Customer Reviews
Essencial cd 
2008-01-07
This cd contain the first and second ABB that are essencials to anyone blues/rock collection. The Almans Brothers with Duane is one of the best jam band in the world!
sweet classic allman bros. 2007-12-31
what an amazing piece of music history, with the original crew...nice to have the first two records together and the blues and edgy toughness of greg's voice is wonderful...add this to the collection...
Southern blues-rock 
2007-10-26
Great classic selection of Allman originals. Did not notice any huge differences with the remastering, but then, my ears are much older. A must have if you want to hear the original Allman Bros. Band when all were still alive. Dual lead guitars, dual percussionists, distinct vocals, and more! An excellent value and a fine collectable if you like the southern blues-rock genre!
Two essential Allman Brothers albums together but try and find the earlier edition 2007-08-26
Sometimes older is better and I'm not just talking about the music itself but the mastering of the recordings as well. Two terrific albums on one CD, "Beginnings" represents The Allman Brothers with a very good album(the first album)and truly stunning second album. Duane and Gregg Allman had recorded previously (and Greg was a session player)with their band The Allman Joys (nice pun). These are both terrific albums and normally I'd encourage people to buy the new editions if they were remastered and better than previous editions. This version sounds pretty good but can't hold a candle to the individual albums and even the other version of "Beginnings" mastered by Dennis Drake.
Drake accurately captures the rich sound of the original mastertape without having to resort to cheap tricks like playing with the EQ or mastering them so loud that there is no dynamic range. Any of the Allman Brothers albums that are mastered by Dennis Drake (and you'll know because these were the earlier masterings but, unfortunately, Drake's credit isn't on the outside of the CD but the inside of the CD booklet.
The two albums included here are classic recordings with Duane in terrific form, Gregg belting out the blues like he had lived them and Dickey Betts adding some nice guitar flourishes and writing some terrific tunes that perfectly complimented Gregg's songs. If you can't find used copies of the earlier remasters done by Dennis Drake, this isn't bad. The best versions out there of the first two albums are the Drake and the recent Mofi reissue.
First record I ever bought 2007-06-09
This was the first record I ever bought in a store, along w/ CSNY's 4 Way Street. Still a classic. The first ever appearance of Gregg's voice at the top of Ain't My Cross to Bear sounds like a caged bear has been let into the studio. How did he sound so gnarly so young? and the songwriting -- Wow! They fit right in w/ the classic covers of Muddy et al. Everyone raves about Live at the Fillmore, but for me, this is "where it all begins".
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND. THEIR FIRST TWO ALBUMS... 2007-05-16
For once, a record label actually gives us
more bang for the buck, combining two indisputable classics--1969's self-titled debut and the 1970 follow-up
Idlewild South--onto one glorious CD. Five urgent notes kick off Spencer Davis's "Don't Want You No More," and by the time that searing instrumental morphs into Gregg Allman's superb slow blues "It's Not My Cross to Bear," it's clear these Georgians mean business. Everyone talks of the Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon covers, the furious twin leads of Duane and Dickey Betts, Gregg's soulful voice and formidable organ, the percussion attack of Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, but what about the songwriting skills? Just start with "Cross to Bear," "Whipping Post," "Dreams," "Revival," "Elizabeth Reed"--are you kidding? These two records blend gritty blues, Southern soul, and psychedelic rock into an exciting creation, and they serve notice: the Allmans will contend for the title of best American rock & roll band.
--Marc Greilsamer
Back Where It All Began 2007-03-21
Midnight Rider. Dreams. Elizabeth Reed. Whipping Post. These are the songs that made the legend known as the Allman Brothers Band. This is the original six-man band. Duane and Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jaimoe. The first half of the CD is the original "Allman Brothers Band" album. The songs are mostly Gregg Allman originals. Gregg demonstrates great songwriting right out of the box here. It's amazing when one considers the guy who wrote "Whipping Post" and "Dreams" was only in his very early 20s. How does someone that young get so world-weary?
