The Band - Music From Big Pink
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.83 You Save: $7.11 (60%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.82 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Music From Big Pink
Free Music Review: This is THE album
Hit: 5 Stars
This album literally has no peer. Especially when you consider that it was originally released in 1968. It is emotional, formative, revolutionary, etc.
You can hear the emotions when you listed to Richard Manuel sing about loneliness. Or Garth Hudson putting his all into the organ. Or Levon Helm drawling out his words. Or Robbie Robertson playing a great riff. Or Rick Danko singing in his country-bumpkin voice. It was formative in that it heavily influenced so many musicians, as it has been said--there were a lot of blues musicians walking around England with this LP under their arm. You can see that it is revolutionary when you consider that it truly was counter-countercultural in its revival of folk/country/americana within the framework of popular music. It came just when when people were getting sort of sick of cheezy psychedlia. And The Band "rebelled against the rebellion" by including a picture of them with their "ruralish" families on the album. They were going back to what most countercultural icons were trying to get away from. And the front cover certainly runs counter to the ego-trips that many other musicians were pulling off at the time. If you didn't know: The cover art is a painting by Bob Dylan!
Here are some thoughts on individual tracks: "Tears of Rage" is powerful, patently SLOW and DRAGGING. "To Kingdom Come" is forceful and jumpy. Sometimes it is maligned, but it is one of my favorites. I love the "Tarred and Feathered" part.
I'm not a huge fan of "In A Station". Its the only track that isn't amazing, in my opinion. I don't think I've ever encountered any other album where only one track was in this category!! "Caledonia Mission" is funky and a great showcase of Rick Danko's talent. If the "The Weight" weren't so overplayed whenever anything remotely close to the band is mentioned, I think we'd find it to be even better than it appears! It really is a fine song! Actually, its more of a "tale" than a song. "We Can Talk" is another one of my favorites. The part that goes something like "I'd rather burn in Canada than freeze down here in the south" is priceless! "Long Black Veil" is great though perhaps not as remarkable as some of the others. "Chest Fever" is funky and just plain odd, in a good way. At the beginning it parodies some classical music (with a great intro by Garth), then it rambles with slightly non-sensical lyrics, but a great progression and rhythm. "Lonesome Suzie" show cases Richard Manuel's great talent (and probably showcases some of his deep personal struggles too). "This Wheel's On Fire" is great. The voicing on this is just priceless. You have to listen to it, I can't put it into words well. "I Shall Be Released" is a quite fitting conclusion to the album.
There is remastering and they've added tracks on this album. The extra tracks are good, though I am a bit of a purist and am sort of iffy about seeing the outtakes on there. But its no big loss. You get the original songs (remastered that is) plus the extras! "Key To The Highway" is my favorite of the extra tracks, though many will probably disagree with me on that one.
If you haven't listened to this album, please do so!! ESPECIALLY if you feel informed about 60's music. So many stereotypes of 1960's music are SHATTERED by this groundbreaking album!! In my opinion, you just can't beat this! Its well worth whatever you have to shell out to get it. It has intelligent, thoughtful, emotional lyrics. It has a distinct, American sound. It is black music, blues music, country music, folk music, gospel music, etc. And yet remains grounded! It is jovial, minimalistic, but heavily spirited. I'll take this over The Beatles, Jimmi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Who, CCR, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, etc. ANY DAY! No comparison!
Free Music Review: Before the "Americana" image---in a league of its own
Hit: 5 Stars
The word "Americana" gets tossed around a lot when people talk about The Band--so much, in fact, I think people don't even think about what it means and think it's synonymous with The Band. In reality, except the country ballad cover and "The Weight," you'd be hard pressed to really find this so-called "Americana" (which critics invented after The Band's second album) on Music From Big Pink at all. What you WILL find, is some incredibly slippery, mercurial music that owes a lot to The Band's rock and roll roots (not to mention their gospel, blues and classical roots) as the Hawks as well as their recent collaborations with Dylan, who was in the process of rewriting the rules of songwriting himself. The result was Music From Big Pink, a totally unique album in The Band's catalog, and an utterly original contribution to American/Canadian rock history.
The album daringly kicks off with a slow song, Richard Manuel's collaboration with Bob Dylan, "Tears of Rage." Simply put, nobody had made this kind of music before. Manuel's rich, soulful vocal floats over piano and Robertson's guitar fed through a homemade effect box. Fat drums and bass lock down a dirge-like beat and flittering organ chases the corners of the background as Manuel sings a father's lament. One listen to this mysterious soul lets you know you're in for a treat the likes of which you'll probably never hear again.
