Win, Lose or Draw

Win, Lose or Draw

When The Allman Brothers Band cut Win, Lose or Draw in 1975, they were reaching the end of their tether. With guitar hero Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley both dead and substance-abuse issues muddying the waters, things got gloomy in the ABB camp. The last album of the band's initial run gets unfairly dismissed in that context. But in fact, it contains tracks strong enough to stand up alongside the best of the Allmans' earlier output. Things start off with a startling transmutation of Muddy Waters' "Can't Lose What You Never Had," which turns the Chicago blues stomp into a funky, minor-key cut. Dickey Betts' "Just Another Love Song" is in his classic feel-good country-rock mode à la "Blue Sky," et al. Gregg Allman's title tune is a heart-catching, evocative waltz that ought to find favor with anyone enamored of his evergreen ABB ballad "Melissa." And Betts' 14-and-a-half-minute epic "High Falls," in all its jazzy elegance, surely stands as one the band's best instrumental pieces. All in all, it's not too shabby for a band that was about to self-destruct.

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