Released a year after {|Eat a Peach|}, {|Brothers and Sisters|} shows off a leaner brand of musicianship, which, coupled with a pair of serious crowd-pleasers, {|Ramblin' Man|} and {|Jessica,|} helped drive it to the top of the charts for a month and... Read more

Released a year after {|Eat a Peach|}, {|Brothers and Sisters|} shows off a leaner brand of musicianship, which, coupled with a pair of serious crowd-pleasers, {|Ramblin' Man|} and {|Jessica,|} helped drive it to the top of the charts for a month and a half and to platinum record sales. This was the first album to feature the group's new lineup, with {|Chuck Leavell|} on keyboards and {|Lamar Williams|} on bass, as well as {|Dickey Betts|}' emergence as a singer alongside {|Gregg Allman|}. The tracks appear on the album in the order in which they were recorded, and the first three, up through {|Ramblin' Man,|} feature {|Berry Oakley|} -- their sound is rock-hard and crisp. The subsequent songs with {|Williams|} have the bass buried in the mix, and an overall muddier sound. The interplay between {|Leavell|} and {|Betts|} is beautiful on some songs, and {|Betts|}' slide on {|Pony Boy|} is a dazzling showcase that surprised everybody. Despite its sales, {|Brothers and Sisters|} is not quite a classic album (although it was their best for the next 17 years), especially in the wake of the four that had appeared previously, but it served as a template for some killer stage performances, and it proved that the band could survive the deaths of two key members. ~ Bruce Eder Less