One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band Hardcover – February 18, 2014

It Is Time For Music AppreciationBy Bob Gelms In this issue, dedicated to music appreciation, we have Jerry Lee Lewis, The Allman Brothers, and Joe Perry from Aerosmith. It’s time to rock on. Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story is a mind-bending, wide-eyed, and slack-jawed appreciation of one of, if not THE originator of Rock & Roll. You can say what you want about Elvis Presley but if there was no Jerry Lee Lewis we would not have Rock & Roll as an art form today. What we would have would be safe for Mom and Pop and fathers of teen age girls. What Jerry Lee is, is most emphatically not safe. He and his music were and are dangerous. It has not lost its power over the years like Elvis has. Jerry Lee says this about his music, “I think my music is like a rattlesnake. It warns you, ‘Listen to this. You better listen to this.’” Then it strikes and the ecstatic liquor cascades through your body drowning every atom in a savage mixture of beat, emotion, and sex. This book traces the beginnings of Jerry Lee and his music from the mud of the Mississippi River to the capitals of the world in venues with screaming girls ready to give up anything for The Killer – always the girls. Along with the girls were, of course, the drugs: the drugs to get you high, low, and everyplace in between. The book shies away from neither topic. It is Jerry Lee Lewis warts and all. It’s also a riveting story of a cultural icon who, by the way, is still with us. If I could give the book 10 stars I would. It is that good. Jerry Lee is an amazing man and by consequence this book will amaze you. One Way Out: The Inside Story of the Allman Brothers Band is a story of fulfilled promise of one of the most successful bands in the history of Rock & Roll. Recently they passed two very significant milestones. One is the 42nd anniversary of Duane Allman’s death. His influence has waned not a bit in the 42 years since he died. You could go see The Allman Brothers play today and hear Duane’s slide guitar tearing through the songs, that is, if they were playing anywhere, which brings us to the second significant event. The band has hung it up. They played their last show at the Beacon Theatre in New York on October 28th and it looks as though they might not come out of retirement. It’s all in the book which is done with the cooperation of the band. And, yes, there were girls and a veritable pharmacopeia of recreational drugs Ingested in super human quantities. It is nothing short of a miracle they didn’t have any OD’s. They had deaths though. Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident just prior to the release of the greatest live album ever recorded, At Fillmore East, and their bass player, Barry Oakley, was killed a short time later in another motorcycle accident very near the spot where Duane was killed. Their music is timeless since it is based on the blues, a prime chunk of what goes into the very best Rock & Roll. It is not an idle coincidence that the very first song The Allman Brothers played at that very first rehearsal in Florida so many years ago was also the last song they played at The Beacon a few weeks ago, Trouble No More by Muddy Waters. I love The Allman Brothers and I loved this Book. It’s number one with a bullet in the Gelms’ household. Another great American blues-based rock band is Aerosmith. Their lead guitarist, Joe Perry, has written an autobiography called Rocks. They rock hard and Joe Perry is the reason why. I like my Rock & Roll spiced with blazing guitars and blues riffs and Aerosmith does not disappoint. I never warmed up to their lead singer Steven Tyler. There was always something about his personality that rubbed me the wrong way. Well folks, read Rocks and you’ll find out why Steven Tyler rubs everybody the wrong way. I’m not sure why Tyler doesn’t have a perennial broken nose or a couple of black eyes. He is a compulsive liar and one of the worst egomaniacs in the business. He, more than anything else, was responsible for the breakup of the band. That, and a little arrogance on the part of Mr. Perry. Joe Perry is, however, mostly responsible for the band coming back together for their second wind. It is interesting to note that Aerosmith has passed these forty-some odd years with the band lineup unchanged. I don’t think any band can top that. While Perry gives a mostly unvarnished view of the trials and tribulations of being in a drug satiated pressure cooker like a Rock & Roll band, it is evident he sees himself through rose colored glasses. Steven Tyler comes off very badly any way you snort it. It’s a lot of fun hearing from the horse’s mouth where all those riffs came from. Rocks is a very enjoyable read and you don’t have to resort to counter culture party items to have a good time.

