Greg Allman - Laid Back (1973) {Remaster}
]http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre700/e733/e7336351u7g.jpg
***** Info *****
Artist: Greg Allman
Title: Laid Back
Original Release: 1973
Label: Polydor
Catalog Number: 4228319412
***** Tracks *****
1 Midnight Rider - Allman 4:28
2 Queen of Hearts - Allman 6:17
3 Please Call Home - Allman 2:48
4 Don't Mess Up a Good Thing - Sain 4:13
5 These Days - Browne 3:56
6 Multi-Colored Lady - Allman 4:55
7 All My Friends - Boyer 4:32
8 Will the Circle Be Unbroken - Traditional 4:49
***** Credits *****
Gregg Allman Organ, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Arranger, Keyboards, Vocals, Producer
Scott Boyer Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Piano, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Steel), Piano (Electric)
David Brown Bass
Max Cahn Violin
Howard "Buzz" Feiten Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Ed Freeman Strings
Eileen Gilbert Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Suha Gur Remastering
Carl Hall Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Hilda Harris Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Charlie Hayward Bass
Paul Hornsby Organ, Keyboards, Clavinet
Cissy Houston Vocals
Emily Houston Vocals (bckgr)
Jaimoe Percussion, Conga
Chuck Leavell Piano, Piano (Electric), Vibraphone
June McGruder Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Helene Miles Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Jim Nalls Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
David "Fathead" Newman Saxophone
Linda November Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Tony Posk Violin
Albertine Robinson Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Johnny Sandlin Bass, Arranger, Producer, Engineer
Bill Stewart Drums
Maretha Stewart Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
Tommy Talton Guitar (Acoustic), Dobro, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Tambourine, Slide Guitar
Butch Trucks Percussion, Cabassa, Cabasa
*****Bio/Review*****
AMG Review by Bruce Eder
Recorded in the same year as the Brothers and Sisters album, this solo debut release is a beautiful amalgam of R&B, folk, and gospel sounds, with the best singing on any of Gregg Allman's solo releases. He covers his own "Midnight Rider" in a more mournful, dirge-like manner, and Jackson Browne's "These Days" gets its most touching and tragic-sounding rendition as well. Although Chuck Leavell and Jaimoe are here, there's very little that sounds like the Allman Brothers Band — prominent guitars, apart from a few licks by Tommy Talton (Cowboy, ex-We the People), are overlooked in favor of gospel-tinged organ and choruses behind Allman's soulful singing.
AMG Biography by Bruce Eder
Gregg Allman's most visible contribution to rock music is as lead singer, organist, and songwriter within the Allman Brothers Band, founded by his brother Duane (d. 1971) in 1969. He has never threatened to eclipse the band that carries his family name, but he has found occasional success and popularity with his solo work, which is distinctly different, more soulful and less focused on high-wattage virtuosity.
Allman's instrument is the organ, and he is most effective, when he is in top form, as a singer. His first instrument, ironically enough, was the guitar, and he took it up before his older brother Duane did. But Duane learned it better and quickly eclipsed Gregg. Where Gregg did excel was on the organ and as a singer (a role Duane was never comfortable with), which proved important but not at the center of a group that became famous for its 40-minute instrumental jams and three-hour sets. Through their early efforts, in bands like the Allman Joys and the Hour Glass, they shared the spotlight, with Duane taking the lengthy solos and Gregg fronting the band and offering Booker T. Jones-type keyboard playing. Liberty Records signed the Hour Glass and tried making Gregg into the focus of their efforts during the late '60s, but it never quite worked.
When the Allman Brothers Band was organized, the flashy (and vital) instrumental moments belonged to his brother and Dickey Betts and, later still, Warren Haynes. Gregg's songs, however, including "Whipping Post" and "Midnight Rider," were among the group's notable originals during its classic period, 1969-1972. Beginning with Brothers and Sisters, Betts' songwriting and singing assumed increasing prominence.
It was during the period that Brothers and Sisters was burning up the charts that Gregg Allman emerged as a solo artist with his first album, the critically well-received hit Laid Back, which put the softer, more serious, soul- and gospel-tinged side of his work in sharper focus. A tour followed, which yielded a live album that was also a success. This first period of solo popularity was interrupted by a combination of professional and personal conflicts; the Allman Brothers Band toured extensively and struggled to come up with a follow-up to Brothers and Sisters, and Gregg Allman began a relationship with Cher, the ex-wife and singing partner of Sonny Bono, which resulted in a tumultuous series of marriages and divorces for the two. These activities were played out amid Allman's well-publicized drug problems, which culminated with his testifying against a band employee in a federal drug case, which, in turn, led to the temporary but extended dissolution of the Allman Brothers Band.
Ironically, it was during this period, in 1977, that he delivered Playin' Up a Storm, a pop-soul effort that proved to be his most accomplished and successful album. Alas, this was to be the peak of his career away from the band. His next two albums, I'm No Angel and Just Before the Bullets Fly, released at the end of the 1980s, were quickly eclipsed by the re-formed and reinvigorated Allman Brothers Band's success on-stage and on record. His 1997 release Searchin' for Simplicity and the double-CD anthology One More Try had none of the urgency or success of the band's activities.
Artist: Gregg Allman
Album: Laid Back
Released: 1973
Polydor (422831 941-2)
Genre: Southern Rock, Album Rock
Recorded in the same year as the Brothers and Sisters album, this solo debut release is a beautiful amalgam of R&B, folk, and gospel sounds, with the best singing on any of Gregg Allman's solo releases. He covers his own "Midnight Rider" in a more mournful, dirge-like manner, and Jackson Browne's "These Days" gets its most touching and tragic-sounding rendition as well. Although Chuck Leavell and Jaimoe are here, there's very little that sounds like the Allman Brothers Band -- prominent guitars, apart from a few licks by Tommy Talton (Cowboy, ex-We the People), are overlooked in favor of gospel-tinged organ and choruses behind Allman's soulful singing.
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