Originally Posted by
Enid
Gregg and Duane's first band was called The Allman Joys, which evolved into The Hour Glass. The Hour Glass eventually relocated to Los Angeles after getting a deal with Liberty Records. Liberty assigned them a producer who pretty much hijacked the band's two albums, forcing them to do a truckload of songs by outside songwriters. In particular, the first album had a song by a then unknown Jackson Browne (actually a pretty decent tune), as well as a couple Garry Goffin/Carole King compositions, and a Del Shannon song, too.
The first album has only one song written by Gregg, the second had several more, but they were still forced to work with the same producer (Dallas Smith, known for his work with Bobby Vee, if that tells you anything) as on the first record, who still made decisions the band didn't like. Both records flopped (largely due to the record company not letting them tour outside of California).
After making the second album, the band went to Muscle Shoals to record a demo of blues oriented music that was closer to what they were playing live. Liberty rejected that, so the band broke up. Gregg and Duane went to Jacksonville, Florida (soon to be the home of Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws, and .38 Special) to hang out and record with a band called The 31st Of February, which included future Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks. Then Liberty threatened to sue the band if they didn't fulfill their contractual obligations, so Gregg went back to LA to record one more album (which went unreleased for decades), while Duane and the other guys in the band went to work at FAME studios for the time being.
Eventually, Duane was made an offer by Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, so Duane formed what was supposed to be a power trio. But then through various jam sessions ended up with a six piece band which initially included a keyboardist named Reese Wynans (who had been in The Second Coming with Dickie Betts and Berry Oakley, and would later play with both Captain Beyond and Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble). The story Butch Trucks once told was, after this one jam session, Duane went to the door and said "Anyone who doesn't want to be in my band gonna have to fight his way out". Apparently, Reese put up a fight, because Duane then called Gregg, who had just about wrapped up his obligations in LA, and had him come down to Macon, Georgia where they were rehearsing, and thus began The Allman Brothers Band.
Lots of great players you name there. A particular guitar or amp or pedal will contribute to the tone a given guitarist has, but as you point out, no gear is gonna give you that guitarist's mind, hands, personality or heart. What made those guys (and ltos of others) sound the way they did had a lot to do with it being that one guy.
I think The Yardbirds were an interesting mix of the two sides. They were bluesy, but I think that was largely the result of that being what was trendy at the time. And they certainly had the pop side covered with songs like For Your Love and You're A Better Man Than I.
I'm not sure about The Animals, but I would definitely say the Stones were a bit more authentic with their blues. You get the feeling that Keith Richards, at least, was a genuine dyed in the wool blues fan the way Clapton was, and that was what he wanted to do. And since Keith was one of the main songwriters in the band, he mostly got his way (except for that ill conceived idea to go psychedelic with Satanic Majesties, and Mick's later insistence on experimenting with "dance" music styles on songs like Miss You and Undercover Of The Night).
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