Though every big and not-so-big name from the Seventies seems to be hitting the comeback trail these days, Gregg Allman would seem a particularly unlikely candidate. Not long ago it seemed unlikely that he would be alive at this point. But there he is on the cover of I'm No Angel, looking like some gold-tressed, tattooed love boy.

And the music? Surprisingly, it's just as bronzed and fit as its maker. On his first solo album in a decade, Allman has, for the most part, wisely stuck to what he always did best: bluesy songs of yearning and sorrow and arrangements that center on his soulful growl and Hammond B-3 organ.

The generally restrained production by Rodney Mills (best known for his work behind the boards with 38 Special) lets Allman and his solid five-piece band do their stuff on the stronger songs, six of them written or co-written by Allman. In fact, the only two clunkers come from outside writers: "Evidence of Love" (a duet with Don Johnson – big mistake) and the faceless "Can't Keep Running." For the most part, though, the material on I'm No Angel is more likely to stir memories of Allman's collaborations with late bro Duane than those with exspouse Cher.

The most moving moments on this LP come with the ghosts that close side two. I'm No Angel ends, symbolically enough, with the same two songs that opened the first Allman Brothers album: "Don't Want You No More" and "It's Not My Cross to Bear." The latter song is such an inspiring note from a survivor that it's hard to believe that Gregg actually wrote it eighteen years ago: "I have not come, yeah, to testify/About our bad, bad misfortune," he sings with weary passion, "and I ain't here a wonderin' why/But I'll live on/And I'll be strong/'Cause it just ain't my cross to bear." No way around it – Gregg Allman is a brother, now and forever. (RS 497)

STEVE HOCHMAN