THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND:
JACKSONVILLE, AL 10-14-1970
(CD-R)

10/14/70 @ Leon Cole Auditorium, Jacksonville (1 disc)
Many thanks to Andy Van Noy who supplied me with a digital copy of an old tape
he had received labelled “Jacksonville 1970”

In order to try to establish that the recording was a genuine show new to the trading fraternity
and also a possible date for it, I listened to it quite thoroughly and the first thing I concentrated on was “Revival”.
There are only seven known genuine recordings in circulation that have this track on them
and so I listened to them all, my conclusion was that the version on this recording
was definitely different to all of them, not only in sound but also none of the other versions
have the "reee-vival" comment at the end.
Hence, this could indeed be a new show, but, there were still certain aspects that made me wary.

The tape was obviously not an original recording because the start of "Whipping Post"
could be heard at the end of "You Don't Love Me" on side one as well as being there
at the start of side 2, therefore at the very least this was a copy that had been split differently
to the original (possibly a reel to reel tape to cassette transfer).
There was also a very obvious difference in sound quality between some of the tracks - most notably "Liz Reed"
is quite muffled whereas the next track after a cut is "Revival" which is crystal clear
by comparison, so this could have been due to someone compiling tracks from different shows ...
but then you ask, if that is the case why leave in the bad cut at the end of “Trouble No More”
and the beginning of “Don’t Keep Me Wondering” when neither of those tracks
are particularly worth keeping for anything other than completeness.
What I did know for sure was that “Revival”, and by extension “You Don't Love Me”
& “Whipping Post” which follow on from each other, are of the same good quality
are definitely different to any other recording I have.

Subsequently, a friend of a friend who is a sound engineer was able to examine the recording
with his equipment and confirmed that the recording was all from the same source
and not spliced together from different sources.
I was already pretty sure that it was as all the tracks had the same vibe throughout,
but that muffled Liz Reed had been nagging at me so it was nice to have it confirmed
that it is definitely a new show not previously circulated.

With regards to the date, having listened closely to the version of “You Don’t Love Me” on this show
and compared it with the versions on 9/4/70 and 12/31/70 my opinion is that this “Jacksonville” version
is slightly more sophisticated and developed than the 9/4/70 version, but not quite as well developed
and extended as the 12/31/70 version, suggesting that this show was between those two show dates.
Admittedly the latter being a NYE gig was a stretched out show where they even put Auld Lang Syne into the mix,
but it was also by then starting to sound more like the Fillmore versions that would follow.
Furthermore, I also noticed that on the 9/4/70 show Duane more than once referred to songs
being from “our new album” (which of course was due for release just a couple of weeks later)
whereas on the Jacksonville recording he refers to songs being from “our second album”
which suggests that it is after the release date of 9/23/70.

Therefore, checking the ABB calendar for shows in 1970, the gig at the Leon Cole Auditorium
in Jacksonville on 10/14/70 would seem favourite in my opinion
and thus why I label it as such here.
I don’t suppose we will ever know for sure, but isn’t it wonderful
to still hear new Duane era stuff after all these years?