turns, you'll want to have 1st Set as well. Besides, buying these discs in the three-pack here is like buying 2nd Set and Turns and getting 1st Set for free."