ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND – The Final Note

Allman Brothers Band Recording Company ABBR00020

That this is the last-ever known live performance of the band with Duane Allman, taking place in Maryland only 12 days before his untimely death, is enough to render it an essential, incomparable historic rock document. What deserves your attention beyond the magnificent southern blues-rock content is that it was recorded onto cassette by happy accident, the tape untouched for a half-century. Although of dire bootleg quality, it is actually listenable, sounding better than one could imagine. The eight tracks – ‘Statesboro Blues’, ‘Whipping Post’ and the rest – are familiar to those who own the Fillmore East LPs, but the poignancy in retrospect is palpable.