Duane Allman - An Anthology

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Music reviews of An Anthology

Music Review: Fire from his fingers
Rating: 5 Stars

Wilson Pickett's scalding cover of "Hey Jude" would praise the Beatles, the Muscle Shoals players, or Pickett himself, but Duane's great white shark bite solo made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. On "The Road of Love," Clarence Carter proudly said, "I like what I'm listening to!" as he admired the fuzzy distortions of Allman's slide. Contemplate, however, when Duane reunited with Hourglass friends Hornsby and Sandlin, and added newcomer Berry Oakley for a string-bending prophetic eulogy on Champion Jack Dupree's "Goin' Down Slow." Duane's vocals could handle slow crooning without being annoying, and his guitar wept where his voice wouldn't go. Other good people lent Duane their voice or let him be their spokesman: just imagine him nodding his head in agreement, his slide dancing to Aretha's statements when she belted out "The Weight," or the slinky, sinewy electric sitar that pulsated alongside buddy King Curtis, a man with talent to blow--a Meerschaum pipe if possible?--and make notes this beautiful on "Games People Play." A ventriloquist throwing his voice, Duane added a `talking slide' dimension to his bottleneck on John Hammond's version of Willie Dixon's "Shake for Me," mimicking human frustrations and gestures that hoot and wag wildly beside the unbridled, frenzied vocals.

Perhaps "Loan Me a Dime" is the tune that describes Duane's closeness in letting his instrument speak the words that the soul cannot say. Boz Scaggs carries the heavy hurtin' blues, but Duane's introductory solo also cried to the heavens like his heart had been pulled from his living, beating chest. Boz faces his last day on Earth with no love or hope, and Duane plays as though he's losing his, too. The follow-up solo, criticized for engineering coordination (Duane's mix get buried midway), is apparent that he did not stop playing this tune--ever. The recording session ended, the sun went down, the band went home, but Duane played this way every time: nothing came between him and the feelings he needed to release. Sensitive regional touches and dobro/slide playing find themselves nestled in the comfort of the Delta's warmth as he, Johnny Jenkins, and Berry settle back at the old farmhouse, finding shelter from that summer heat in Muddy Waters's "Rollin' Stone." Visualize baking-hot red earth beneath your bare feet back as the three men pick and pluck those strings.

Delaney & Bonnie & Friends were Duane's second family unit; his slide has the wildest time with pals "Out on the Open Road," continuing when Johnny Jenkins comes back again in "Down Along The Cove." Gentle times return when Scott Boyer and Cowboy hitch their wagon and give the reins a tug in "Please Be With Me," and Duane shimmers on dobro. Eric Clapton gives/gets a lesson in acoustic slide with Duane on Layla's "Mean Old World." The final songs embrace the group scene, and his five-alarm siren call at the opening of "Layla" make it the epic monolith of unreturned love affairs. Happily, the other five cuts are as fundamental as the laws of gravity: "Statesboro Blues"; "Don't Keep Me Wondering" (the studio version); "Stand Back," and "Dreams": the very best that modern recording could portray in bottleneck phrasing, tone, composition, and originality. By the divine right of kings, Duane had sole ownership of the inner secrets of electric slide. "Little Martha" wraps up (but not the Dreams box set with Berry's bass foundation).

Description of An Anthology