1977 Allman And Woman – Two The Hard Way

Two The Hard Way is a studio album by American singer-actress Cher and the third studio album by American rock singer Gregg Allman released in November 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. The album, billed to “Allman and Woman”, was a critical and commercial failure.

The product of the two musicians’ unlikely and turbulent relationship and marriage, it attempted an even more unlikely musical melding of Allman’s Southern rock with Cher’s idiosyncratic, personality-driven pop. The uncharacteristically airbrushed cover notwithstanding, Allman’s musical ideas and singing generally took the lead.

In conjunction with the release of the album Cher and Allman did a 21-show tour called the “Two the Hard Way Tour”, consisting of seven shows in Japan and 14 in Europe. The tour ended abruptly when Cher parted ways with Allman and returned to the United States.

The album was not well received; the 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide said “It’s hard to imagine a more inappropriate combination … It’s the bottom of the barrel after a long fall for Gregg, and more of the same for Cher,” and rated the album “Worthless”. Two the Hard Way was not a commercial success either; by the time the 1983 edition of the same guide was published, the album was out of print.

The album was never officially re-issued on CD or 8-track, although it has been bootlegged. In 2008, Billboard correspondent Keith Caulfield stated that Cher owned the rights to the master tapes of this album (as well as three solo albums she made in the mid-1970s) and hence she would have to approve any reissues. The song “Can You Fool?” was included in the 1989 Allman Brothers compilation album Dreams, which is still in print.

For many years “Can You Fool?” was the only Allman and Woman song to have been officially made available online. However, on October 8, 2021, Cher released all 11 tracks, “restored and remastered”, on her YouTube channel. A few days later, she also released several live videos produced in November 1977 for the BBC TV series, The Old Grey Whistle Test.