shot. Walden suggested the band take a few shots standing full-frontal; the band was reluctant but he assured them they would never see the light of day. At their first performance at the Fillmore East that December, Trucks discovered the full-frontal shots were printed in a broadsheet alternative newspaper. Paley later said of the cover shoot, "I never liked a band more. I was one of them. It was like being a rock star. I hung out with a lot of rock stars but no one ever did that to the same extent. There was just an ease to the whole thing. They really were the kindest, most fun band I ever worked with." Release and reception The Allman Brothers Band was released in November 1969 through Atco and Capricorn Records. Atco was a subsidiary label of Atlantic Records, and Walden had not even created a logo for Capricorn Records; instead, the LP featured an Atco label with a "barely noticeable" line reading "Capricorn Records Series." The record received a poor commercial response, selling fewer than 35,000 copies upon initial release. Executives suggested to Walden that he relocate the band to New York or Los Angeles to "acclimate" them to the industry. "They wanted us to act "like a rock band" and we just told them to fuck themselves," remembered Trucks. For their part, the members of the band remained optimistic, electing to stay in the South. "Everyone told us we’d fall by the wayside down there," said Gregg Allman, but the collaboration between the band and Capricorn Records "transformed Macon from this sleepy little town into a very hip, wild, and crazy place filled with bikers and rockers." The band played shows along the East Coast in December 1969, attempting to kick-start the record onto Billboard Top 200 Pop Albums chart. In January, the band performed at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia and the Fillmore West in San Francisco before debuting at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, representing the Allmans' first engagement there since their days in the Hour Glass. On the third day of their Whisky residency, the album logged at number 188 on the top 200, "enough to prove that the ABB was more than a regional outfit." Capricorn issued "Black Hearted Woman" as the album's single, edited down to nearly two minutes shorter in an effort to place on top 40 radio. Despite