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1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
It’s So Hard To Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best
Karen Dalton
Transfiguration of Vincent
M. Ward
Muswell Hillbillies
Kinks
Christmas in the Heart
Bob Dylan
Glitter and Doom Live
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Let It Roll: The Best of George Harrison
George Harrison
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Playing for Change
Songs Around the World
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Dean Reynolds
As a person who is extremely organized and considered by many to be borderline anal-retentive, I can recognize a kindred soul when I see one, and Dean Reynolds, the compiling author of “The Complete Allman Brothers Band Discography”, is definitely a kindred soul.
This 300-plus page book contains information on virtually every Allman Brothers or Allman Brothers-related piece of music that has ever been released, and its scope is both exhaustive and exhausting; Reynolds’ attention to all-inclusive detail is so precise that it is almost overwhelming.
For instance, the listing dedicated to the seminal “At Fillmore East” album informs us that there are no less than six LP versions of the album (with catalog numbers and label info), three 8-track tape releases, three cassette releases, three CD releases, and even one reel-to-reel version. Four full-color pages that display the various labels, as well as subtle differences that differentiate one release from another accompany this information. Magazine advertisements for the original release are also included. If that weren’t enough, three more pages are dedicated to the various re-packagings of this classic album in ‘special’ formats, such as ‘Quad’, ‘Gold Ultradisc’, etc., etc., plus all re-releases that include extra tracks, different mixes, and anything else you might care to know. Are you curious about the album’s release information in Japan, or England, or South Korea? Turn to the import section for a full listing of releases in each country.
This only provides a hint of the book’s completeness. Each and every solo record is given full discourse, and an entire chapter is dedicated to peripheral releases by ex-bandmembers such as Jack Pearson, Warren Haynes and Chuck Leavell. For me, the most interesting section comes in the middle of the first chapter, where nearly twenty pages are dedicated to the solo work of Duane Allman. Here, his session work with artists like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge and King Curtis, among many others, is fully documented, with beautiful, full-color reproductions of the many album covers containing his pre-Allman Brothers studio work.
“The Complete Allman Brothers Discography” is quite obviously a labor of love that is not for the casual fan. It is aimed at obsessives like myself (and author Reynolds) who need to know every last detail about each and every recording. Most of the information provided sticks to physical descriptions of the product itself, and Reynolds provides very little commentary or opinion about the artistic value of the recordings, but fanatics of the band already know which albums are essential and which are extraneous. This is a ‘special-interest’ book for hardcore believers. Its purpose is to catalog the band’s catalog, and it does this definitively. If you ever felt the need to become an Allman Brothers ‘completist’, then you need this book.
Tom Ryan
Click Here to to go to Dean's web site and get more info about the book.
 
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