Laid Back is the debut solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Gregg Allman, released in October 1973[3][4] by Capricorn Records.

Upon its release, Laid Back received positive reviews from music critics, and it peaked at number 13 on Billboard's Top LPs & Tape chart.

It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1974 for shipping 500,000 copies in the U.S., making it one of Allman's best-selling albums.

[5] Subsequently, the duo founded the Allman Brothers Band, which grew in fame in the early 1970s due to their live shows,[6] which combined traditional electric blues, jazz-style improvisation and self-penned instrumentals.

According to band historian John Lynskey, his "melancholy attitude, combined with a yearning to do something different musically, lead him to actively pursue the notion of putting out a record of his own.

Howe was an heir to his family's International Harvester fortune, which allowed him the time to become a part of "the fast crowd that hung out with rock stars such as Jimi Hendrix [and] Mick Jagger," according to Jean Dubail of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

[16] Sandlin helped hire various session musicians to perform on the album,[17] including Bill Stewart on drums and Charlie Hayward on bass guitar.

Allman felt Leavell's style of playing fit the album perfectly: "He'd give you exactly what you wanted, without any questions, and if he embellished on a song, he made it even better.

"[19] Talton credited Sandlin with creating an open, collaborative environment, noting that the musicians were free to enter the control room and make suggestions.

[23]Musically, Laid Back focuses on heartfelt, melancholy ballads; Leavell said the agenda was to create a "more mellow, less fierce" album in comparison to the Allman Brothers Band.

For the new recording, Allman aimed for a "swamp"-like atmosphere, "with the image of moss hanging off the trees, alligators and fog, darkness, [and] witches," he later wrote.

[16] "Queen of Hearts", the song that prompted Allman to develop the album, follows with an opening guitar line courtesy of guest guitarist Buzz Feiten.

[25] The song is followed by "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing", written by songwriter and saxophonist Oliver Sain and first recorded by Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure, who had a top five hit with it on the R&B charts in 1964.

It was written by singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, whom Allman and his brother shared a home with during their time living in Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

Allman then became enamored with Browne's songwriting, and his rendition of "These Days" includes a plaintive performance from Boyer on four-pedal Gibson steel guitar.

"[26] "Multi-Colored Lady" begins with a delicate finger-picked guitar intro, leading into a narrative about a "lonely, heartbroken young woman."

Allman and Sandlin are credited with re-arranging the piece, which includes a choir of Macon church singers of the time, as well as a coterie of Capricorn staff and musicians.

[29] The album's title was an inside reference to a studio term Allman coined for when a song had too much energy and needed to be more relaxed, or "laid back.

[17]Reviewing the album for Rolling Stone, Tony Glover said "Laid Back isn't quite what you'd expect from Gregg's work with the Brothers Band.

"[31] In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Christgau reassessed the album more favorably; while still believing Allman sounded melancholy because of "a limited formal imagination", he conceded that the singer "puts a lot into 'These Days' and 'Midnight Rider,' and that the reason you can listen to such originals as "Please Call Home" and "Multicolored Lady" isn't the writing.

"[2] In 2006, Tom Moon of NPR reviewed the album as a part of his "Shadow Classics" series, calling it "amazing stuff, deep and intense yet nowhere near the decibel levels of his work with the [Allman Brothers] band. ...

Long inspired by Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen (1970), Allman hired a string orchestra to accompany the group.

[24] In 2019, Universal announced a two-disc deluxe edition of Laid Back, containing the original album in remastered form, as well as early mixes, alternate versions, and demos.

Among the highlights on the collection are all of the demos captured by Howe in 1972, including "God Rest His Soul", a tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and a cover of "Rollin' Stone" by Muddy Waters.

A bonus live version of "Melissa", captured at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey during the ensuing solo tour in 1974, rounds out the set.

"To bring the collection full circle to its inspiration, Allman dedicates the song to Duane," observed David Browne of Rolling Stone.