Allman Brothers Band

Down In Texas ’71

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND RECORDING COMPANY Duane, Gregg and company explore the heartland.

Two months after their epic ’71 live album At Fillmore East and a month before Duane Allman took his fateful motorcycle ride, the ABB moseyed into Austin’s Municipal Auditorium for one of their final shows as a six-piece. Word in the camp was that while they wouldn’t forsake their high-octane southern blues gospel, they were ready for something a little more country, evidenced by the contemplative parts of the following year’s Eat A Peach. But you wouldn’t guess that here, as Down In Texas ’71

is a classically framed Allmans set, including staples such as

In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, Statesboro Blues and Stormy Monday, when they picked up a lick and a jam and headed where the muse took them.

The nine-song set doesn’t usurp the East Coast concerts, nor does it really offer any improvement, as it appears to be a reasonable-quality audience recording, which lacks the sonic ability to reproduce Gregg Allman’s vocals. Indeed the Hammond organ maestro sounds somewhat refreshed.

But whatever the Bennies and the booze the band enjoyed, they turned it on musically. By now ABB were adamant that Rudolph ‘Juicy’ Carter sit in with his soprano sax (Fillmore producer Tom Dowd hated the intrusion). And while he’s responsible for giving Johnny

Lee Johnson his nickname ‘Jaimoe’, Juicy’s presence isn’t always conducive to a coherent listening experience.

It never took these boys long to muddy the waters. When they were on song their propensity to switch from freeform modal R&B to a kind of rock jazz fusion was coloured by a sense that Duane was itching to spread his wings, having recently fallen into Eric Clapton’s clutches on the Layla

collaboration, a liaison that never sat easily with Betts, or the rest of the band, who could see their mercurial leader disappearing into the heady ether of superstar grandiosity. The best bits are You Don’t Love Me, where Duane threatens some heavy metal mayhem, and Elmore James’s One Way Out, the kind of souped-up blues they could knock off blindfolded.

The addition of a taped interview with Duane and the equally doomed bass player Berry Oakley adds some contemporary authenticity, but Down In Texas ’71 is for diehard Allmans fans only. ■■■■■■■■■■