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Shades of Two Worlds

The Allman Brothers Band - Shades of Two Worlds Audio CD

A fair review of the The Allman Brothers Band "Shades of Two Worlds" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Allman Brothers Band reviews here, or go back to the The Allman Brothers Band tabs.

Band: The Allman Brothers Band
Title: Shades of Two Worlds
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-06-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: End of the Line 2: Bad Rain 3: Nobody Knows 4: Desert Blues 5: Get on With Your Life 6: Midnight Man 7: Kind of Bird 8: Come on in My Kitchen

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND'S BEST STUDIO ALBUM SINCE BROTHERS AND SISTERS ! (Shades is everything a great ABB album should be)
The professionalism, exciting performances and consistent songwriting make this the one to get if you're looking for an album from the band's post-Duane Allman era. The Allman Brothers Band's Shades of Two Worlds (1991) gives the faithful ABB listener everything that is required of an Allman Brothers Band album for it to be considered great. The band, including Gregg Allman's legendary singing voice, is in top form here, and I would recommend this over any other studio album from the post-Duane years with the possible exception of 1973's Brothers and Sisters and 2003's Hittin' the Note.

This was the follow up to their 1989 comeback album, Seven Turns, and it features the Dickey Betts/Warren Haynes twin guitar front line along with Gregg Allman on vocals and Hammond B-3 organ. The late Allen Woody played bass on the album, and original band members Butch Trucks and Jaimoe provide the dual drum and percussion interplay.

This is everything that a great Allman Brothers album should be, and the usual staples of the ABB album formula, including guitar excellence, are remarkably presented. The 8:30 minute jazzy instrumental, Kind Of Bird, shows off the band's creativity and exceptional musicianship, and the slow blues, Get On With Your Life, features everything that is good about the ABB brand of blues-rock. The reflective swagger of End Of The Line works perfectly as Gregg looks back on the reckless years of his youth and is amazed that he survived it all.

Oh, when I think about the old days
It sends chills up and down my spine
Life ain't what it seems on the boulevard of broken dreams
Guess I opened my eyes in the nick of time
Cause it sure felt like the end of the line

There's a slide steel guitar laden back porch version of Robert Johnson's Come On In My Kitchen on the album, and it's always a treat to hear the Allmans do something like that. Midnight Man doesn't offer too much, but it's not bad, and everything else on the album is stellar.

The album's centerpiece is the 11:00 minute epic Nobody Knows, a song that Dickey wrote and Gregg enthusiastically sings. It features some top quality spirited soloing from the group, and the lyrics are thoughtfully philosophical in the way that they suggest staying true to yourself and believing in your dreams, even as the world around you offers convenient and constantly changing answers to the questions of life and it's meaning.

Poets they come and the poets they go
Politicians and preachers they all claim to know
The words that are written and the melodies played
As the years turn their pages, they all start to fade

Shades of Two Worlds not only picked up where Seven Turns left off, it raised the songwriting and performance levels up a notch, too. It was also more consistent and exciting than Where It All Begins, which followed it and was Dickey Betts' last album with the band. In fact, this album was better than anything The Allman Brothers Band had done since 1973's Brothers and Sisters, and it was as least as good as that one, too.

Unfortunately, his might be hard to find because it wasn't a big commercial success and is out of print in the U. S. Some of the best songs from the album can be found on Mycology: An Anthology, the band's compilation from their 1990s period, or in live versions on An Evening With The Allman Brothers Band.
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Just for "Come on in my Kitchen"
I love Robert Johnson and the Allman version keeps a good "feel" to the song without just copying the older form. I'm not a huge Allman fan but I had to get this for their cover of "Come on in my Kitchen", which is great.

