Search - Allman Brothers :: Hell & High Water: Best of Arista Years

Joe V. (Natch) from WICHITA, KS
Reviewed on 12/18/2006...

Should have been titled "The Worst of the Allman Brothers Band". I'm an ABB fan from way back, but I could hardly listen to this entire album! If you like the original Allman Brothers from the late 60's and early 70's Fillmore Concerts era, then you probably won't like this album. There are a few tolerable songs (Angeline is one), but most of them sound like the typical 80's sound - nothing special!

Pass on this one & try one of their great recent discs

04/05/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"It is hard to understand what went wrong in the studio in 1980 & 81 for the ABB to have put out this bad of music. They had just come off of one of their best studio albums in Enlightened Rogues in 1979, which was back to the basics dual guitar ABB. I own every major release ever by this band & returned this bomb. If you are looking to expand beyond the early ABB classics, go for An Evening With the ABB, Where It All Begins or Seven Turns all from the post 1989 reunion period. Gregg's last solo disc (Searchin for Simplicity) is wonderful, too. They have come back on fire and have put real ABB records with all four living original members sounding as inspired as ever. I am not sure what went wrong during this brief period of time in their history. The band broke up for 8 years after this time if that tells you anything."

OK country-rock, weak ABB

Jazzy Jake | Severna Park, Maryland United States | 06/19/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This does sound somewhat like the ABB, but what an inferior product. I generally like it when a band attempts stylistic changes, but the female choruses and horn solos in these efforts just don't ring true. And fiddle? *Hell & High Water - were they aware that they were borrowing the melody of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" ? Choruses sound out-of-place, but otherwise the song is OK
*Mystery Woman - more Pop than most ABB songs, but one of the better tunes on the disc
From The Madness Of the West - very derivative of "Jessica", but lacking a real spark, almost sounds like an ABB imitation
*I Got A Right To Wrong - has the ABB sound, the best song on this CD
Angeline - flat arrangement, more worthy of Lynyrd Skynyrd, weak lyrics, good drumming
Famous Last Words - awful background chorus, very bad song
Brothers of the Road - the ABB do The Charlie Daniels Band? Fiddles?
*Leavin' - pretty good, the sound is here starts to sound like their '90s work
Straight From The Heart - awful pop song, sounds like bad Doobie Brothers
*The Judgment - different, not bad, hard country-rock
Never Knew How Much - stoopid background choruses, not enough (any?) band, vapid sax solo, could be improved by a better arrangement * indicates the songs I consider decent, though none are greatI agree with the assessment that Arista was looking for another Doobie Brothers. It's odd what expectations can do; I would like these songs better on a Marshall Tucker Band or Outlaws disc, but the ABB were capable of so much more. Almost the whole CD sounds like an ABB imitation, the solos are derivative of older - and better - songs, the lyrics are rehashes, the arrangements are often too pop sounding. Some cuts have the characteristic ABB drum sound, guitar scale bridges and vocal growling, but it sounds perfunctory. Being a longtime ABB fanatic, I want to totally hate this CD, but it is listenable - just not inspired. Approaching this as a Country-Rock disc and not a typical ABB disc allows objectivity, but hearing merely OK material from a great band is a let down. I can't say that I'll play it much."