The second half of the CD is the original "Idlewild South" album. Guitarist Dickey Betts comes into his own as a composer with "Revival" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," the first of a career of fantastic instrumentals. "Midnight Rider" is probably Gregg Allman's best-known song. The guitar interplay between Duane Allman and Dickey Betts is breathtaking. Berry Oakley does a vocal turn on a radically-reworked, very spooky version of the Muddy Waters classic "Hootchie Coochie Man." "Please Call Home" - does slow blues get any better than this? The wild card on this whole cd is "Leave My Blues at Home." A previous reviewer said something to the effect that James Brown would be proud of this song, and I couldn't agree more.
This CD has all the elements that would make up the Allman Brothers "sound" - the twin lead guitars, two drummers who complement each other, a thunderous bass player who plays like a third lead guitarist, excellent songwriting, and Gregg Allman proving he is one of the finest blues singers alive, if not of all time. An essential CD.
Good, But Poor Re-Mixing 
2006-07-22
Great Band at the top of their game.
Great Set, one of the better live sets of the Allman Brothers Band.
But I have a bone to pick with the producers of the CD. The opening two cuts, I Don't Want You No More and Its Not My Cross to Bear are one song. The Brothers blended them into each other in a seamless wonder that was inspirational. What did the producers do? They chopped up these two songs. I had to buy the original album and record them on the computer to preserve the artists original recording. This was irritating and shows that the producers were more interested in conformity than artistic intent. Grrrrrrr.
End of rant.
Good pick! 2006-06-20
For whatever reason, Idlewild South is a rare album these days. Thankfully, Beginnings is here to fix that. You get both their debut (probably the best first album ever) and Idlewild south. Well, why should you buy this over the originals?
1. It's two LP's for the price of one-and-a-half, which means you can buy this package for $20, or you can pick up both albums individually for $26.
2. It's both albums one CD. That alone is a pretty good reason.
3. It's simply great music. On this album, you get It's Not My Cross to Bear, Trouble No More, Dreams, Whipping Post, Revival, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Midnight Rider and Hoochie Coochie Man. That alone should be reason enough.
If you haven't bought this album yet, what are you waiting for?
two of the best albums of all time on one disc 2006-06-15
Beginnings is a compilation of the first two Allman Brothers albums. From the opening notes of the twin guitars on "Don't Want You No More" to the fade of "Leave My Blues At Home" you know you have heard something that isn't like all the other stuff floating around, and that musically you'll never be the same. Perhaps most importantly in this format the listener hears a band on the cusp of greatness. Blistering guitar, soulful singing, a rhythm section that never lets up-what more could a listener ask for.
The first seven songs made up the first, self titled, ABB record. Don't Want You No More segues into It's Not My Cross to Bear, where the listener first hears the voice of Gregg Allman, dark, bluesy, with the pain of the south in his voice. Two songs about evil women, Black Hearted Woman and Every Hungry Woman bracket Muddy Waters Trouble No More, the song with my favorite riff of any ABB recording. The moody Dreams reaches slide nirvana and then fades into the crunch of the classic bass riff that opens Whipping Post.
"I've been run down
I've been lied to
Don't know why I let that mean woman make me a fool
Took all my money, wrecked my new car
Now she's with one of my good time buddies
Drinking in a crosstown bar
...Sometimes I feel,
like I've been tied to the whipping post
.... Good lord I feel like I'm dying"
Most of us have been there, don't want to go back, but fear we will. Lyrics that define having the blues.
Track 8 begins the second record, Idelwild South. Dickey Betts country flavored Revival brings a new influence to the band, as does his classic latin influenced instrumental In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. Don't Keep me Wonderin' may have Duane Allman's greatest slide solo and Please Call Home is Gregg Allman at his best, singing over a spare arrangement, punctuated by firey fills from Brother Duane. Leave My Blues At Home closes on a funky note.
This was the last full studio record recorded by the original band. It was followed by the classic Live At the Fillmore East. As the band began recording the third studio release, Eat A Peach Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle wreck. The band has soldiered on for 35 years. While they are enjoying a creative renaissance at this writing (2006) the foundation of the bands greatness is found on this disc.
If you want to hear the original vision Duane Allman had for his band, this cd is it. This disc is the cornerstone of a hall of fame career. It is essential listening for anyone who values great improvisational music. If you don't own this, you need to.
