Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen,
2016
Images from the Internet
Narrated by Thomas Arnold
Sexy Intellectual Films / Prism Films / Chrome Dreams Media
131 minutes, 2013
www.chromedreams.co.uk
www.mvdvisual.com
Bonus, non-disk video:
Images from the Internet
Song of the South: Duane
Allman and the Rise of the Allman Brothers Band
Written and directed by Tom
O’DellNarrated by Thomas Arnold
Sexy Intellectual Films / Prism Films / Chrome Dreams Media
131 minutes, 2013
www.chromedreams.co.uk
www.mvdvisual.com
Before
watching this documentary, here is just about everything I know about the
Allman Brothers Band: formed by Duane Allman on guitar at the start, he died
young in a motorcycle accident; his brother Gregg, also in the band, married
Cher, fathering Elijah Blue and the union ended in a messy and public divorce; and
the last is the omnipresent WOLDies die-hard “Ramblin’ Man,” ironically the
band’s biggest and lasting hit that was released after Duane’s demise. But you
see, that’s what’s great about this British series, at over 2 hours long, you
can learn a lot in relatively a short amount of time.
Of
course, this documentary is not only about the Allman Bros, per se – at least not the first the
first hour – but rather about the rise of Duane Allman from just a minnow in
Daytona Beach, FL (remember, Tom Petty is also from F-L-A, as Freddie Cannon
once sang). Though only living to 24 years until wasting
his life away in a motorcycle accident, he is given the credit for practically
single-handedly creating Southern Blues Rock, and highly influencing the likes
of Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Talking Heads. Okay, I’m
kidding about the last one.
While
long guitar virtuoso freeform guitar has never been my cuppa, I know how to
respect the talent, and I have no argument with someone towards the end of this
documentary commenting that Duane Allman deserves to be up there with the likes
of Hendrix and, well, pick a Yardbirds guitarist. His influence is felt in what
has become known as Southern Rock, but I would also argue that there are
probably a lot of post psychedelic blues-based bands that learned a lick or two
from ol’ Duane.
While
there is some detail in the second half about the Allman Brothers Band [ABB], I
was more intrigued by the earlier period of Duane’s life, during the 1960s,
flittering around in bands like his first in 1961, the Uniques, the Escorts, and
the Allmen (or, sometimes, All-Men), where he grew his musical chops. The music
of choice for Duane was the Blues, as the number of blues clips shown in the
documentary attest to his influences. For the acid (nascent Southern) rockers
of his 20s and especially the guitarists, Blues was the backbone as much as
rock and roll. Yes, there was quite a
bit of country mixed in there, especially with pre-ABB superstars like the
‘Dead (who combined all those sounds into what would be called “Americana”),
but artificial substances would affect nearly all the musicians at the end of
the ’60 and into the ‘70s. I give you Janis, for example. Duane and his band
the Hour Glass moved to the West Coast pre-ABB at the hippie high-point (pun
intended); there are a couple of albums released by that collective, influenced
by the counter-culture.
The
Hour Glass was especially interesting to me, because they sound more Left Coast
than Southern Bayou, leaning towards Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears (though
an overhanded producer is credited with that horn sound more than the band
themselves). While brass and rock’n’roll has always been a bit on an oxymoron to
me, the clips they play here didn’t sound too bad. Well, no worse than the two
bands I mentioned, anyway.
After
an attraction to Taj Mahal’s sound, Duane learned slide guitar, and then moved
on to the infamous Muscle Shoals Studio in the Deep South, where he honed his
talent further by backing up numerous soul and blues musicians. For the Allman
fan, I’m not stating anything new, and for those who are Allman-curious, there
is a whole lot more detail I’m not giving way.
I
found it interesting that not only was blues an influence to the band, and
especially Duane, but that he also had a later dedication to jazz, which was
introduced to him by ABB drummer Jaimone Johanson. That helps explain some of
the wild Miles and Coltrane flairs he had on incredibly long jams (their double-sided
At the Fillmore LP had on average two
songs per side, definitely giving the Dead a run for their money).
One
moment I had joy with was the discussion of how Duane influenced Derek and the Dominoes
when he briefly toured with them, taking “Layla” – one of the early ‘70s best
rock period songs – from a ballad to what it became (of course, Clapton would
have a hit with it again decades later in its slowed down, acoustic version).
Again, not old news, but it’s always a joy to hear that song, even for a
snippet.
The
Chrome Dream formula is followed to a tee, with short, under 30-second clips of
songs (both live and played over purchased b-roll, such has having images of
cars and roads for “Midnight Rider,” the ABB’s first hit), talking head
interviews with musicians and recording studio engineers who were there, and
biographers and music historians who talk about second-hand stories and the
band’s influence – as usual, no voices of women anywhere; not even wives are
mentioned, let alone talking. Of course, Southern Rock is not exactly known for
being a bastion for women musicians, but good ol’ boy drinkin’ and carousin’ –
and a wonderful narration by Thomas Arnold.
There is also a 1970 radio interview with Duane heard in snippets full
of musician-talk soundbites like “man” and “cat”; it’s the only time we hear
his voice when he’s not singing. The one thing I would change if I could, given
what it is, is I would put the person identification sporadically throughout, rather
than only the first time the person talking is shown. Perhaps this is an
assumption that the audience would know who they are? This is a minor pet peeve
of mine. In fact, there is more, detailed information I would have liked to
hear about, such as Duane’s OD in October 1970, which is only briefly touched
on in one of the extras.
The
one oddity I found is that nearly everyone on here, while discussing the
importance of the other members, such as Gregg and Dickie Betts, and how they
were as talented in some ways as Duane in their own rights, the consensus seems
to be after Duane died, the ABB when downhill afterwards. I find this weird
because, as I said, the one song that is the most identifiable with the band,
Betts’ “Ramblin’ Man,” was recorded after
Duane’s motorcycle accident. The song is
not mentioned here, even when talking about the “decline” of the band after
Duane’s death.
There
are two extras, not counting the text of the contributors’ bios. The first is the
8-minute “Willie Perkins: Life Amongst the Brothers.” He was the road manager
for the band, and is represented throughout the main documentary. This is more
an extended scenes that anything else; this is not meant in any demeaning way,
as he tells some interesting tidbits about the man. The same is true for the
second short, the X-minute “Recording the Allmans: The Albert Brothers and
Criteria Studios.”
As
a music historian myself, it’s always good and interesting to fill in some of
the gaps of my knowledge base (hey, punk is mentioned once at the one hour-19
minute mark!). I’ll probably never purposefully purchase an ABB slide, as I don’t
have one in my collection now, but I do feel more informed about the topic.
That’s one of the things Chrome Dream and Prism Films is best at, yawl.
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