The "Don't Want You No More"/"It's Not My Cross to Bear" medley kicks off the debut in definitive style. After a fluid jazzy intro ("Don't Want You") the band explodes into a slow blues ("Not My Cross"). 

 Idlewild South is way too skimpy timewise, but the musical development is stunning. The Bible-thumping "Revival" points up a crucial country music influence and the haunting, melancholy "Midnight Rider" fully asserts Gregg's identity as a singer. 

 Some would say At Fillmore East is the peak achievement of the band. Certainly, it communicates all the excitement and drama of the group's concert explorations. The blues standards sound grittier and more rockin' than anything on the first two. 

 Just a few months after At Fillmore East was recorded, Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident. He was 24. The stopgap Eat a Peach extracts even more magic from the historic Fillmore stand. 

 Bassist Berry Oakley was killed in similar circumstances in 1972, just a little more than a year to the day after Duane's accident. Miraculously, the remaining group bounced back strong with Brothers and Sisters, wisely adding a pianist. 

 Nevertheless, Beginnings (the debut album and Idlewild packaged together) gets the nod over Fillmore since it takes account of the band's considerable pop-song potential as well as its instrumental prowess.  

 The Road Goes On Forever is a passable live album. 

 Hard touring (and the resultant hard living) took an inevitable toll on the band. Win, Lose or Draw is a lackluster live album. 

 Hard touring (and the resultant hard living) took an inevitable toll on the band. 

 Enlightened Rogues, from 1979, has its moments, though the presence of guest star Bonnie Bramlett on the best cut ("Crazy Love") doesn't bode well for this proudly self-contained band. 

 With four discs covering not only the band's greatest hits but also solo cuts and a sampling of Gregg and Duane's earlier work in Hour Glass and the Allman Joys, the 1989 box set Dreams is the definitive Allman Brothers Band anthology. 

 Inevitably, the Brothers reconvened during the nostalgic summer of 1989, but the group's live shows (featuring the added muscle of new guitarist Warren Haynes) quickly laid to rest any accusations of reputation-pimping. 

 A shorter summary is given by A Decade of Hits 1969-79. 

 Inevitably, the Brothers reconvened during the nostalgic summer of 1989, but the group's live shows (featuring the added muscle of new guitarist Warren Haynes) quickly laid to rest any accusations of reputation-pimping. 

 Some would say At Fillmore East is the peak achievement of the band. Certainly, it communicates all the excitement and drama of the group's concert explorations. 

 Mycology makes a convincing case for the reunited band's Nineties output, but Hell & High Water, which picks through the wreckage of the two best-forgotten Arista albums, is for completists only.  

 Where It All Begins would mark Betts' swan song with the group, apart from 2000's Peakin' at the Beacon. He was booted from the group in early 2000, and his characteristic country rock soul is missed on 2003's Hittin' the Note. 

 One More Try devotes an exhausting two discs to solo Gregg–overkill, to say the least, though the abundance of previously unreleased and alternate tracks (including versions of many Allman Brothers Band tunes) lends the collection weight. 

 Mycology makes a convincing case for the reunited band's Nineties output, but Hell & High Water, which picks through the wreckage of the two best-forgotten Arista albums, is for completists only.  

 Where It All Begins would mark Betts' swan song with the group, apart from 2000's Peakin' at the Beacon. He was booted from the group in early 2000, and his characteristic country rock soul is missed on 2003's Hittin' the Note. 

 Where It All Begins would mark Betts' swan song with the group, apart from 2000's Peakin' at the Beacon. He was booted from the group in early 2000, and his characteristic country rock soul is missed on 2003's Hittin' the Note.