29 in 2009 - The Allman Brothers Band: "Eat a Peach"

The Allman Brothers Band: Eat a Peach

Originally Released: February 12, 1972

Genres: Rock, Southern Rock, Blues Rock

Rating: 8 out of 10 Stars

So I got the idea several weeks ago to listen to this album in one sit down and to have my write-up of it be a "live blogging" of my first listen. Not as insightful as some other posts, sure, but different. Here goes.

"Ain't Wastin' Time No More" - Already I've felt that I've made the wrong choice here. I should've listened to this album tomorrow. That's what I've been saying for a month now...(1:33) I like the song so far. It's a very soulful rock and roll song. Digs for sure. (3:11) Yep, this is defintely a really good song, and while I'm not familiar with The Allman Brothers Band at all, this is kind of what I imagined them sounding like.

"Les Brers in A Minor" - (0:14) Just looked at the tracklisting and saw that this was 9:07 long. Great! Of course it could be worse (see track 4). (2:01) Is there an old saying that I'm unfamiliar with? "If you can't find a good way to start a song, don't?" (2:56) Yep. Probably. (3:46) Oh great, an entirely different song! Great to know the last 4 minutes weren't completely worthless....(5:47) I guess this is just a random jam song. Good to know. I swear if any singing comes in in minute 8 I'm going to be completely dumfounded! (9:03) Nope. No singing.

"Melissa" - (0:08) This song is on an AT&T commercial. I figured that out in 8 seconds. During the last song I looked up the band on Wikipedia. Turns out that the band's most commercial songs, "Ramblin' Man" and "Jessica" (two good ones, I think) were featured on the next album. Not this one. At least I can say that I know some Allman Brothers Songs though. That's good. (1:50) I know this song too, and I like it a lot. I never knew this was them (I've found myself saying that a lot during this 29 in 2009 thing). (3.30) A really smooth, melancholic song. Good stuff. So far a really good CD.

"Mountain Jam" - This song is 33 minutes long, and according to Wikipedia, originally covered two sides of an LP. (0:35) My gut is telling me to just skip this song or at the very least, take a break from listening to it and finish it some other time. After all, the readers (you) will never know that you didn't do one whole listen. Integrity, people. That's what's keeping me here. On a related note, my Top Album of 2007 was shorter than this song. (2:50) I'm just going to go lay down while this plays. Maybe play some Peggle. (11:29) This is definitely the same band that did "Jessica." That sounds gross. (12:25) Missed a note on the guitar but it's cool cause it's "improvisation" oooh! (19:01) I'm imaging that the rest of the band just went backstage and got super blazed during that 6 minute drum solo. The bass player was the first to finish his pretzel and cheese Combos (they had those then, right?). (21:49) REALLY cool bass stuff going on. You don't hear that often! (22:38) How the heck am I supposed to get 400,000 points on this challenge?!?!? (30:15) I'm very concerned that I still have 5 more tracks to get through. (32:07) I feel like this is a really satisfying jam, though I would've hated to be there when it was recorded. Any time a band breaks out into an extended jam at a show....gosh, I'm just not a fan.

"One Way Out" - (0:38) This is beginning to sound like another jam. (1:05) Lyrics! Yay!! (3:47) At this point the once-awesome guitaring is losing a bit of it's appeal. Still cool, just not as impressive as it was 40 minutes ago. The lyrics on this song and the vocals themselves are not all that impressive either. Of course, I'm not a huge blues fan either.

"Trouble No More" - (0:14) The riff sounds familiar, though I'm not sure if that's just my mind playing tricks on me. This song has a bluesy feel to it as well. (1:18) Already better than the previous song. Much more emotion coming through on this one. Nice.

"Stand Back" - (0:35) I'm really digging the southern rock. This song is fairly bitchin' thus far. (2:04) Oh yes, this song is definitely one to remember; the standout track on the album for me at this point! Has there been a bad song on the album up to this point? Nope. I'm actually surprised by how much I'm enjoying this!!

"Blue Sky" - Sounds like a pretty standard single. *Checks Wikipedia* Nope, but apparently Dickey Betts is singing lead vocals for the first time. That means nothing to me, but hey, fun trivia! (2:15) I'm finding that a lot of the solos for The Allman Brothers Band sound similar. Maybe that's just their style, you know, something that will make them immediately identifiable. It's good. But unvaried. Maybe it evolved more as the band went on. I'm still new to this whole thing.

"Little Martha" - (0:49) Sounds like a Nick Drake song. I can say that now because I've listened to him (thanks, guys). More specifically, I could say that it sounds like Pink Moon-era Drake. (1:43) Assuming this is an instrumental, but it would be cool if someone just said the word "cabbage" right at the end all nonchalantly. (End) Nope.

Verdict: Classic