Allman’s tour in support of his debut solo LP, Laid Back, led to the recording of this album (originally two LPs) at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ. “Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing” opens the show in a properly spirited, earthy manner, but it’s the second song, “Queen of Hearts,” in a soaring rendition, with gorgeous backing by Annie Sutton, Erin Dickins, and Lynn Rubin, and superb sax work by Randall Bramblett and David Brown, that shows Allman in his glory as a singer and bandleader.
Allman gives a lively, raucous, honky tonkstyle rendition of the Elvis Presley hit “I Feel So Bad,” complete with a killer guitar solo by Tommy Talton, and “Turn on Your Lovelight” gets an extended treatment worthy of the Allman Brothers Band. Several Allman Brothers songs are present here, in more laid-back and lyrical versions, and the Capricorn Records band Cowboy gets a featured spot with two songs, “Time Will Take Us” and “Where Can You Go,” that leave one wanting to hear a lot more concert material from them, and from Talton as a singer.