Allman Brothers

DICKEY BETTS has been a ramblin' man since quitting high school to play rock 'n' roll in a traveling circus called World of Mirth. He would do about a dozen shows a day on the Teen Beat stage at fairgrounds from Canada all the way down the eastern seaboard. On stages from city to city, this is where Betts has always thrived and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. An original member of the Allman Brothers Band, he first found fame and fortune with the release of their 1971 live album "At Fillmore East" Betts played a key role in making the Allman Brothers stadium-filling stars in the mid-'70s then returned the band to prominence in 1989, keeping the group among rock's vanguard through the '90s. As leader of his Great Southern group during the 2000s, Betts continued to play stages around the world, elating fans from Chicago to Tokyo.

The Allman Brothers Band's fifth live release in 25 years, cut during 1994 in Raleigh, NC, and at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey, is a high-water mark in their Epic Records catalog. If anything, they're even better here than they were on the earlier Evening with the Allman Brothers Band, the old material getting fresh new approaches – the band was on for both nights, and presented sets, including an acoustic version of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Jessica" (which won a Grammy Award), that soared and flowed, especially Dickey Betts and Warren Haynes' guitars. What's more, the clarity of the recording and the volume at which it was recorded make this a most rewarding 70 minutes of live music on a purely technical level – you can practically hear the action on the guitars during the acoustic set. It won't replace Live at Fillmore East or the live portions of Eat a Peach, but it deserves a place on the shelf not very far from them.

DICKEY BETTS has been a ramblin' man since quitting high school to play rock 'n' roll in a traveling circus called World of Mirth. He would do about a dozen shows a day on the Teen Beat stage at fairgrounds from Canada all the way down the eastern seaboard. On stages from city to city, this is where Betts has always thrived and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. An original member of the Allman Brothers Band, he first found fame and fortune with the release of their 1971 live album "At Fillmore East" Betts played a key role in making the Allman Brothers stadium-filling stars in the mid-'70s then returned the band to prominence in 1989, keeping the group among rock's vanguard through the '90s. As leader of his Great Southern group during the 2000s, Betts continued to play stages around the world, elating fans from Chicago to Tokyo.