Someone get this thing back in circulation!
I guess it was just too old-school for most rock audiences in 1991 (the year where Nirvana ruled - not a jab at Nirvana, they're a cool group, just giving some context), but then the Allmans are an old-school band: expecting them to update their sound to adjust with current trends is laughable. This is out of print right now, which begs an important question: Why? Much like the group's other albums with Warren Haynes, it's a superb album. No, you just gotta sit back and let 'em do their Latin-blues-jazz-soul-rock thing, which they do very well on this album for the most part. There are a few epic tracks that I really enjoy: Nobody Knows is the longest (lasting over ten), and it's got some awesome guitar solos from Betts and Haynes, not to mention excellent lyrics about the confused nature of the state of the world in those days - in other words, not much different from the state of the world in 2007. This is a Dickey Betts song, and it's one of his best: he wrote a lot of good songs in the '90s, arguably more than he wrote in the '70s - though it's certainly hard to knock Ramblin' Man, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Jessica or Blue Sky. It's also sung with conviction by Gregg, the kind of guy who could make an album full of Foreigner songs sound soulful. I hope the Allmans never do that, though, because Foreigner is either the second- or third-worst band on Earth (behind only Limp Bizkit and maybe My Chemical Romance), and the Allmans are one of the ten best. Anyway, another great song is the blues Get on with Your Life. Lyrically it's pretty much just Come and Go Blues all over again, but you don't listen to the Allman Brothers for their lyrics, you listen to them for the guitars! And they sparkle on that cut. My favorite song, however, is the jazzy instrumental Kind of Bird. Like many other songs on this album it's a lost Allmans classic: the chemistry between the group members is fascinating. There are also a couple of more basic rockers here - End of the Line, Bad Rain - and while they're a bit obvious I can still rock out to 'em. They're not as good as the epic songs though. And there's also a nice cover of Come on in My Kitchen. The only weak songs both strike me as rather limp and lifeless (Midnight Man, Desert Blues - I have a feeling I've heard both those songs before), but Shades of Two Worlds is a worthy addition to the Allmans catalog. If you can find it, that is. I had to get it at a used record store - not that I mind, because I happen to love said used record store.

The most underrated album in the Allmans' catalog...
It's just as good as Seven Turns, and in many ways better, as the playing on it is much more intense. In talking with my amazon friends Finulanu and Ol' nuff n' den sum we are amazed that this album, The Allman Brothers Band's follow up to Seven Turns, is out of print. Here, Gregg Allman really shines, not only vocally, but as a songwriter (co-writing the great End of the Line and sole writer on Get On With Your Life). His keyboard work is very good, too. Johnny Neel played keyboards on Seven Turns, while Gregg stayed on organ. Here, he does all the keyboard work for the first time since Duane was in the band. The song Nobody Knows is one of the Allman's greatest songs, a killer epic track (running nearly 11 minutes) with great vocals by Gregg, amazing guitar work by Dickey Betts and Warren Hayes, and some amazing percussion by Jaimoe and Butch Trucks. Despite the lengthy running time on many of these songs, they are remarkably tight, and show that the Allmans know how to jam and jam intensely. They never wander around like the Dead (at least in concert) and Phish would do.

This album needs to be back in print, now! If Seven Turns and Where It All Begins are in print, why not this? .

Great Comeback Album
The band broke up for a time, but found themselves back in 1991 with a revamped lineup that included Warren Haynes sharing the guitar duties with Dickey Bets and Allen Woody appearing on bass. I don't have any of the Allmans late 70's or 80's output. This is a very strong album. Lyrically I think it is one of the band's best. The first two tracks "End Of The Line" and "Bad Rain" are both great tunes. The third track "Nobody Knows" ranks right up with the Allman's best with great lyrics and a killer jam that clocks in at over 10 minutes. Warren Haynes makes his presence known on this track. "Desert Blues" comes next and is another great song. The rest of the album is also good with the instrumental "Kind Of A Bird" standing out and the closer a cover of Robert Johnson's "Come In My Kitchen" sounding as good if not better than the original. I can't remember if this was the Allmans first comeback album after the breakup or not, but it was certainly a return to form after some of the band's mediocre late 70's and 80's efforts.

You can see a complete list of all The Allman Brothers Band discography, or go back to the The Allman Brothers Band tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.