As the album progresses, The Band reveals its multifaceted talents--the tempo picks up on "To Kingdom Come," the lyrics become more mysterious (with lots of religious imagery) and Manuel again sings, this time in tandem with Robbie Robertson. What kind of music is this? It certainly rocks, and it has a solid, funky bottom to it, but you really can't label it rock, folk, blues or anything. This is the point when it's probably better to concede that labeling Music From Big Pink with a genre name wouldn't be a successful enterprise, and it'd be better to just let the sweet sounds wash over you.
"In A Station" begins with multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Garth Hudson playing a classically-inflected clavinette line then swerves into unknown territory, with spacey slide guitar and fantastical lyrics. Manuel wrote and sang the song (backed by Rick Danko), proving The Band not only has multiple singers but also multiple contributing composers. "Caledonia Mission" fuses blues and folk with that ineffable Band sound, and bassist Danko sings, exposing another vocal tool to the group's disposal.
"The Weight," probably the group's best-known song keeps up the mysterious songwriting combined with Hudson's wild piano and drummer Levon Helm's (the group's only American member) southern drawl. "We Can Talk" is one of the albums funkiest, hardest rocking numbers, with a sort of jug-band break that's pretty weird--who else would make music like this? "Chest Fever," another mish-mash of styles, starts with Hudson quoting a classical toccata and features yet another drunken-sounding jam break. The album closes with the heartbreaking love song "Lonesome Suzie," and two Dylan collaborations, the dark, driving "This Wheel's On Fire" and the wispy, ethereal "I Shall Be Released," with Manuel's priceless falsetto soaring to the very end.
Music From Big Pink remains today a totally essential recording, sparking as much musical influence as Dylan's contemporary material, and launching The Band into the spotlight. I recommend it to any fan of rock, since it's an important historical moment, as well as the beginning of a great collection and trip through The Band's compelling, rich musical career. I hope you enjoy the magic.
Free Music Review: Newness ranks w/ Rubber Soul; meaningfulness w/ Shakespeare
Hit: 5 Stars
"Tears of Rage" sounded like nothing I had heard before. The guitar (run through the rotating Leslie speaker) - at the time I had no idea what instrument it was, only that it was gorgeous. The wailing Hammond organ sounded more than a bit like church/synagogue. And Dylan's trademark mixed metaphors chiming in our ears, relaxing/teasing our minds, delighting and instructing us like never before - because the sound was unprecedented, yet was simultaneously so rootsy. It was like the ultimate counterculture sermon, really - this entire album. It was really nice to get it in an altogether new style - after previous largely effective efforts by the Jefferson Airplane (psychedelic), Procol Harum (baroque-rock), and of course the Beatles, among others.
This was a cannon shot - not just in its imaginative re-creation of rock. There's almost too MUCH hyperbole to latch onto in attempting to describe the effect and the reality of this album as a whole, back in '68-'69.
"To Kingdom Come". The scripture lesson - allegorical, but also crazily hilarious, and imaginative in how it mixes all this - along with emotions of pathos, warning exhortations and the like. The way the lead singer bestows these varied emotions upon/into his melody-line is almost beyond belief. Holy smoke, folks!
"In a Station" - possibly the most sublimely beautiful poetic ballad of the rock era to date, though the Band themselves equaled it later with "Whispering Pines" (from the 'Brown Album'). Musically, it begins by treading in the tracks of "Tears of Rage", but ever so (s)lightly before it heads off in its own cloud, as it were.
"Caledonia Mission" takes off from "To Kingdom Come", but once again this is no re-tread. Even more humorous than "Kingdom", it enters somewhat into the iconic regions of Country Joe and the Fish's "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" but with totally different intent and result. More great rock allegory / personal introspection for the ages, as good as or better than Dylan's sometimes awesome contemporaneous efforts on 'John Wesley Harding".
"The Weight" continues the story, and gets down with some unbelievably soulful playing and singing. It actually sounds better after all these years than it did in its remarkable heyday.
And folks, this is just (what used to be) "SIDE 1" on the original LP. Every song here and on "SIDE 2" is like a novel/noel - or a gospel unto itself [in miniature]. Who can forget the ground-shattering and unmatchable sounds of "Chest Fever" and "This Wheels on Fire", and the searing/serene anthem "I Shall Be Released". Then there is the haunting rootsiness of "Long Black Veil", the near-paralyzing compassion of "Lonesome Susie", and the blazingly inspirational, psycho-spiritual healing "We Can Talk".