"One Way Out" by Alan Paul is a must read for Allman Brothers fans and for anyone who loves rock 'n' roll and its history.The Allman Brothers fuzzed rock, country, blues, and jazz for a sound that was revolutionary and completely new in 1971, and still is today.This book tells the story of the band through interviews with band member, roadies (got to love Red Dog), other musicians, lawyers, wives, girlfriends,children, and other people who knew the Brothers through the years.I love the way Paul takes interviews and puts them in easy to read blocks of prose.Butch and Jaimoe were able to play off each other because they listen to one another. Butch was the driving force as a drummer and usually laid down the freight- train type beat; and Jaimoe, a jazz player, filled in the holes Butch left; together they were an unequaled dual force that hasn't been matched yet..Greg is one of the best blues singers, player, that's ever played. (Black or white.) And his Hammond B3 playing was the gravy and dash of sat snd pepper on the remarkable sound of this band.Duane's vision for his new band consisted of two drummers, two guitar players, a bass, and a organ player and a singer. As a slide player there's never been an equal to Duane's playing. (I mean the dude can make the guitar sing like a bird!) Listen to him do it on Mountain Jam.He first met Barry Oakley, then Jaimoe and Butch Trucks.They began Jamming for free in the local parks and rehearsal halls in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969. They auditioned many players until Duane said after a lengthy jam session: "This is it . . . anyone who doesn't want to be in this band is gonna have to fight me to get out of this room.There was only one ingredient missing: A lead singer. Duane called his 'baby brother' Greg who was out in California and told him he'd found the band he was looking for, and he (Greg) needed to get his ass down to Florida.Greg Allman heeded his brother's call and the Allman Brother became a band in March of 1969.Duane, who cared about the music more than he ever cared about the money or fame, did not want it called the Duane Allman Band.They tried out several names, and Duane finally relented, and the band was named the Allman Brothers Band. When Duane died, the heart and leadership of the band was torn out of the group, but some how, they decided to keep going. And then Barry died in about the same way Duane did just about a year later.Butch said that Duane had given them the religion, and they vowed to keep it going. And from 1971 to 2014 they did.There was a lot of pain,drugs, new members, and great music that flowed under the bridge.Bill Graham called them the finest players and music around, and rounded off the last set ever played at Fillmore East with the 'best band of them all--the Allman Brothers!'I first heard them on my return from Vietnam in the early spring of 1970, and they changed me forever as a listener and a musician.My biggest hope and desire is that younger folk listen to them and hear what inspired me for all these years.I recommend this book because it brings a great understanding to this unbelievable band.Pick up "At Fillmore East" and listen to a sound that was new and fresh when it first was released, and still is to this day. . . .Play on forever, Brothers!.

I have read just about everything on the Alllman Brothers Band (some books more than once). I am a "2nd generation" fan, having first heard of the Allman Brothers on "Classic Rock" radio. A late night "double shot" of "Dreams" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." I was hooked, and bought every album and CD I could get my hands on! Have been a fan ever since, of their original music, and the revised music in the 90's. This book was great and provided inside information on the band and their history from those who where there and lived it. Duane Allman must have been a special person, to have touched so many lives and made such and impact in his short life. Musically, the ABB where like no one else (other than maybe the Grateful Dead as a close second!). They were truly meant to be together to bring us this great music! The world is a better place for the lives lived and the music recorded by Duane . . . And Berry . . . And Dickey . . . And Jaimoe . . . And Butch . . . And Gregg . . . . And all the musicians over the years who were also "Brothers." And with all families, there is good and bad. But at end of the day, it is still and always will be just that. . . Family. Over 20 years since I first heard those 2 songs, I am still finding new things in their music and all their lives. I loved the book and will add to my Allman Brothers collection.

This is an excellent written book for Allman Brothers fans. It starts out in the early 50s and 60s during the Southern blues Music gig circuits. Loved it.

