The Band - Music from Big Pink
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Free Music Notes for Music from Big Pink
Free Music Review: Mr. Pleasures comments
Hit: 1 Stars
I am really sorry to inform that this is the WORST CD that I have ever listen to, I paid over $ 15.00 for it, and was so disappointed with it that I gave it away. Apparently it's not my type of music ( and i'm very open minded about music!), I don't comprehend why people give this garbage so much credit?
My opinion, don't waste your money on this crap! check other albums by them that are much better. Even my dogs became depressed after listenig to it.
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: A impressive debut
Hit: 4 Stars
If you can call it a debut, considering that The Band had been playing together for ten years when "Music From Big Pink" was released, functioning for more than three of those years as Bob Dylan's nameless backing group (no name, just "the band").
This is apparently one of those albums that you either love or just don't get, and I doubt if very many other reviewers have dared give it only FOUR stars. Well, if I could give 4 1/2 I would, because "Music From Big Pink" is a terrific, idiosyncratic record. But what can I do? The Band's second album is even better than this one.
When this record came out in 1968, it was like nothing else which had ever been made at the time. Guitarist Robbie Robertson and bassist Rick Danko are the main songwriters, and Danko, pianist Richard Manuel, and drummer Levon Helm (the only American in the group) share lead vocals. There are vocal harmonies here, sure, but The Band were not the Beack Boys...the three singers' unschooled delivery makes "Music From Big Pink" sound fresh and sort of raw, almost like a jam session, with the role of lead vocalist passing between Manuel, Danko and Helm seemingly at random.
The various instruments, which include both piano and organ, take turns being up front, although the dominant one on most songs is classically trained keyboardist and occational saxist Eric "Garth" Hudson's icy Lowrey organ. The many highlights include the profound "Tears Of Rage", a remarkable take on Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released", the swinging "We Can Talk", and a cover of the country ballad "Long Black Veil", which stands alongside Johnny Cash's haunting rendition as the best version of this song ever recorded.
And then there's "The Weight", of course, one of The Band's best-known songs, and one of their very best as well. A mainly acoustic tune with a superb folkish melody, the surreal Luis Buñuel-inspired lyrics are sung first by Levon Helm and then by Rick Danko, before Helm and Danko finally join forces on the fifth and last verse.
Blending rock, folk, country and R&B into a singular, rootsy and virtually inimitable mix, The Band's debut album immediately caught the attention of the critics (not least because of their association with Bob Dylan). And it is almost as remarkable today as it was way back when Rolling Stone Magazine could not seem to heap enough praise upon The Band.
"Music From Big Pink" is one of The Band's two or three finest records, and one of the most interesting North American rock records of the 60s. And this 2000 reissue (which marks the first appearance of the original mix of "Pink" on CD) has been embellished by the addition of no fewer than ten bonus tracks, including several alternate takes and four outtakes, a cover of Big Bill Broonzy's "Key To The Highway" among them. The simple but charming and melodic western swing of "If I Lose" and the appealing mid-tempo folk-rocker "Katie's Been Gone" are also among the more interesting bonus cuts, and I actually prefer the alternate "Lonesome Suzie" which features a prominent piano part by Richard Manuel.
4 ½ stars. Highly recommended.
Free Music Review: "We don't Jam"
Hit: 5 Stars
I have heard Eric Clapton say on several occasions that this is the album that changed his life. Make that two changed lives. The Band has a way of blending all kinds of American musics into seemless masterpieces of poetry. Music from the Big Pink is the Band's perfect expression of this idea. Every song on here is a winner. But to me, the real jems are the upbeat Caledonia Mission and We Can Talk. They just have of way of celebrating music and sounding like it on these songs. Eric Clapton went to see the Band after breaking up with Cream. Robbie Robertson told him that they didn't do jams. Ironically, the Band jam on this album with four minute songs of pure folky bliss.Free Music Review: Music From Big Pink
Hit: 5 Stars
I think that the biggest misconception about The Band is that Robbie Robertson is the mastermind behind the whole deal. In truth, many of the members of The Band helped co-write the songs, including stellar performances by Richard Manuel and the often forgotten Levon Helm. Pick up a copy of This Wheel's On Fire, an autobiography by Helm, and you will get more of an insider's look. There is no doubt that Music From Big Pink is a phenomonal album, and that The Band is simply one of the best groups ever comprised. Each individual influence blends with the others to form a truly fresh sound. However, if you want the best of The Band, I suggest you hear them live. I happened to obtain a rare live album from the mid-70s, right before they disbanded, and it is simply my favorite album ever.