One of the indispensable albums of rock from one of the indispensable icons of rock, The Allman Brothers Band’s Eat A Peach has been expanded to bring together the remastered 1972 album and the group’s complete legendary performance at the final concert at the Fillmore East. Now a two-CD set, Eat A Peach – Deluxe Edition (Mercury/UMe), released May 23, 2006, includes nearly 70 minutes of never-before-heard performances.

Released soon after the tragic death of guitarist Duane Allman, the original two-LP album featured both live and studio material. Along with two March 1971 concert cuts not heard on the earlier Live At Fillmore East double album (“Mountain Jam” and “Trouble No More”) were three tracks (“Stand Back,” “Blue Sky” and “Little Martha”) completed with Duane for what was scheduled to be the band’s fourth album, three studio recordings from the post-Duane band (“Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” “Les Brers In A Minor” and “Melissa”) and one track from the Fillmore East’s finale (“One Way Out”). Eat A Peach became the group’s biggest seller to date as well as its first Top 10 album, peaking at #4 and spending an amazing 48 weeks on the charts.

For Eat A Peach – Deluxe Edition and heard for the first time from the Allman Brothers’ June 27, 1971 performance that closed the Fillmore East are renditions of “Statesboro Blues,” “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’,” “Done Somebody Wrong,” “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed,” “Hot ‘Lanta,” “Whipping Post” and “You Don’t Love Me.” (Previously issued are “One Way Out” and the concert’s “Midnight Rider.”)
Brothers Gregg (vocals, keyboards) and Duane Allman (guitars), Dickey Betts (guitars, vocals), Berry Oakley (bass), and Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson (drums) formed the band in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 before moving to Macon, Georgia. Their first two albums were only modest successes. Eat A Peach was the band’s breakthrough.