Did not like statement style and not much new infoA bit disappointing but no ones faultJust the way it is

"One Way Out" is an exhaustive oral history by insider Alan Paul of a band which occupies the prime place alongside the Grateful Dead in the annals of American rock. Alan Paul has been an ever present chronicler of the band over 25 years and on the evidence of this book if Greg Allman had spoken to a Greyhound bus driver he would have undertook a follow up interview. This history tracks the band from its early inception when two young brothers, Greg and Duane fought over the only guitar in the house in Daytona Beach in Florida where they had moved following the desperate murder of their father Willis Turner Allman in Nashville. Tragedy stalked the siblings from the outset and went on to define their band. Paul's book sets out there early days as the Escorts, the Allman Joys and lastly Hour Glass. Their record label Liberty wanted the US version of Gerry and Pacemakers but the band eventually opened for the Doors and Buffalo Springfield.Inevitably in the early part of the story it is the Duane Allman one of the greatest musicians to pick up a guitar who dominates the book. He was already a brilliant session man in his early 20s. In 1969 the classic Allmans line up was formed Duane and Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jai Johanny Johanson. By the time of their third album 1971's legendary "Live at Fillmore East" captured the band in New York as arguably the best live rock act in the world with Duane Allman and Betts leading the guitar frontal assault. The $1,250 dollars they earned per show saw them triangulate that signature sound which Paul describes "as a rock n roll band playing blues in the jazz vernacular...and they tore the place up"Sadly this line up was struck by disaster shortly after in October 1971 with Duane Allman's death on his beloved motorbike in Macon Georgia which then was followed by the double whammy of Berry Oakley's death in 1972 again in a road accident. It was from here that Dickey Betts essentially became the band leader and forged the way with country rock hits like "Ramblin Man" and "Blue Sky". It was these songs and the great instrumental "Jessica" that brought them wealth and fame but also tore them apart. It is certainly true that Dickie Betts always greatly disliked the term "Southern Rock" to describe the music of a band which had been from the outset a multicultural group and proudly owed its identity to black bluesmen. Yet there is little doubt that 1973s album "Bothers and Sisters" essentially cemented this label. That said the genre's later overt connotations with aspects of Confederate mythology came more with the second wave of Deep South bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet.Paul chronicles the bands descent into drug and alcohol fuelled turbulence. To be fair to him as a band insider he does not shy away from the controversies or pull punches. Gregg Allman's infamous testimony to avoid prosecution against his friend and tour manager, John "Scooter" Herring is laid bare. It led the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia to label Allman a "snitch" and death threats followed. The band broke up and despite attempted reconciliations only properly reformed in 1989 when for the first time Warren Hayes and then latter the brilliant Derek Trucks were added to the line up. Betts alternatively permanently split from the band in 2000 and again Paul highlights the tensions between him and Gregg Allman plus Betts heavy drinking as the contributory factors.For anyone with a passing interest in rock history "One Way Out" is a goldmine of oral recollections and interviews. It is packed with photos, anecdotes, recriminations, break ups and revivals. The Allman name is essentially a label for a musical brotherhood that as of 2014 is now about to end with the departure of Hayes and Trucks. In this respect the reader would be advised to check out on the internet their brilliant Beacon Theatre residencies in New York not least when old Eric Clapton joined them on stage in 2009 at for once let loose with his most ferocious guitar playing since Cream. And yet it those timeless, magisterial concerts in Bill Graham's "Fillmore" that are the bands true legacy of a sublime musical moment when no one could touch or equal them.

Finally a complete warts and all account of the greatest Southern Rock band in the world.The author mixes narrative with interviews to give a chronological account of the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise of theband from 1969-2013.While I knew a lot about the years up to 1992 it is the subsequent period where this book excels.So you hear about Dickey and Woodys confrontation including the infamous knife incident, Greggs equivocation,how Warren tried to hold everything together until with Woody he tired of it all and left to pursue his Govt Mule project.You hear about how Warrens replacement the great Jack Pearson had to leave because of tinnitis"Jack said he was finding it too loud I said I dont know how long I can stand it but I aint turning down" Dickey Betts.I coud go on but believe me there is something for everyone and you will read and re read this one.

This will be enjoyed hugely by any fan . I particularly liked the section in which Dickey talks , very eloquently ,about his and Duane's approach to playing together . I also like the fact that his enormous contribution to the ABB is treated with a little more respect than in some other books - including Gregg's . Whatever his issues along the way he is clearly rather more intelligent than some would have us believe - a great read .

I had looked forward to this joining my other Allman Brothers book collection, but, the writing style lets it down.It is not an easy absorbing read !