Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas

Album Review

This live album was released by Capricorn Records largely as a way of raising money in a hurry, but it fares surprisingly well musically. The 1973-1974 Allman Brothers Band featured here is the one that most fans actually saw, since most listeners didn't discover them or get to their concerts until after the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. Wipe the Windows isn't a landmark release like the Fillmore tapes — a collection of rock's greatest guitar albums could be complete without it. But no Allman Brothers Band fan should pass up Wipe the Windows, which is a most solid live album, and, in particular, a better representation of the songs off of Brothers and Sisters and Win, Lose or Draw than the original studio versions. "Southbound," "Ramblin' Man," "Jessica," and, to a lesser degree, "Wasted Words" come off exceptionally well. This second-generation band, with Dickey Betts as the sole lead guitar and Gregg Allman and Chuck Leavell sharing the keyboards, also performs a preconceived version of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" — they could never spark more fire than the version from the Fillmore, so they transform it into a moodier piece with more space for the keyboards to open up. Compiled from shows in New Orleans, San Francisco, Bakersfield, Oakland, and Watkins Glen (New York).