Icon

Recording information: Fillmore East, NY, NY (03/12/1971/03/13/1971); Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA (03/12/1971/03/13/1971); Fillmore East, NY, NY (10/24/1975); Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA (10/24/1975).
Photographer: Stephen Paley.
Simply put, this is a compilation of most of the Allman Brothers Band's best-known tunes during their tenure with Capricorn. While it's disappointing that the studio version of "Whipping Post" appears in lieu of the live one from At Fillmore East, a just compensation is made by the inclusion of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" from that historic recording. The other live cut here is the long version of "Jessica," from Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas, though the studio version might well have sufficed. For anyone who is looking for a single-disc Allman Brothers compilation, Icon might serve. That said, one has to wonder why the compilation producers chose songs from more erratic recordings such as Enlightened Rogues and the awful Win, Lose or Draw when more excellent material from Eat a Peach was there for the picking (i.e., "Ain't Wastin' Time No More," "Trouble No More," "Blue Sky"). That curious decision is troubling. ~ Thom Jurek