The Allman Brothers Band
Album: Brothers And Sisters (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
Tracks: 16
Website: http://www.allmanbrothersband.com

Definitive Southern-rockers The Allman Brothers Band was an extraordinary outfit, one that experienced - and outlived - some equally extraordinary highs and lows during its career. Initially built around the dual-guitar-based rock-blues-country-soul-jazz fusion adventures of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, and prominently featuring the organ skills of Duane's brother Greg alongside bassist Berry Oakley and two drummers Jai Johanny Johanson (aka Jaimoe) and Butch Trucks, after releasing two studio albums displaying the uncanny interpersonal rapport of their music-making they achieved commercial breakthrough with 1971's astounding double-LP set Live At The Fillmore East, which gave a good name to the much-maligned practice of jamming.

However, a devastating blow in the shape of Duane's untimely death in a motorcycle crash in October 1971 forced a regrouping of resources to record Brothers And Sisters (but only after releasing the stopgap-cum-loose-ends collection Eat A Peach); then, no sooner had rehearsals begun, incorporating pianist Chuck Leavell, than bassist Berry died following injuries sustained in a further motorcycle accident. Berry appears on only the first two cuts of the album, his place then being taken by Lamar Williams.

The ensuing band dynamic proved such that Brothers And Sisters turned out to be the band's best-selling album, its steady-rolling ambience and freewheeling, relaxed, laid-back vibe providing an ideal soundtrack to the times and an accessible antidote/alternative to the deliberately heady and more self-indulgent jams of the Dead - this new level of accessibility being mirrored in the communal "extended family" style photo centrespread. Dickey's increasing musical influence on the band's direction was in full swing here, with spacious trademark instrumental Jessica commonly regarded as its signature track - even though many more strengths were clearly on display.

This latest reissue starts out with a remastered version of the original album as its disc one, the standard edition. The deluxe edition expands this to two discs with an hour-long collection of rehearsal takes (mostly instrumental workouts) and outtakes. The latter are mostly blues-based numbers rather than demonstrating the more-country flavours of Brothers And Sisters, and include insightful reworkings of pieces by (amongst others) Elmore James and Muddy Waters, several of which had been in the band's repertoire during Duane's time and which in these later reworkings are audibly re-created to suit the revised dynamics of the new lineup. The final item on disc two is a typical but welcome 16-minute studio workout (A Minor Jam). The nine-minute Early Morning Blues is particularly notable for its stunning guitar solo, but there's much to celebrate in all of the (previously unreleased) recordings on this disc. Sadly, I'm unable to comment in detail on the even more expanded four-disc super-deluxe edition, which appends to the above a September 1973 live performance from Winterland - but you can bet it'll be worth the extra outlay.

David Kidman