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Idlewild South: All Hail the Allman Brothers by Bob Lefsetz The first Allman Brothers album was a relative stiff. It wasn't like today. Where albums come out and sell NOTHING! Zero. Nada. No copies at all. Bands didn't even RELEASE records unless they worked the road. They had a built-in fan base. The album might not break through. Might not make it on the Billboard chart. But still, a trickle of copies would move from stores. Bought by people who'd seen the act live. I was aware of the first Allman Brothers record. I'd see a little picture of it on Atlantic inner sleeves. It didn't cross my mind to buy it. Never heard the music, and I was skeptical of any band with the world "Brothers" in the name. "Brothers" implied some cheesy family duo. Nothing credible. A year later, the Allman Brothers released a SECOND record. This didn't surprise me. Bands didn't give up that easily back then. Record companies, either. It was WAR! You established a beachhead. And kept pressing on. Solidifying old markets. Attacking new ones. But I didn't buy this second record, either. I made note of the title, Idlewild South. Reminiscent of the airport now named Kennedy. But nobody I knew owned this album. Nobody I knew had seen them. But one of the great things about going to college is it's a melting pot. People come from all over the country. Bringing their influences. Today radio shows are syndicated nationally. Back then, stations were PROUD to be local. PROUD to break acts in their home markets. Turn people on to great acts. Like my friend Dave. Actually, it wasn't Dave. Dave wasn't that hip. Dave had found out about the Idlewild South from some much hipper dude on the fourth floor. He'd gone down to the Vermont Book Shop and bought it. And I heard it while smoking dope every January night in his dorm room. The locus for our group. Dave loved Idlewild South. Other members of our club would request it. I was more partial to To Our Children's Children's Children. Now THAT was great stoner music. Even better was In Search of the Lost Chord, with that song about Timothy Leary. Dave would listen to our requests, and then balance them with respect to his own mood, and whip a record out of its sleeve and put it on the turntable. I would wince a bit when I heard "Revival." Everybody in the room would start grooving. Playing knee-slap drums. I'd sit there with arms crossed. This wasn't THAT great. Nor was the follow-up, "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'." But the song thereafter. Boy did I get hooked on it. "Well, I've got to run to keep from hiding, And I'm bound to keep on riding. And I've got one more silver dollar, But I'm not gonna let them catch me, no, Not gonna let 'em catch the midnight rider." That dude's voice. God, if I had a voice like that, I could get laid EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK! And the groove. Kinda like riding your horse across the plains. But what really put the song over the top was that guitar. Oh, the acoustic intro was good. But there was this BLARE! Just when the singer started to sing about not being caught. I just thought it was part of the record. I didn't realize the man working the frets, bending the notes. That man lurking in this record. He was a GOD! When the weather turned warm, when school let out, when girls donned bikinis and returned to the beach, the Fillmore East shut its doors. |
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