Search - Allman Brothers :: Win. Lose Or Draw

Just another blues-rock album

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 01/25/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, so I have been underrating this all this time after all! Granted, it took the two awful Arista albums to make me realize I was underrating it, but hey. Go me. Now, understand something: when I say "I've been underrating it", that does not mean "I suddenly, magically love it". Way too much of this could've been written, recorded, and released by any blues band, and the Allman Brothers Band aren't "just any blues band". "Just Another Love Song" is a stereotypical breezy Dickey Betts country tune, but it's nowhere near as successful as his two classics in the genre, "Ramblin' Man" and "Blue Sky". Not a bad one, mind you, but it's exceedingly unimpressive, and Dickey's vocals, flatter than a crepe, don't really help its case. "Nevertheless" and "Louisiana Lou and Three Card Monte John" are fun, piano-led blues romps while they're going, but as soon as they end they both fade from memory. Despite all I've said, it's always competent, and there are a few big winners here. The title track is one of their long string of classic ballads with fantastic slide; the rough-edged "Can't Lose What You Never Had" is one of their best covers, this one being of Muddy Waters; and the obligatory instrumental "High Falls" shimmers, featuring a solid, jazzy rhythm and making a surprisingly smart use of the Moog synthesizer. I really like that one - it sounds kind of close to Miles Davis' In a Silent Way, one of my all-time favorite albums. It's long, though, just so you know that. And the guitar soloing is Dickey at his finest. So here's the way I see it: there are three classic tracks here (I know my picks for classics weren't terribly creative, but hey, a good song's a good song), and four inoffensive but totally pointless ones (the fourth being a cover of the country tune "Sweet Mama"). Unfortunately, you can't cheat and pick up the best tracks on a compilation, since there's not a single Allman Brothers compilation with "High Falls" on it - it is fourteen-and-a-half minutes long, after all. So if you've got a collection with the title song and "Can't Lose What You Never Had" on it (most collections contain both songs), you should still get it for "High Falls". The rest is never bad, but never all that good either."