The Band: why were they so revered?*

The truly great musicians understand the importance of the space between the notes.

 

US Version
Up on Cripple Creek on the A side

 

My RL copy is my favorite sounding vinyl release I've ever owned. I recently picked up the MFSL and while I also really enjoy that version, nothing beats the sound of the RL.

 

I revere them because they had three awesome singers, they were all splendid musicians (with great character in how they played), and the songs were beautiful with wonderful arrangements and production. Few tunes move me like 'Sleeping' or 'It Makes No Difference'. But it took me years of dabbling before I latched on to them.

 

Labels for Sides 1 and 2 of the US pressing of Music From Big Pink.
See what they did there?

 

You mean how 'The Band' shows up nowhere on the label and it's credited to the five musicians instead? It's the same on my copy; in fact, 'The Band' only shows up in tiny typeface on the spine of the gatefold. I always liked that about that record as it reinforces that it was really a collective thing, which changed pretty quickly after that as Robbie's songwriting started to dominate the group. Not that he wasn't a great songwriter but I love Richards songwriting on the first record, especially 'In A Station' which is just the most gorgeous thing ever with his heartbreaking falsetto, and the Dylan collaboration 'Tear of Rage', so impossibly sad. It's a shame his songwriting talent burned out as quickly as it did.

That whole first record in fact is something very special to me. Like someone said earlier it's hard to put into words but to me there's something solemn, knowing and caring about it that inspires a ton of spiritual relief in a way that is entirely unique to it. In that way it's quite unlike their later work which is more in the historical theatre sphere of things, dear as it also is to me.

 

Please tell us more about yourself..I gotta figure this out. Not getting The Band is a serious condition. It's like not getting air,water,dirt,sunshine,trees,flowers,vegetables,fruit,humans,animals,etc.. Help us help you.

 

I can't think of another group whose collective sound is the direct result of having played as backing band for so many disparate acts. From
rockabilly to blues to jazz to garage rock to Bob Dylan. These guys could do it all convincingly.

I'm racking my brain to come up with another example of a "backing band" who rose to prominence on their own. The closest I can come
would be The Rascals, and, great as they were, they weren't in the same league as The Band.

 

Ouch.

 

Good bit of forensic detective work there. I'd have missed that take a load off Fannie ad-lib otherwise.

 

They looked like your Granddaddy on the cover of their self titled album, even though they were actually quite young at the time. They didn't look and certainly didn't appear to want to be 'hip' with the times. They were, and still are as a result, timeless in their sound and appeal. Somehow that image of older wiser men coming down from the hills resonated with the post-psychedelic experience and musical landscape, almost as if these guys were about to deliver the path forwards for music, if not some kind of prophecy. They had a gutsy rustic vibe to their material, very autumnal but seemingly very assured and knowing with it. You can clearly hear the music of ages in every note they play and yet they had a unique sound, a perfect potpourri of blues, country, folk, rock 'n' roll, ragtime and many other constituents.

 

good book about their formative time in Woodstock along with many others who passed through.

Small Town Talk

Small Town Talk: Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock

 

they never got to the same level but nrbq would be in that group.

 

Hadn't thought of them...good point.

 

in the book I just mentioned, when the band were living in Woodstock and just getting started with Dylan, all the folks who lived there just called them the band since no one knew them in any other capacity.

 

I've always been a fan, but after reading Levon's book, and Robbie's you get a much better idea of what led to their greatness and demise.

For those of you who think Robbie broke up the group and stole all the money, you have to read his recent book. As it was in those days, there were a lot of people in and around the band who became in capacitated by substances. Songwriting credits and royalty rights were also sold off because same members didn't manage their own financing, preferring partying to all else. Robbie walked away because he didn't want to watch his friends die and he developed a second career in the film business.

 

I get you. I like like some songs but I don't get all the massive accolades. For what it's worth I much prefer the second self-titled album over Big Pink.
Also I have never really liked Rick and Richard's voices

 

Can anyone confirm if the stand-alone Blu-ray of The Last Waltz is ALL REGION please?

 

I didn't mean hits as in high-charting singles -- The Band never had a number 1 hit.

I meant their most popular songs from the 1968 - 69 era, songs that people were most likely to hear and identified them with. Certainly those were two of their songs most likely to be heard on FM radio at that time.

 

That's a pretty good read. Upon reflection it seemed like it was more about Albert Grossman than any of the many musicians who pass through the pages.

Although fictional, the 331/3 series titled, "Music From Big Pink" seems to capture The Band's Woodstock years in an evocative way, car wrecks and all!

 

The 45 of "The Weight" also did not identify itself as "the Band".
Perhaps a factor in chart placement? Speculation.
Also speculation - perhaps radio stations/ DJs were given a little sheet or something so they knew what the heck they were playing.

 

I'm listening to the SHM Sacds now and summing up The Band isn't that hard nor would they feel comfortable with critical study. The guys could just freakin play! They made timeless music that managed to be both grass roots simple and incredibly layered. Their mastery of their chosen instruments is so obvious and their tone so unique. The three voices were so complementary of each other and served as additional instruments. These guys were just brilliant. Period.

 

Mr.Richard Clare "Rick" Danko, discussing "The Unfaithful Servant", from
the documentary Classic Albums - The Band.

 

If I recall correctly from Levon's book, they didn't like being called "The Band" and it wasn't their choice, it was someone's decision at Capitol Records (probably for the same reason you mention here). Levon had been lobbying for "The Crackers" as their name but Capitol refused to use that. The fact that the first album just had all five of their names could be simply because the labels were printed before "The Band' was settled on as a name. But then wasn't it policy for Capitol to include all members of the group under the group name anyway? I'm pretty sure at least some of the Beatles albums had all four of their names under the band name.

 

I didn't "get" them for years. Now I do.