58: EAT A PEACH | THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND
Eat a Peach is the third studio album by American rock band the Allman Brothers Band. Produced by Tom Dowd, the album was released on February 12, 1972, in the United States by Capricorn Records. Following their artistic and commercial breakthrough with the release of the live album At Fillmore East (1971), the Allman Brothers Band got to work on their third studio album. Many in the band were struggling, however, with heroin addictions, and checked into rehab to confront these problems. On October 29, 1971, group leader and founder Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in the band's hometown of Macon, Georgia, making it the final album to feature the guitarist.
Eat a Peach was a mix of studio recordings—both with and without Duane Allman—and recordings from the band's famed 1971 Fillmore East performances. The album contains the extended half-hour-long "Mountain Jam," which was long enough to take up two full sides of the original double-LP. Other highlights include vocalist Gregg Allman's performance of his brother's favorite song, "Melissa," plus Dickey Betts' "Blue Sky", which went on to become a classic rock radio staple.
The album artwork was created by W. David Powell and J. F. Holmes at Wonder Graphics, and depicts the band's name on a peach truck, in addition to a large gatefold mural of mushrooms and fairies. The album's title came from a quote by Duane Allman: "You can't help the revolution, because there's just evolution ... Every time I'm in Georgia, I eat a peach for peace ... the two-legged Georgia variety."[1]
Issued as a double album in February 1972, Eat a Peach was an immediate commercial success and peaked at number four on Billboard's Top 200 Pop Albums chart. The album was later certified platinum and remains a top seller in the band's discography.
The Allman Brothers Band had struggled to achieve commercial success in their two and a half years on the touring circuit; their first two studio albums, The Allman Brothers Band (1969) and Idlewild South (1970), had debuted to only modest sales. Despite this, they had achieved significant acclaim due to their live performances, which included extended jam renditions of songs. The band's third release was a live album, titled At Fillmore East, and represented their artistic and commercial breakthrough: it immediately received solid sales upon its July 1971 release and went gold some months later. In about a "three-or-four-week period," the band quite literally went from "rags to riches," and were able to pay their debts to manager Phil Walden and record label Capricorn Records.
Although suddenly very wealthy and successful, much of the band and its entourage now struggled with heroin addiction. Four individuals — group leader Duane Allman, bassist Berry Oakley, and roadies Robert Payne and Joseph "Red Dog" Campbell — checked into the Linwood-Bryant Hospital for rehabilitation in October 1971. Their addictions had begun to affect their performances and matters seemed to only be getting worse, according to many involved. The clinic was deemed a "joke" and a "nuthouse" by Payne and Red Dog, and was later described as more of a psychiatric ward, as true rehabilitation clinics were several years away. All involved (including Duane) struggled to keep off the substance in the ensuing days. Despite this, Duane fueled the band's passion to get better and end their addictions: "Duane was so happy and full of positive energy. He was always like that unless he was just totally wasted. He was the leader, the great soul, and he kept saying, 'We are on a mission and it's time for this thing to happen,'" said Linda Oakley. "He was moving forward, and that energized everyone else. Everyone fed off of that."
On October 29, 1971, Duane Allman, aged 24, was killed in a motorcycle accident a day after returning to the band's home of Macon, Georgia. Allman was riding at a high speed on his motorcycle at the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue and Bartlett Street as a flatbed truck carrying a lumber crane approached. The flatbed truck stopped suddenly in the intersection, forcing Allman to swerve his Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle sharply to the left to avoid a collision. As he was doing so, he struck either the back of the truck or the ball on the lumber crane and was immediately thrown from the motorcycle. The motorcycle bounced into the air, landed on Allman and skidded another 90 feet with Allman pinned underneath, crushing several internal organs. Though he was alive when he arrived at the hospital, despite immediate emergency surgery, he died several hours later from massive internal injuries. The loss devastated all who knew Allman, just as At Fillmore East climbed into the top 15 of the national album charts. Read more