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In April, 1969, The Allman Brothers Band moved from Jacksonville, FL to Macon GA. They rented a house at 309 College Street, which is no longer standing. Next door at 315 College Street, is where photographer Stephen Paley shot the photo for their debut album cover. The Bell House aka the College Street Columns House is now part of Mercer College.
The Allman Brothers Band is the debut studio album by American rock band the Allman Brothers Band. It was released in the United States by Atco Records and Capricorn Records on November 4, 1969 and produced by Adrian Barber. Formed in 1969, the Allman Brothers Band came together following various musical pursuits by each individual member. Following session work, Duane Allman moved to Jacksonville, Florida where he led large jam sessions with his new band, one he had envisioned as having two guitarists and two drummers. After rounding out the lineup with the addition of his brother, Gregg Allman, the band moved to Macon, Georgia, where they were to be one of the premiere acts on Capricorn.
The album was recorded and mixed in two weeks at Atlantic Studios in New York City. Much of its material was premiered live over the preceding months and combines blues, jazz and country music to varying degrees. It includes re-workings of "Trouble No More" and "Don't Want You No More," as well as notable originals such as "Dreams", which highlighted the band's jazz influence, and "Whipping Post", which became a crowd favorite. Although the group was arranged to work with producer Tom Dowd (whose credits included Cream and John Coltrane), he was unavailable, and they instead recorded with house engineer Adrian Barber. The album's artwork was photographed in Macon and surrounding areas.
The record initially received a poor commercial response, charting in the lower levels of Billboard's Top 200 Pop Albums chart. Despite this, the album received critical acclaim from publications such as Rolling Stone, who called it "subtle, and honest, and moving." Following the band's increased fame in the early 1970s, this album and its follow-up, Idlewild South (1970), were repackaged into the compilation album Beginnings. Owing to the band's dislike of Barber's original mix, their debut album was remixed by Tom Dowd. In 1973, Beginnings was certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.[1]
In 2016 a Deluxe version of the album was released by Mercury Records that contained the "Original Stereo Mix by Adrian Barber" from 1969 and the "Beginnings" Stereo Mix by Tom Dowd from 1973.
The Allman Brothers Band were an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guitar, vocals, songwriting), Berry Oakley (bass guitar), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (drums). Subsequently, based in Macon, Georgia, the band incorporated elements of blues, jazz, and country music, and their live shows featured jam band-style improvisation and instrumentals.
The group's first two studio releases, The Allman Brothers Band (1969) and Idlewild South (1970) (both released by Capricorn Records), stalled commercially, but their 1971 live release, At Fillmore East, represented an artistic and commercial breakthrough. The album features extended renderings of their songs "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Whipping Post", and is considered among the best live albums ever made.
Group leader Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident later that year on October 29, 1971 and the band dedicated Eat a Peach (1972) to his memory, a dual studio/live album that cemented the band's popularity and featured Gregg Allman's "Melissa" and Dickey Betts's "Blue Sky". Following the motorcycling death of bassist Berry Oakley one year and 13 days later on November 11, 1972, the group recruited keyboardist Chuck Leavell and bassist Lamar Williams for 1973's Brothers and Sisters. This album included Betts's hit single "Ramblin' Man" and instrumental "Jessica". These tunes went on to become classic rock radio staples, and placed the group at the forefront of 1970s rock music. Internal turmoil overtook them soon after; the group dissolved in 1976, reformed briefly at the end of the decade with additional personnel changes, and dissolved again in 1982.
The band reformed once more in 1989, releasing a string of new albums and touring heavily. A series of personnel changes in the late 1990s was capped by the departure of Betts. The group found stability during the 2000s with bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks (the nephew of their original drummer) and became renowned for their month-long string of shows at New York City's Beacon Theatre each spring. The band retired for good in October 2014 after their final show at the Beacon Theatre.
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