Published on May 4, 2002
With the untimely deaths of two of their main members, The
Allman Brothers Band seemed like they were in a constant state of
flux from 1971 to 1975. If it wasn’t the line-up undergoing a
change necessitated due to tragedy, it was a shift in the focus on
the music. With
Brothers And Sisters in 1973, the change from jazz-tinged
blues to a country-rock amalgam seemed like it had been set in
motion. Also set in place was a shift in leadership, quite possibly
unintentional, from Gregg Allman to guitarist Dickey Betts.
The band’s 1975 release
Win, Lose Or Draw, while hardly an artistic failure, showed
how far those changes had taken root – and that they weren’t
necessarily the best thing that could have happened to the band.
Easily their weakest effort to that point, it also marked an
uncomfortable point in the band’s career – one which would not be
remedied for well over a decade.
On the surface,
Win, Lose Or Draw sometimes seems like it’s a carbon copy of
previous Allman Brothers successes. “Can’t Lose What You Never Had”
tries to be a soulful interpretation of Muddy Waters a la “Trouble
No More”; “Just Another Love Song” sounds suspiciously like “Blue
Sky” at times; “High Falls” could well be seen either as “Mountain
Jam” or “Jessica Part Two”. In some ways, these tracks showed some
stagnation on the band’s part.
Yet there were even bright spots in these. “High Falls” does
show that the Allman Brothers Band was quite capable of writing
lengthy songs and making them interesting from start to finish
(though I’d have preferred more than two chord changes in the heart
of the song – a criticism I guess I could have leveled against
“Jessica” as well). And while Gregg Allman’s role in the band might
not have been as strong as it was in the beginning, he proves on
the title track that he’s still a very good songwriter, even if his
other contribution “Nevertheless” is rather mediocre. If anything,
“Win, Lose Or Draw” is much more cohesive than Betts’s vocal
contributions, “Just Another Love Song” and “Louisiana Lou And
Three Card Monty John” – cripes, one wonders if Betts consulted
Mountain for a song title like that.
Once again, this is an album that seems to be too polished
sonically, though producer Johnny Sadlin (again working in
conjunction with the band) does seem like he tries to add a layer
of sonic grit to capture the heart of the band. Pity that the
band’s heart was most definitely not in the bulk of this music.
The public reacted to this album almost in the way they would
have if someone farted in public – they stayed away from it. This
album’s comparative failure, as well as other happenings in the
band (which have been well documented), helped to seal the group’s
fate; they would remain on hiatus until 1979.
Win, Lose Or Draw proved that even with the talent level
that was still in this group, you could play a bad hand once in a
while – and the results could be disastrous.