DUANE ALLMAN
SKYDOG: THE DUANE ALLMAN RETROSPECTIVE
@160 & 320
DISC ONE
1 - The Escorts - Turn On Your Love Light/2:31
2 - The Escorts - No Name Instrumental/3:10
3 - The Escorts - What'd I Say/4:02
4 - The Allman Joys - Spoonful/2:25
5 - The Allman Joys - Gotta Get Away/2:35
6 - The Allman Joys - Shapes Of Things/2:44
7 - The Allman Joys - Crossroads/3:29
8 - The Allman Joys - Mister, You're A Better Man Than I/4:41
9 - The Allman Joys - Lost Woman/5:20
10 - Hour Glass - Cast Off All My Fears/3:27
11 - Hour Glass - I've Been Trying/2:34
12 - Hour Glass - Nothing But Tears/2:26
13 - Hour Glass - Power Of Love/2:48
14 - Hour Glass - Down In Texas/3:04
15 - Hour Glass - Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)/2:58
16 - Hour Glass - B.B. King Medley/7:03
17 - Hour Glass - Been Gone Too Long/2:59
18 - Hour Glass - Ain't No Good To Cry/3:04
19 - 31st Of February - Morning Dew/3:43
20 - 31st Of February - Melissa/3:09
21 - The Bleus - Milk And Honey/2:31
22 - The Bleus - Leavin' Lisa/2:37
23 - The Bleus - Julianna's Gone/2:57
DISC TWO
1 - Clarence Carter - The Road Of Love/2:51
2 - Clarence Carter - Light My Fire/2:45
3 - Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude/4:03
4 - Wilson Pickett - Toe Hold/2:46
5 - Wilson Pickett - My Own Style Of Loving/2:37
6 - Wilson Pickett - Born To Be Wild/2:42
7 - Laura Lee - It's How You Make It Good/2:29
8 - Laura Lee - It Ain't What You Do (But How You Do It)/2:01
9 - Spencer Wiggins - I Never Loved A Woman (The Way I Love You)/2:58
10 - Arthur Conley - Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da/2:57
11 - Arthur Conley - Stuff You Gotta Watch/2:11
12 - Arthur Conley - Speak Her Name/2:35
13 - Arthur Conley - That Can't Be My Baby/2:18
14 - Willie Walker - A Lucky Loser/2:16
15 - The Lovelies - I'm Coming Today/2:56
16 - The Lovelies - Pretending Dear/2:34
17 - Aretha Franklin - The Weight/2:50
18 - Soul Survivors - It Ain't Fair/3:19
19 - Soul Survivors - Darkness/2:53
20 - Soul Survivors - Tell Daddy/2:27
21 - Soul Survivors - Got Down On Saturday/3:05
22 - King Curtis - Hey Joe/2:52
23 - King Curtis - Foot Pattin'/4:44
24 - King Curtis - Games People Play/2:43
25 - King Curtis - The Weight/2:43
26 - The Sweet Inspirations - Get A Little Order/2:04
DISC THREE
1 - The Barry Goldberg Blues Band - Twice A Man/4:24
2 - Duane Allman - Goin' Down Slow/8:43
3 - Duane Allman - No Money Down/3:24
4 - Duane Allman - Happily Marride Man/2:38
5 - Otis Rush - Me/2:53
6 - Otis Rush - Reap What You Sow/4:52
7 - Otis Rush - It Takes Time/3:23
8 - The Duck & The Bear - Going Up The Country/2:32
9 - The Duck & The Bear - Hand Jive/2:37
09 - The Duck & The Bear - Hand Jive/2:37
10 - Boz Scaggs - Finding Her/4:09
11 - Boz Scaggs - Look What I Got/4:12
12 - Boz Scaggs - Waiting For A Train/2:40
13 - Boz Scaggs - Loan Me A Dime/12:59
14 - The Allman Brothers Band - Don't Want You No More/2:26
15 - The Allman Brothers Band - It's Not My Cross To Bear/4:58
16 - The Allman Brothers Band - Black Hearted Woman/5:06
17 - The Allman Brothers Band - Trouble No More/3:44
DISC FOUR
1 - The Allman Brothers Band - Every Hungry Woman/4:11
2 - The Allman Brothers Band - Dreams/7:14
3 - The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post/5:15
4 - Ronnie Hawkins - One More Night/2:21
5 - Ronnie Hawkins - Will The Circle Be Unbroken/2:49
6 - Ronnie Hawkins - Matchbox/3:05
7 - Ronnie Hawkins - Down In The Alley/5:08
8 - Ronnie Hawkins - Who Do You Love/2:12
9 - Lulu - Marley Purt Drive/3:20
10 - Lulu - Dirty Old Man/2:19
11 - Lulu - Mr. Bojangles/3:06
12 - Lulu - Sweep Around Your Own Back Door/2:39
13 - Johnny Jenkins - I Walk On Gilded Splinters/5:14
14 - Johnny Jenkins - Rollin' Stone/4:54
15 - Johnny Jenkins - Down Along The Cove/2:58
16 - Johnny Jenkins - Voodoo In You/4:49
17 - John Hammond - Shake For Me/2:38
18 - John Hammond - Cryin' For My Baby/2:35
19 - John Hammond - I'm Leavin' You/3:16
20 - John Hammond - You'll Be Mine/2:37
