The Allman Brothers Band
Brothers and Sisters

This is one hell of a record that I would have bought even if I didn’t like the music, even if I found the band repulsive, even if I knew it was the most mediocre album ever released.

This is an album that just for its cover deserves a star regardless.

And then, since it’s also truly excellent in terms of quality, 4 stars are fine (five stars are reserved only for milestones and/or masterpieces, like Dark Side and similar).

The cover represents everything I would have wanted in life, having blonde hair, being a toddler playing in the woods of the southern states, in Alabama and Georgia where people are ignorant, rural, racist, xenophobic but at the same time honest, hardworking, nature-loving (with deer or bear hunting) and above all instinctive people, without that air of a slimy scribbler or white-collar who lives for 70 years in his world of concrete, who shops and frequents the same pubs or squares of his smelly city all his life.

The pleasant and rural air (notice the wonderful autumn leaves) of the cover gives a healthy touch to my daily existence made of bus runs, fake chats, (obligatory) fake smiles at the faculty, useless outings with friends, loveless encounters.

Maybe I've always had this intimate air of an illusory countryman, but I would have given everything to have a stick and roll around in that damn mantle, at sunset, a thousand miles from the nearest town.

Having said that, I imagine (certainly wrongly, some prude will point it out) that the idea for the cover was born from the band wanting to photograph one of their children at play, having fun, as it was fun for the band to write and play this wonderful record.

I know, I know, it was born under tragic circumstances (Oakley & D. Allman), but at least let me point out the splendid instrumental Jessica, splendid southern (perhaps the quintessential southern, actually, without perhaps, yes it is, even more so than on-the-road Sweet Home Alabama) carefree and sunny, where Betts performs a piece of music history.

If Jessica represents joy for the sunny life, Ramblin' Man expresses the desire for freedom, the desire to break away from those damn social agreements, bureaucratized and dehumanized, which are convenient and the only reason for life and livelihood for many tie-wearers.

The vigor, moral and physical, is instead expressed in Southbound, a splendid blues gallop where Bett is still the star of the show.

The emotion is instead represented in Jelly Jelly.

It is pointless to discuss the music in depth, because this album is one of the manifestos of Southern Rock, it is the southern rock par excellence, with that guitar sound that is impossible to describe, that Hammond accompaniment that will set a standard (actually, it was already setting a standard), with all those musical peculiarities that make a genre unique and unmistakable. The album must be listened to and that’s it, nothing more to say. Trust me. To buy or download.

Well, the inspiration came to me last night, after watching that damn movie on Rete 4 in prime time, the one with Brad Pitt and that hottie whose name I can’t remember, that devil of an unspoiled mountainous landscape reminded me of that album. Today I listened to it again, and now here I am narrating my feelings about this album (in my opinion) anthropomorphic, representing the virtues & flaws of the southern people.

Representative of a part of me. That ramblin' man I could never be. Reason? If I left Italy, my mother would die of a broken heart (seriously, no joke).

But when it's time to living, I hope you'll understand, that I was born a ramblin' man.