Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have to say with great reluctance I was deeply let down with this book. I first saw the Allman Brothers at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey at the age of 12 right before Duane died ..I was completely floored by them and became a huge fan as I entered my teens.. Their music has been a cornerstone of my musical life and defining theme for my childhood. This book which I was very looking forward to confused and saddened me..It is very long on personal detail that seems to make excuses for self absorbed behavior and very short on letting the reader in on how the music was created (which is why I was reading the book.There seemed to be lots of excuses for things that were obviously insensitive and reckless (going on vacation when Oakley died, hurting so many women) His recounting of his experience with his first wife made me cringe. He talks about wimps that hand out money to their wives versus manlike him who walk their own path.. The problem is that i have a hard time believing in Gregg's legitimacy when he himself admits he was sleeping with 3 to 5 women a night at the same time. Maybe his wife wasn't trying to change him as much as she was trying to figure out his depraved narcissism and obsession with drugs. I also found it hard to believe that he offered Jenny Arness anything other than a sex act and drugs. While she was obviously troubled I don't think the sympathetic portrait he paints of himself and the excuse he makes for not going to her funeral has anything to do with the reality of the situation. That all being said I was truly hoping to read much less about his sexual conquests and his drug use and much more about the soul of the band.I now have the impression that the relationship between Gregg and Duane was most often pettily spent arguing over bags of cocaine during drunken rages. His regret is that before Duane died he lied about stealing cocaine from him when I would think it would be more spiritual. Maybe something like I was sorry that Duane and i wasted our lives fighting over coke and women when we were given such an incredible gift. I was hoping to find out more about the magic of Duane and the impact each member had on the whole. I now know Jaimoe is black and Dickey Betts liked to punch things. I don't know much about Butch besides the fact that he did drugs and maybe got one line about Berry Oakley's playing as opposed to 25 about his drinking. Absent for me was any recounting of the musical magic the Allman Brothers created.. I discovered more about fights over cocaine bags and constant references to women that he used (she was really hot but i didn't want to be tied down because I wanted to screw other women) than I did about what exactly it was like the night they recorded the Fillmore album.I had heard stories about the band playing all night and that when they finally finished and the doors opened the sunlight came through in eerie waves over the smokey orchestra. Like a ghost has come and gone.. I was certain I had lost pages and kept checking page numbers. The experience that meant so much to me musically was passed over and I was reading about excessive self absorbed lifestyle with weak excuses.I found myself beginning to question the intelligence level of the 2 men writing this book..There was no art for me and lots of boring self absorbed banter.The title implies that the writer has come to a spiritual crossroad, an understanding and therefore a new found ability to let some wrongs go and be reborn however after reading the book i feel Gregg still has a great cross to bear .