The Sulentic Brothers Band

Essentially the Allman Brothers Band's Gold collection is an expanded version of both the Universal Masters and 20th Century Masters collections. It contains two discs that total 30 cuts and cover the band's catalog from 1969's Allman Brothers Band to 1975's Enlightened Rogues. There are five cuts from the first album, including the original studio version of "Whipping Post," and four from Idlewild South, including the studio read of "Midnight Ride." The cuts from At Fillmore East number four with the inclusion of the 13-minute "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," and five from Eat a Peach, including "Melissa," "Blue Sky," and "Ain't Wasting Time No More."

The title of Best of the Allman Brothers: Hell and High Water is a bit misleading, it's actually only the best of the band's Arista-label output, which spanned a two albums (1980's Reach for the Sky and 1981's Brothers of the Road). There are six tracks from the former and five from the latter, making it a wise acquisition for those who need the best material from those records.

The final evening of their 2003 summer tour found the Allman Brothers planning a special night on the friendly turf of Raleigh, NC, wrapping up yet another road trip with invitations to Susan Tedeschi, Karl Denson, and truly serious jazzbo Branford Marsalis to join the group on-stage. It was all captured by the state-of-the-digital-arts folks at Instant Live, who burn CDs of the shows and make them available to concertgoers who still have a few extra green ones in their pockets by evening's end. On the sprawling three-CD set documenting these particular proceedings, there is indeed some fine music, although in his Allmans premiere appearance Marsalis doesn't fare as well as jam band-friendly Denson; the sax-blowing Marsalis brother (heard on "Dreams" and "Whipping Post") seems shoehorned between the guitars and strains a bit over the loud rock groove.

The Allman Brother Band's breakthrough 1971 album at Fillmore East expanded to collector's box set The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings. Universal Music Enterprises and Mercury Records release The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Band's historic 1971 performances at Bill Graham's iconic New York City venue. The recordings feature all four performances from the legendary weekend of March 12-13, which yielded at Fillmore East, as well as the Allmans' headlining set from the Fillmore East's closing weekend June 27,1971.