Eat a Peach

Infobox Album | Name = Eat a Peach
Type = Double album
Artist = The Allman Brothers Band


Released = February 12, 1972
Recorded = March - December 1971
Genre = Southern rock, blues-rock
Length = 69:24
Label = Capricorn
Producer = Tom Dowd
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aex7m968o3epc link]
*"Rolling Stone" (Not Rated) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theallmanbrothersband/albums/album/88160/review/6067328/eat_a_peach link]
Last album = "At Fillmore East"
(1971)
This album = "Eat a Peach"
(1972)
Next album = "Brothers and Sisters"
(1973)

"Eat a Peach" is a 1972 double album by the American Southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band; it was the last to include founding member and lead slide guitar player Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident while the album was being recorded.

History

This album came close on the heels of their breakthrough "At Fillmore East" set and featured live tracks that did not make it onto that album, including boogie classic "One Way Out" and two entire album sides devoted to "Mountain Jam", a 33-minute improvisation based around Donovan's song "There Is a Mountain."

The remainder of the album was recorded in-studio and served to cement the Brothers' reputation as innovative Southern rockers. Several tracks featured a new emphasis on more lyrical acoustic work, notably on "Melissa" and the guitar classic "Little Martha." The lilting "Blue Sky" became an album-oriented rock radio staple, while "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" served as both a quiet generational anthem and a personal statement of purpose by the band in the face of Duane's death.

The widespread story regarding the origin of the album's title, that the truck involved in Duane Allman's fatal motorcycle accident was a peach truck, is not correct; the truck involved was actually a flatbed lumber truck. The name actually came from something Duane said in an interview shortly before he was killed. When asked what he was doing to help the anti-war effort, Duane replied, "There ain't no revolution, it's evolution, but every time I'm in Georgia I eat a peach for peace; the two-legged Georgia variety." The album's name was originally slated to be "The Kind We Grow in Dixie", and the artwork for the album showed a peach. Band members were dissatisfied with the name, and the image suggested Duane's quote instead.

The album art was selected by "Rolling Stone" magazine in 1991 as one of the 100 greatest album covers of all time. The album cover was done by Flor Noi (James Flournoy Holmes), who lives in Atlanta Georgia.

Allman Brothers fans sometimes speculate that Duane Allman's reference was to T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1917)::Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?:I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.:I have heard the mermaids singing, each to eachIn the context of Eliot's familiar poem, the peach represents the sensuous immediate realities of full-blooded life (due to the associations between peaches and sexuality), which the album's title "Eat a Peach" dares one to embrace.

Track listing

#"Ain't Wastin' Time No More" (Gregg Allman) – 3:40 ***
#"Les Brers in A Minor" (Dickey Betts) – 9:03 ***
#"Melissa" (Gregg Allman/Sandy Alaimo) – 3:54 ***
#"Mountain Jam" (Donovan Leitch/Duane Allman/Gregg Allman/Dickey Betts/Jai Johanny Johansen/Berry Oakley/Butch Trucks) – 33:38 *
#"One Way Out" (Marshall Sehorn/Elmore James) – 4:58 **
#"Trouble No More" (McKinley Morganfield) – 3:43 *
#"Stand Back" (Gregg Allman/Berry Oakley) – 3:24 ***
#"Blue Sky" (Dickey Betts) – 5:09 ***
#"Little Martha" (Duane Allman) – 2:07 ***

(*)Recorded Live At Fillmore East, New York, March 12 & 13, 1971
(**)Recorded Live At Fillmore East, New York, June 27, 1971
(***)Recorded At Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida, September through December 1971

On the original LP, side one consisted of the first three tracks, studio numbers recorded after Duane Allman's death. Side two consisted of the first 19:37 of "Mountain Jam". Side three consisted of the remaining five tracks, including three studio numbers recorded with Duane Allman. Side four consisted of the final 15:06 of "Mountain Jam", including some initial overlap with the end of side two.

2006 Deluxe Edition

Released on May 23, 2006,"Eat a Peach Deluxe Edition" features a remastered version of the classic album on Disc One, while Disc Two showcases the complete performance of the Allman Brothers Band at the final June 27, 1971 Fillmore East concert.

#"Statesboro Blues" – 4:28
#"Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’" – 3:46
#"Done Somebody Wrong" – 3:38
#"One Way Out" – 5:08
#"In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" – 12:51
#"Midnight Rider" – 3:11
#"Hot ’Lanta" – 5:51
#"Whipping Post" – 20:06
#"You Don’t Love Me" – 17:24

Personnel

*Gregg Allman - organ, vocals, piano, electric piano
*Duane Allman: slide and lead guitars (Tracks 4-9)
*Dicky Betts - slide and lead guitars, vocals, monkey skulls
*Jai Johanny Johanson - drums, congas
*Berry Oakley - bass
*Butch Trucks - drums, percussion, tympani, gong, vibes, tambourine