Playin' Up a Storm
GREGG ALLMAN BAND
(Polydor )

Gregg Allman is one of the best singers in the annals of rock, but he's not often thought of as such because a lot of his work was a jumping-off point for the improvisational acumen of the guitar players. His vocals take center stage on his two '70s solo albums. The first one, Laid Back (1973), is arguably a masterpiece; Playin' Up a Storm is less celebrated but certainly worthy — a big steaming slab of kinetic rhythm-and-blues where Allman's vocals range from a fractured howl to a boozy lament.

This article appears in Nov 21-27, 2007.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...