Record Review: Eat a Peach - Volume 7 Number 6

By Donald Oxnard

Narrow? Me? Of course I am. I’m about as narrow as they come. You see, I only like the best. Don’t tell me about musical categories like reggae, rock or psychedelic, ‘cause I don’t see it like that. Some day, when all national boundaries are down and all people live as one in a rainbow-spangled cosmos, mankind will realize that music extends in a chain of being from God to Spinal Tap. They’ll also realize that the best music created should be shown the supreme dignity of being eloquently reviewed by me. This is all external, though… 

What would you get if you took a bunch of down-home good ‘ole boys from Mississippi, sent them to jazz school for years, then dumped them down into a sea of psychedelic drugs and long haired freaks? A dirt filled, “roach” infested pad, equipped with bean bags, sexually liberated women and a lava lamp… maybe. 

And the Allman Brothers… definitely. The Allman Brothers have a style that is mainly stomping rock, but is laced with country goodies like slide guitars and pitifully crying southern voices. 

One of the Allman Brothers, Duane Allman, was killed by a peach truck. It would help to explain that he was riding his motorcycle at the time. Thus, “Eat a Peach”, the record I’m reviewing, is the band’s tribute  to him. 

First of all, if you know the Allman’s music at all, you’ll know that it has the capability to set you in the constant motion groove, where you just can’t sit still-- the rhythms hump along, moving over invisible landscapes, twisting and evolving. “Blue Skies” and “Ain’t Wasting Time No More'', the album’s strongest cuts, are sugar, milk and Mississippi all rolled into a dancing burrito. Guitar solos lead into infinitely, creating paths of southern honey in your head, spiraling as they rise and fall. The most common description of the Allman Brother, is “they’re so good”. 

Essentially it’s perfect party music, thanks to those amazing rhythmical and dexterous feats. Love ballads usually disgust me, but this one draws on me like I was a great big bull on spanish fly. “Melissa” will surely make you feel the intense need to slug fire water and sign the blues, all the while being held captive to a cruel rhythm that swivels heads from side to side. There are love ballads with Mr. BlueBird as a character, and duelling guitars that make you want to marry a southern belle and name your kids Billy-Joe, Sue-Ellen-Magnolia or Moonbeam. 

There’s no better way to miss a class than to turn on a song called “Mountain Jam”. Live and totally wordless, the Mountain am winds up and flies for a whopping 33 minutes. All instruments play the theme at once, only taking a break while one of the Allman brothers solos. “Les Brers in A minor”, “One Way Out”, “Trouble No More” and “Mountain Jam” are all the best party tunes, as they contain a minimum of useless words, and the words they have decided to include weave in and out of the music like heavenly angels driving Indy 500 cars. 

So all in all, “Eat a Peach” has several spine shattering songs and rock stomp party tunes that combined to create a musical experience as luscious as an Eden-like fruit.