The Allman Brothers Band with Jerry Garcia - Road Trips: Volume One (2017) {9CD Set Sandoz SNZCD2002 rec 1972-1979}

The Allman Brothers Band with Jerry Garcia - Road Trips: Volume One (2017) {9CD Set Sandoz SNZCD2002 rec 1972-1979}

Limited edition 9CD Box Set featuring FM broadcasts. New series of Allman Brothers live show box sets. Mastered from the original FM broadcasts. Volume One features three classic shows across 9 CD's from 1972, 1973 and 1979. Manley Field House, Syracuse, New York April 7th 1972 WNEW-FM (Discs 1,2). Cow Palace, Daly City, California December 31st 1973 KSAN-FM (Discs 3,4,5,6). Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York December 30th 1979 WLIR-FM (Discs 7,8,9).

The music is,of course great,the source being FM radio tapes is reasonable,not brilliant,but not bad.And it's a LOT cheaper than the Fox Box,due for re-release soon.Of course,that has the Hayes/Trucks combination on guitars,so it's a must have,but here we have Dickie Betts playing his heart out,shortly after the loss of Duane.I won't say his presence isn't missed,but Dickie is wonderful as he holds the band together.I always regret his sacking from the ABB,as he was the glue that held them together for so long,over some rough times.All in all,a good live set,fairly priced,and better than the upcoming volume 2.

The Allman Brothers Band - Road Trips Volume 1
Came across this looking around and decided to try it. There is a lot of music here for a reasonable price as of this writing. 3 shows from 72, 73 and 79. If you don’t already have these, this might be a good way to get all 3 shows in one package.

The packaging is simply a chipboard box with each of the 9 discs in a paper sleeve. There is no booklet or additional notes other than the show info, track listing and band members on each disc. The label is Sandoz which appears to be a UK label. It is not clear if anyone connected to the ABB has anything to do with this release but the title is quite intriguing and brings to mind the Dead series with a similar title. Will have to see if there is a follow up to this but we all know what happened with the Dead series with the same concept so maybe this is the beginning of something big?

The core band for each of these shows is Gregg, Dickey, Butch and Jaimoe.

The 72 show has Oakley on bass.
The 73 show has Lamar Williams on bass and Chuck Leavell on piano/vocals. 2 of the 4 discs also add Garcia, Kreutzmann and Boz Scaggs
The 79 show has David Goldflies on bass, Dan Toler on guitar, Jim Essery on harp and Bonnie Bramlett shares vocals on the last 3 tracks.

All of these shows are from FM broadcasts and the sound is at least pretty good. I haven’t played the whole box yet but did punch through the tracks to get a feel for the sound quality. I would rate the 73 show at about an 8, the 79 show about 7 and the 72 show about 6-7.
The Manley Field House show from April 7, 1972 is widely available on single releases and is representative of the band after Duane’s death and before Oakley passed away. Dickey played all of the guitar and this was a stripped down 5 pc band. It is a good show with tracks typical of the band from that era. The sound is a bit wobbly at times and Oakley’s bass is very fat in the mix. Overall, a pretty good listen.

The 73 show is also widely available and is noted for adding Jerry, Bill and Boz for 2 full discs. The sound is clearer on this show to me and I would say every ABB fan should have this in their collection. Garcia adds something different to the typical Allman’s sound and Boz plays the organ and sings as well. A nice piece of history here from a New Years Eve show so many years ago. The Cow Palace still stands today but mainly hosts rodeos, gun shows and religious gatherings ( I live a mile away).

The final show is from 79 and is 3 discs from a Dec 30 show at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale NY. This features some different tracks from the earlier shows. Toler adds some nice guitar to what Betts was doing and the harp is added sparingly from what I heard in my quick listen. The soulful vocals of Bonnie Bramlett fit in well with the ABB style. Makes me wish there had been more female vocalists guesting with the band over the years. Mavis Staples might have been a terrific fit. Too bad we won’t see that happen. Maybe it did and I’m not aware of it. Aretha on a set of spirituals might have been a fantastic add. Oh well.

In summary, this is a good set of 3 show over 9 discs and is a good value. The sound is fair to good and the shows capture the ABB in different times. The Cow Palace show is the best of the bunch to me and needs to be in your collection. If you already have these shows, this is not a must buy as the packaging is skimpy and I don’t think the sound quality is superior to other available versions of these shows. If you don’t then I recommend you buy it as it is a good value for the music alone. It will be interesting to see if this is the beginning of a catalog of future ABB Road Trips releases or a one off on the Sandoz label. I hope there is more coming and that the future releases are rare shows not already available.

Tracklisting

Discs 1&2

Manley Field House, Syracuse, New York April 7th 1972 WNEW-FM

Disc 1. (47.29)
1.Intro>Statesboro Blues (5.58)
2.Done Somebody Wrong (3.54)
3.Ain’t Wastin Time No More (5.52)
4.One Way Out (6.30)
5.Stormy Monday (8.31)
6.You Don’t Love Me (16.42)

Disc 2. (49.12)
1.In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (16.40)
2.Midnight Rider>Whipping Post (23.31)
3.Hot ‘Lanta (8.59)

Discs 3,4,5&6

Cow Palace, Daly City, California December 31st 1973 KSAN-FM

Disc 3 (68.16)
1. Intro>Wasted Words (6.05)
2. Done Somebody Wrong (6.02)
3. One Way Out (9.51)
4. Stormy Monday (8.59)
5. Midnight Rider (5.00)
6. Blue Sky (7.45)
7. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (17.33)
8. Statesboro Blues (6.59)

Disc 4 (70.16)
1. Southbound (7.23)
2. Come & Go Blues (5.27)
3. Ramblin’ Man (8.06)
4. Trouble No More (4.22)
5. Jessica (12.59)
6. Les Brers In A Minor> (6.09)
7. Drums> (11.12)
8. Les Brers In A Minor (14.35)

Disc 5 (63.47)
1. Whipping Post Jam* (11.53)
2. Linda Lou>Mary Lou* (9.18)
3. Hideaway>You Upset Me* (15.22)
4. Bo Diddley>Mountain Jam>Bo Diddley* (27.11)

Disc 6 (61.20)
1. Save My Life* (18.55)
2. Blues Jam* (11.22)
3. You Don’t Love Me* (9.19)
4. Will The Circle Be Unbroken>*(4.46)
5. Mountain Jam* (16.26)

*Featuring Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, Boz Scaggs

Discs 7,8&9

Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York December 30th 1979 WLIR-FM

Disc 7(58.42)
1. Don't Want You No More (2.52)
2. Not My Cross To Bear (6.41)
3. Can't Take It With You (4.40)
4. Blue Sky (6.35)
5. Need Your Love So Bad (4.11)
6. Blind Love (5.47)
7. Crazy Love 5.25
8. Just Ain't Easy (5.35)
9. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (11.15)
10.Try It One More Time (5.38)

Disc 8. (48.46)
1.One Way Out (10.38)
2.Statesboro Blues (5.26)
3.Southbound (10.14)
4.Jessica (9.36)
5.Whipping Post (12.51)

Disc 9. (53.14)

1.Pegasus (33.35)
2.Midnight Rider (6.05)
3.Will The Circle Be Unbroken (6.54)
4.Ramblin' Man (6.38)