Enlightened Rogues

Allman Brothers Band: Gregg Allman (vocals, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, organ); Dickey Betts (vocals, acoustic, electric & slide guitars); "Dangerous" Dan Toller (acoustic & electric guitars); David "Rook" Goldflies (bass); Butch Trucks (drums, congas, background vocals); "Jaimoe" Johanny Johanson (drums, congas). Additional personnel: Jim Essery (harmonica); Joe Lala (percussion); Mimi Hart, Bonnie Bramlett (background vocals). Recorded at Criteria Studio, Miami, Florida. All tracks have been digitally remastered. The Allman Brothers closed out the '70s with a solid if unspectacular set that's aged better than one might have expected. It may not be particularly innovative, but it lacks nothing in the grit and sass departments. The album begins ("Crazy Love") the way it ends ("Sail Away"), which is to say with two dive-bomb blasts of Dickie Betts' slide guitar. In between there's a nod to John Lee Hooker with "Can't Take It With You," the Chicago blues shuffle of "Need Your Love So Bad," and "Try It One More Time," a '60s style soul ballad. The most interesting piece here, however, is Betts' "Pegasus," a complex instrumental that opens in vaguely Latin mode, segues into some jazz-fusion passages, and concludes with a modal psychedelic jam that seems a homage to some of the San Francisco bands of the '60s.