liner notes:
This tape recorded in early ’71 offers a glimpse into the off-stage musical thought process of the band, where they were going and what might have happened.
The rehearsals touched on two songs that would be highlights on the next two Allman Brothers albums, indicating the level of creative energy the band had at the time. They were growing by the week, searching for that moment of perfection band members describe as ‘hittin’ the note’.
On the tape you hear the band trading off riffs and working out song fragments – Betts showing Duane a new song on accoustic guitar, singing "I’m a ramblin’ country man" as he tests out what would become ‘Ramblin Man’.
The tape captures the band rehearsing the instrumental passage to ‘Blue Sky’, experimenting with the phasing of the melody, what key to play it in and how to structure the harmony arrangements.
There’s a lengthy jam on ‘My Favorite Things’, the Rogers/Hammerstein standard that John Coltrane transformed into a classic of jazz improvisation. One can only speculate what a full blown Allman Brothers treatment of ‘My Favorite Things’ might have sounded like.
Taken From: John Swenson