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Originally Posted by EPOCH6
Funny you bring up these Duane Allman collaborations, I spent several hours today driving around listening to Duane Allman: An Anthology Vol. I & II hoping I'd come across something. If you haven't listened to these compilations yourself you must, as a full set it's basically 40 tracks of Duane Allman collaborating with other musicians. There are a few exceptional stand out tracks, for example his instrumental cover of The Band's The Weight with saxophone legend King Curtis, his cover of Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild with Wilson Pickett, the massive instrumental Push Push with flute legend Herbie Mann, or the droning swampy track Goin' Upstairs with Sam Samudio. But all of that being said, besides being a great compilation for Duane Allman fans, there was nothing genuinely mindblowing to be heard.
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^ Haha! Been there, done that, Epoch6! I also came to about the same conclusion too; decent music, but disappointing, unadventurous in terms of structure and length. I think the best thing the Duane anthologies led me to was some Delaney and Bonnie material; there is quite a decent jam on YouTube called
Only You Know and I Know, which includes a great solo from King Curtis.
Yes, you´re right;
East-West is exceptionally good, and it´s frustrating that they never explored that long instrumental format again. Of course The Grateful Dead were jam pioneers too. - I imagine you already know the legendary Dark Star, but here, anyway, is the most popular version of it. Nice guitar, while the best that can be said about the lyrics is that they don´t last long :-
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That String Cheese Incident performance was cool, great musicianship all around, some nice interesting moments, but not quite the full package we're seeking. The vocals are obviously the weakest link, missing the passion we could easily find from other groups. Same deal with Railroad Earth. The thing about these bands is that they're obviously full of great musicians, the playing talent is undeniable, it's just the songwriting that is lacking, there's nothing genuinely compelling about it, no blood, no sweat, just a handful of really well trained musicians hammering out meandering solos with little to say.
But anyway I'm quite confident you understand what I'm looking for, East-West was a total win, I'll be holding onto that track for a long time. All of your other examples are on the right track, just not quite the full package. I'll keep you posted on anything I find, I'm hoping you do the same. This thread will be here for anything worth sharing.
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^ Agree, agree, agree ! I didn´t want to be too harsh on some obviously dedicated musicians, but you have explained very neatly how they just don´t reach the same intensity that the Allmans could achieve on so many songs.