With the 1991 compilation
A Decade of Hits 1969-1979 still in print, you may ask why Polydor found it necessary to release
The Best of the Allman Brothers Band as part of the Universal Music Group's 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection. After all, the new 11-track album shares nine selections with the earlier 16-track one. The simple answer is price: By purchasing
The Best of the Allman Brothers Band, you get about 30 percent less music than you do on
A Decade of Hits, and you pay one-third less.
The Best of the Allman Brothers Band is a collection intended for the budget-conscious music lover who wants the cheapest possible album containing well-known
Allman Brothers songs like "Ramblin' Man," "Crazy Love," and "Whipping Post" from their first ten years of recording. Of course, it remains true that a single-disc best-of is not the ideal way to appreciate
the Allman Brothers -- Polydor probably would be better advised to compile a two-disc compilation for that purpose -- but this set may serve to initiate new fans or satisfy older ones who stuck to AM Top 40 in the '70s without venturing over to the FM rock stations where
the Allmans' extended jams were heard. ~ William Ruhlmann