Idlewild South (Remastered)

iTunes Review

Named for Dickey Betts’ farm outside Macon, Ga., Idlewild South was the Allmans’ second album. The 1970 release finds them plowing some jazzy ground akin to what Traffic was doing around the same time, but with a distinctly Southern touch. The eclectic tune stack introduced Betts’ instrumental “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” which would soon grow beyond its seven-minute length into one of the group’s true epics. “Revival” hooked into a tent-meeting groove, becoming an early airplay favorite, while this “Hootchie Cootchie Man” was a fine example of rowdy, focused sprawl. Of course, both Duane and Gregg Allman were hitting on all cylinders, on top of a powerhouse rhythm section verging on the polyrhythmic. Their next move – the double album recorded at New York’s Fillmore East – would make the Allman Brothers Band undeniable rock stars. But their power is already here to be heard.