21 - Doris Duke - Ghost Of Myself/3:04
DISC FIVE
1 - Eric Quincy Tate - Comin' Down (Demo Version)/2:50
2 - The Allman Brothers Band - Hoochie Coochie Man (Live)/4:59
3 - The Allman Brothers Band - Midnight Rider/2:56
4 - The Allman Brothers Band - Dimples (Live At Ludlow Garage)/4:58
5 - The Allman Brothers Band - I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town (Live)/9:20
6 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - Soul Shake/3:05
7 - Laura Nyro - Beads Of Sweat/4:46
8 - The Allman Brothers Band - Don't Keep Me Wonderin'/3:28
9 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - Living On The Open Road/3:02
10 - Ella Brown - A Woman Left Lonely/3:22
11 - Ella Brown - Touch Me/2:58
12 - Bobby Lance - More Than Enough Rain/5:51
13 - Derek & The Dominos - I Am Yours/3:33
14 - Derek & The Dominos - Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad/4:40
15 - Derek & The Dominos - Have You Ever Loved A Woman/6:51
16 - Derek & The Dominos - Layla/7:03
17 - Eric Clapton & Duane Allman - Mean Old World/3:47
DISC SIX
1 - Sam Samudio - Me And Bobby McGee/3:29
2 - Sam Samudio - Relativity/3:12
3 - Sam Samudio - Goin' Upstairs/5:05
4 - Ronnie Hawkins - Don't Tell Me Your Troubles/2:11
5 - Ronnie Hawkins - Sick And Tired/2:45
6 - Ronnie Hawkins - Odessa/3:17
7 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - Gift Of Love/2:08
8 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - Sing My Way Home/4:01
9 - The Allman Brothers Band - Statesboro Blues (Live)/4:16
10 - The Allman Brothers Band - In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (Live)/13:03
11 - The Grateful Dead - Sugar Magnolia (Live At The Fillmore)/7:18
12 - The Allman Brothers Band - One Way Out (Live At The Fillmore)/4:56
13 - Herbie Mann - Push Push/10:01
14 - Herbie Mann - Spirit In The Dark/7:58
15 - Herbie Mann - What'd I Say/4:55
DISC SEVEN
1 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - Come On In My Kitchen (Live)/3:41
2 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - Going Down The Road Feeling Bad/4:03
3 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - Poor Elijah Tribute To Johnson/4:52
4 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - You Don't Love Me; Soul Serenade (Live)/19:25
5 - Cowboy - Please Be With Me/3:39
6 - The Allman Brothers Band - Stand Back/3:23
7 - The Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky/5:08
8 - The Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky (Live)/11:21
9 - The Allman Brothers Band - Dreams (Live)/17:55
10 - The Allman Brothers Band - Little Martha/2:06
REVIEW
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It's difficult to call a guitarist who routinely shows up in the upper reaches of "100 Greatest Guitarists Ever" lists underappreciated, and yet the first impression the towering seven-disc box set Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective makes is that Duane Allman does not receive his proper due. Sure, the Allman Brothers Band are one of the staples of classic rock, a band that carved out the blues-drenched sound of Southern rock while also establishing a template for jam bands to come, and Duane's contributions were crucial in making Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs Eric Clapton's finest moment, and that would be enough for a substantial legacy even if Allman hadn't died in a tragic motorcycle accident at the age of 24, but that was only part of the story. The rest is told on Skydog, a box set that has its origins on a collection Bill Levenson began in the early '90s, just after he compiled the four-disc Allman Brothers Band box, Dreams, in 1989, which didn't see fruition until 2013, after years of work by the renowned rock & roll archivist and Galadrielle Allman, Duane's daughter. Both had their reasons for delivering a testament to everything Duane Allman achieved in his short life, and that dedication pays off wildly on Skydog, as great a box set as has ever been released.
