The Band
 

Browsing in the record store today I came across “Music from Big Pink”. Interesting cover art, no track listing on the outside cover, double LP but plays at 45 RPM(!) reissue I assume for higher fidelity.

Growing up in the 1970s, the album “Bob Dylan and the Band: The Basement Tapes” sessions from the same year, 1967*, but released in 1975, I had on the turntable often, but I’ve never really understood The Band or read the book(s).

Anyone care to shed some light on this group?

Thanks in advance


* incorrect: _Music from Big Pink_ was recorded in early 1968

You’ll find most of what you’d like to know here. A fantastic Canadian-American roots band that started as The Hawks backing Rockin’ Ronnie Hawkins.

Thanks. Funny, I was just reading through that when you posted!

I think Robbie Robertson was the dominant songwriter. In the wake of The Band, his self titled solo album was dreamily produced by Daniel Lanois, the combination a lush representation of Robertson's talents.

The Band! Don't get me started...
 

Infamous already for long-winded posts, I'll try to be brief: simply the most original and soulful ensemble to come out of its era. Combine three excellent vocalists in rowdy, loose harmony, driven by fretless bass and barrelhouse piano, planted in Levon's laid-back beat, and spiced up with Robbie's stinging guitar and Garth's rollicking, unpredictable organ fantasies. All with lyrics that evoke "the old, weird America" - as coined by Greil Marcus, who wrote one of the best books on The Band. Great writers are drawn by great writing, and so The Band has inspired many full-length books, including Robbie Robertson's memoir, a response to Levon Helm's memoir. The Band's universe is a deep and rich well.

Your next stop should be http://theband.hiof.no, where full lyrics are posted along with interviews, essays,and etcetera.

The Band's songs never seem dated to me, unlike contemporaries such as Jefferson Airplane. And they're great fun to play and sing, so that's the best way to get into the music.

Awesome. There’s whole generations that missed out on this group. I look forward to reading nice long posts if you have more you’d like to share, especially in light of those books written by band members (and controversy surrounding song writing credits.) I noticed Helm’s in the bookstore this week.

“Record store?” What’s that? 😂

I know what you mean. In one of the most bizzare side effects of technology, almost all record stores disappeared years ago in my area which compromises about 200,000 people in the general area because somehow downloading mp3 online is supposed to fill the gap?


????

In the summer of 1975, I was living in a tent in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia, helping my brother build a cabin on a 15 acre piece of land he owned. I was 16, he was 28, and he’d always been a hero to me before that summer. We’re really close to this day, but by the end of that summer, I couldn’t stand him. He also had almost no musical taste that I could relate to. We had one little portable cassette player and a bunch of his tapes that I found basically unlistenable. The exception was one tape with the first CSN album on one side and The Band, by The Band on the other. No Stones, no Hendrix, no Clapton, just CSN and the Band.

I wore that tape out that summer. I already liked CSN well enough going into that summer, but I came out of it madly in love with the music of the Band, a love affair that continues to this day. A year and a half later they played their last concert at Winterland (go find the movie, The Last Waltz), a show I almost managed to be at. They made absolutely timeless American music, kind or rockin, kind of funky, kind of hillbilly. Brilliantly written, performed, recorded, their first two albums are among the greatest albums of the rock era. Music From Big Pink was the first, The Band was the second. They made a few good ones after that, but none that ever came close to those first two IMHO. Three of the five of them are gone now - I missed them in their original configuration, but I saw each of them in various arrangements over the years. All of them were great players, three of them were great singers too. Well worth going back and spending some time with...

My brother and I still have almost no musical taste in common, but I’ll always be grateful to him for turning me onto The Band. That cabin is still there, somewhat added onto over the years - we’ve had some great large family Thanksgivings there over the years...

-Ray

Stage Fright has always been my favorite. Still in periodic rotation.

Excellent group and great musicians. Watch Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz" (it's on Amazon), and also in segments on YouTube. More info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Waltz

A great live band
 

Check the films- playing live, these guys really nailed it to the wall! The rhythm section was off-beat and in the pocket, at the same time.

The Band was the American Beatles. Both groups spent almost a decade on the roadhouse circuit, sharpening their axes. Both sang of characters acting out mystery plays in an invented landscape. While George Martin enhanced the Beatles recordings with strings and effects, Garth Hudson's organ painted backdrops of circus and sea, whimsies of harmony from an underappreciated wizard of the keyboard.

After The Last Waltz/rooftop concert, both bands took a break from the road, agreeing to reunite for recordings. With both, it never happened. John was distanced from his fellow Fabs by Yoko, and heroin. Going by "Testimony," Robbie's book, the heroin was enough.

Good news- There's a record store in Denver that will sell you a boxed set of albums and booklets, etc, for around 150 bucks. All audiophile-quality. 180 gram virgin vinyl, of course. If you want to be old-school about it.

One of my favourite bands - curious, eccentric and great.
I believe that follow Limey called Eric Clapton (known locally as Earache Clappedout) went over to "hang out" and asked to join them. Of course with Robbie Robertson - they didn't need him.

Clapton connection
 

Clapton acknowledged that hearing The Band was the last straw prompting him to leave Cream. Instead of a battling feud on stage, they seemed to him to be a band of partners. The closest Eric got to that ideal was the Delaney and Bonnie group.