Warren Haynes

Tales of Ordinary Madness

Megaforce Records

Reconvening in 1989 with Warren Haynes joining founding member Dickey Betts on guitar, The Allman Brothers Band managed to light the blues/rock world aflame as if it was 1971 again while at the same time receiving a warm welcome into the jam band culture. Haynes was instrumental to both by way of his steadfast respect for the Allman Brothers’ tradition and its classic songs coupled with his stunning, fiery playing, especially with a glass slide slid over his finger. But the 1993 release of Haynes’ debut solo album, Tales of Ordinary Madness, was a revelation. On it, he exerted the riches of his multi-faceted character and presented it all, sweeping across one album brilliantly.

Sharp-eyed, reflective songwriting and gritty singing takes center stage on the album amid a variety of powerful melodies that are as catchy as a strip of flypaper in a swamp. Chuck Leavell, an Allman Brother during the “Ramblin’ Man” days, produced the album and played keyboards throughout it next to Haynes’ then-current Allman Brothers bandmate, percussionist Marc Quinones. One of two rhythm sections provided the propulsion. Half the songs feature female backing voices, and other guests dress up some of the presentations even further.

This re-mixed, re-mastered, and expanded edition offers the songs bursting in fuller sound, some of the instruments subtly more pronounced in places. “Tear Me Down,” an outtake from the sessions, was added, and it blends in well in the fourth position. The tough, rubbery funkiness of the song hits with a contemporary vibe. In fact, although these songs were recorded right after the first World Trade Center bombing, they resonate profoundly, both musically and in the context of a society fractured and a world still in disorder. They all could have been written yesterday.

The one-two wallop of “Fire in the Kitchen” and “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” set the table for widely varied set. The rhythmic cracks at the outset of “Kiss” are like shots from a pistol, Haynes conveying such ideals as “Learn from your brother, your sister from another land, they ain’t your enemy,” in it. His singing voice, figuratively and literally, was as strong and singularly expressive then, as it is today.

The ballad “I’ll Be the One,” written as a declaration of adoration and perhaps aimed at radio play too, resonates today as a timeless, glorious masterpiece of tenderness and heat. Leavell’s piano playing is appropriately wondrous. In “Invisible,” Haynes addresses homelessness within a hip beat enhanced by the organ playing of Parliament-Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell. “Power and the Glory” acts as a pulpit for one side of an equation, and “Broken Promised Land” the other. Haynes plays some of his most intensely focused guitar in both.

The songs on Tales of Ordinary Madness, taken together, represent a set of flawless blueprints of what Warren Haynes set out to build upon over the ensuing 33 years. The plans here, and the many results, include a plethora of songs that not only stand the test of time but stand tall among the very biggest blues/rock classics.

Tom Clarke for MAS

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