Much of the greatness in Skydog lies in its thoroughness, how it treats Allman's work outside of the Allman Brothers Band not as a digression but rather a focus. The Allman Brothers Band account for just 21 of the 129 songs here, not popping up until toward the end of disc three, by which time Duane has been heard playing gangly R&B guitar in his teenage R&B band the Escorts, expertly mimicking the Yardbirds in the Allman Joys, marrying psychedelia and blues in the Hour Glass, essaying an early version of "Melissa" in the 31st of February, and, especially, making himself heard on sessions for Clarence Carter, Wilson Pickett, Laura Lee, King Curtis, and Arthur Conley recorded down in Muscle Shoals, Alabama (sessions with Aretha Franklin were cut up in New York). He'd also traded solos with Otis Rush and blazed a trail on Boz Scaggs' eponymous 1969 LP, sessions that emphasized how his guitar was getting increasingly gutsy and gritty, characteristics that could be heard on the Allman Brothers Band's 1969 debut. Positioned as it is here, the first Allmans album is not the start of something, but rather a pivotal point in a long journey that continued to unfold long afterward. On-stage, the Allmans improvised with imaginative ferocity, and the back half of Skydog showcases a restless, fearless musician, one who was eager to tangle with his idol Eric Clapton in Derek & the Dominos, rush on-stage with the Grateful Dead, guest with Delaney & Bonnie, and sit in with jazz flautist Herbie Mann. By the end of the set, Duane Allman seems to have had his hand in every kind of music being made in America at the turn of the '60s, and the depth and scope of his achievement is staggering, especially when you consider that so much of this was recorded in a mere four years. While the records released by the Allman Brothers Band do hint at this range, Skydog tells a story unheard on any other Allman-related albums, including the excellent 1989 box Dreams. This is an epic narrative illustrating how soul, blues, country, psychedelia, jazz, and garage rock melded into modern rock & roll and, in turn, this is a biography of a musician who was instrumental in that evolution, a guitarist whose name is well-known but whose work is still not thoroughly appreciated. Skydog rights that wrong in glorious fashion.
ABOUT
Duane Allman was one of the defining musicians of our era, rated second only to Jimi Hendrix in Rolling Stone's list of rock's 100 greatest guitarists. A founding member, with his brother Gregg, of the Allman Brothers Band, Duane was also active as a session musician, and as a member of the all-star Derek and the Dominos. This seven CD set, produced by Duane's daughter Galadrielle Allman and esteemed reissue producer Bill Levenson, shows the full breadth and depth of Duane's work, from early recordings (with Gregg) in bands such as The Escorts, Allman Joys and Hour Glass; to his studio work with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Boz Scaggs, Delaney & Bonnie, Ronnie Hawkins and many others; to a live jam session with the Grateful Dead. The set includes several unreleased performances, many classic Allman Brothers songs, and a collector's cache of rare singles and long out-of-print album tracks. Also included are a 72 page book with essays by Scott Schindler and Galadrielle Allman, many rare photographs, a replica of Duane's guitar pick, and a Skydog sticker.