Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas

Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas is a 1976 double live album by The Allman Brothers Band.

It collected a variety of performances from the mid-1970s line-up of the band. Songs from their popular 1973 Brothers and Sisters album were heavily featured, but each of their other studio albums was represented by a selection as well.

Released after the group had already dissolved in acrimony, the album did not attract much praise or even attention at the time. The band did not like the selections, the sound mixing on the album was poor, the packaging was substandard, and the record also inevitably suffered by comparison to their classic 1971 At Fillmore East, generally considered one of the best live albums of all time.

Nevertheless, some of the 1973 performances, such as of "Southbound", are strong, and the energetic 1975 run-through of "Can't Lose What You Never Had" showed why it had gotten much of the progressive rock radio airplay off that year's disappointing Win, Lose or Draw. The New Year's Eve 1972 nightclub performance of "Ain't Wastin' Time No More", a number originally recorded shortly after the band lost Duane Allman and now being played shortly after the band lost Berry Oakley, illustrated the group's mixture of lament and resolve.

The album's title is derived from the song "Too Much Monkey Business" by Chuck Berry. Album cover art was done by Jim Evans.

Track listing

Side one

1. Introduction by Bill Graham – 1:05
2. "Wasted Words" (G. Allman) – 5:10
3. "Southbound" (Betts) – 6:03
4. "Ramblin' Man" (Betts) – 7:09

Side two

1. "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" (Betts) – 17:19

Side three

1. "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" (G. Allman) – 5:41
2. "Come and Go Blues" (G. Allman) – 5:05
3. "Can't Lose What You Never Had" (Morganfield) – 6:43

Side four

1. "Don't Want You No More" (Davis, Hardin) – 2:48
2. "It's Not My Cross to Bear" (G. Allman) – 5:23
3. "Jessica" (Betts) – 9:05

Sides one and two recorded at Winterland, San Francisco, California, September 26, 1973.
Track 1 of side three recorded at The Warehouse, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 31, 1972.
Track 2 of side three recorded at the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, New York, July 28, 1973.
Track 3 of side three and 1 and 2 of side four recorded at the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium, Bakersfield, California, October 22, 1975.
Track 3 of side four recorded at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California, October 24, 1975.

Personnel

• Gregg Allman — lead vocals, organ, clavinet, guitar
• Richard Betts — lead vocals, lead guitar, slide guitar
• Chuck Leavell — piano, electric piano, background vocals
• Lamar Williams — electric bass
• Jaimoe — drums, percussion
• Butch Trucks — drums, percussion, tympani

References