There's way more emotion in each and every song than you can shake a cross at.
Free Music Review: Still Astonishing 36 years later
Hit: 5 Stars
"The big, pink house," was one thing that everyone in my college dorm could agree upon in 1968, when this masterwork emerged. Farm boys, city boys, hippies, frat-boys all agreed: "this is great!" Eric Clapton agreed, too. Once he heard it, he decided to leave his supergroup and follow the new path of Dylan and the Band.
All that aside, this recording continues to astonish me with its tastefulness here some 36 years into its future. If you drop the needle (or, point the laser) to track one, "Tears of Rage", I think you'll get what I mean. It's pacing is glacial, its tone mournful and its effect on the listener is positively spell-binding. It is still almost shocking. There is actually no other song to which I would compare it. This is the charm of "Music From Big Pink". All of the original tracks have just that kind of effect. Is that a trombone on "Tears of Rage"?
Let's consider some of the other inimitable performances herein: "Chest Fever", with its Bach organ prelude and stately though powerful rhythm unravels itself and begins to swing with stoic, contained passion. The organ-work is stunning and the performance, like many here is one of a kind. "Long, Black Veil" is possibly an ancient song and the ties to the past are reinforced in this recitation. The fog of regret and sorrow conjured by the Band on this old chestnut is palpable. Then, of course, there is what is arguably the Band's most famous song, the whimsically mysterious "The Weight". The other tunes here included will similarly impress upon you their singularity.
And despite the stand-out, unusual songs, the album works as a whole, musically and every other way. Something about the overall sound of the disc lingers with you as much as the songs themselves.
Perhaps inconsequentially, it is noted that this album grew out of the rootsy explorations by Bob Dylan and the Band now known collectively as "The Basement Tapes". However, listening to the remaining shards of those sessions does very little to prepare you for the full, main course presented here. They didn't know what to call it, they didn't know what to call the band playing it, so they just called it "Music" from "Big Pink" the home in Woodstock NY to the Basement Tapes Sessions. The aggregate musicians they merely called "the band". Music played by the band.
By the way, (in my opinion) the Band never did anything again that quite lived up to this and neither did Dylan - this is magic, a one-shot deal. Organic music grown from months of playing songs. (As Band-Member Robbie Robertson told Eric Clapton when he showed up at Big Pink, "We don't jam.")
So anyway, there's more here than meets the ear, but what meets the ear is way way way more than you might expect.
Free Music Review: "The Weight" is over because the remastered CD gives you 9 bonus cuts!
Hit: 5 Stars
As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various music supplies and recordings from the 60's and 70's.
Come holiday time 1968 how would you like to have been a Capitol Records executive knowing the incredible publicity the label had earned for the past year with the Beatles and the debut from the Band.
July 1, 1968 the Band would release their first record. It was more than a piece of vinyl. It would signify one of the most important recordings ever. The unique sounds, the haunting lyrics, and Robbie Robertson's amazing ability to come up with the most advantageous riff, solo, and chord pattern.
The opening track "Tears Of Rage" (One of three written or co-written by Dylan) would establish a sound of Mesmerization. The combination of the lyrics delivered with pain and the comradery of the keyboards and guitar is striking. "To Kingdom Come" penned by Robbie asked in an analytical style "When you look out the window what do you see?" Can you recall your first impression of "The Weight?" We were hypnotized following the story. It offered everything of a top selling book, the plot, the darkness, and some comic relief. "Long Black Vail" has been recorded as many times as the current national debt but wouldn't you be hard pressed to find a better or more believable version? The lyrical content is devastating- "If you were somewhere else you wouldn't have to die." There will never be words that properly pay homage to "Chest Fever." The final icing on the award winning cake was Robbie's open mindedness to let the organ shine as much as the guitar on the final mix. The instrumentation is flawless and once the tune is experienced, you can never forget the five plus minutes of musical genius. "This Wheels On Fire (Co-Written by Dylan) has left at least one line in our minds to this day- "If your memory serves you well." The original vinyl LP and CD ends with Dylan's "I Shall Be Released. A perfect way to put the 5 Star stamp of approval on the material.
The news gets better. If you pick up the remaster CD please look for the version with 9 bonus tracks. It makes the journey that much more breathtaking. Can you believe the version of "Key To The Highway" didn't make the album? As a bonus track it enhances the almost forty year old diamond.
Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"