The Band - The Band
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Music CD Cover
Artist: The BandEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2000-08-29
Music Label: Capitol
Product features:
- BAND THE THE BAND
- Across the Great Divide
- The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
- Up on Cripple Creek
- Jemima Surrender
- Look out Cleveland
- The Unfaithful Servant
- Get Up Jake [stereo mix][*][Outtake][Take]
- The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [*][Mix]
- Whispering Pines [Alternate Take][*]
- King Harvest (Has Surely Come) [Alternate Take][*]
Free Music Notes for The Band
Free Music Review: The Band's Magnum Opus
Hit: 5 Stars
Perhaps no musical group exemplified an anti-counter cultural approach to music better than The Band did in various ways. They influenced many people who were influential in their own right either at the time (Eric Clapton and George Harrison's approach to music) or would be in years to come (i.e. Roger Waters' approach to concept album writing with Pink Floyd) not to mention being one of the begetters of 1970's style "folk country." And while more could be said about them than that, there is plenty to say about this album and that is where the review will be focused.
The album opens with "Across the Great Divide" and it sets the tone for the very down home Americana feel of this album full of uniformly excellent songs. The latter song contains the story of a man who tries to explain himself to his woman and recounts to some extent the recklessness of his "younger days" as he tries to persuade her to not kill herself. It is not as grim as it sounds in words I assure you.
The second song is "Rag Mama Rag" which is a fun quirky song with fiddles, an offbeat drum pattern, a mandolin, a fiddle instead of bass, and the bass parts played on a tuba. The lyrics of the song were about a woman who only wants to play ragtime music...there may be a sly message in that but whatever. That brings us to one of the best songs on the album.
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is musically and lyrically a masterpiece. It is ironic a Canadian songwriter (Jaime Robbie Robertson) could write such an empathetic tune about the old South but it the power of the song cannot be denied. It was delivered with conviction by the only American in the group (the southerner Levon Helm). Garth Hudson gets some very textural sounds with a melodica overdubbed via his Lowrey organ, which sounds like a harmonica starting with the second verse of the song. It is an example of the multifaceted talents of the Band's members -all of whom except Robbie Robertson played multiple instruments. I never get tired of hearing this song, singing it, or playing it on guitar. It is followed by "When You Awake", a song with lyrics are about family and remembering with grandfatherly advice being given.
From there the album moves to "Up on Cripple Creek" which is a song with a very "back porch" feel which is (I must say it) deliciously sleazy in a way. Garth Hudson is playing a clavinet through a wah wah pedal to create the sound of a jew's harp. When mixed with Danko's bass playing, it gives a significantly low range to the tune about a narrative of a man who wants to lookup an old girlfriend for "assistance" if you will and how in many areas she completes him. "Whispering Pines" follows, which Robertson co-wrote with Richard Manuel. The song has a completely different tempo than the one preceding it and Manuel delivers a very wrenching vocal performance vocally and on piano.
Following "Whispering Pines" is "Jemima Surrender" which has a heavier tempo with boogie-woogie piano (played not by Manuel but by Hudson), Manuel on drums, Levon Helm not on drums but rhythm guitar, and Robertson on lead guitar. (The alternate take --half the songs on the album have an alternative take on this CD- has the members on their usual instruments for a completely different approach to the song.) The song is about the singer wanting a girl named Jemima to give in and...well...that is all I will tell you about it.
"Rocking Chair" is possibly my favourite song on the album. It is unconventional musically for the group in that there is no drums (Helm is on mandolin on this tune), Hudson plays accordion, Robertson is on acoustic guitar, and the timekeeping is done solely by Danko's bass and that is adequate. The lyrics I find to be quite haunting now in the wake of having lost my childhood best friend last year and for other reasons not to be mentioned here.
"Look Out Cleveland" is a up tempo rocker sung by Danko with some aggressive lead fills by Robertson backed by Danko's equally aggressive bass picking and is about "a storm coming through" which ends up devastating everything. (Compared to everything else on the album, this song stands out in its strident phrasing.)
From there the next song is "Jawbone" and it opens with a very slow start and alternates time signatures from verses to the pre-chorus to the chorus and back again with lyrics about a thief who is unrepentant. The album next moves into "Unfaithful Servant" which is sung by Danko and is a slow creeper about...well...exactly what the title says and the narrator tries to examine the reason for the faithlessness involved.
The album ends officially with "King Harvest" which is a frantic tune sung by Manuel. The song has an unusual sound even for an album of songs many of which are distinctive in that sense. The shifting tempos from verse to verse gives a distinctive sound as does Robertson's stinging lead playing which shows a pleasing restraint to it. The lyrics show the tensions of paradoxical attachments (city and country, past and present, etc) and is a tale about a union man who is feeling the pinch ala Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" and wraps up the album quite strongly.
There are also alternate takes of six of the songs on the CD release as well as an outtake of a song that would appear on future albums (referring to "Get Up Jake"). But the twelve songs on the album as originally released are the focus of this review and they all cohere well making this album a must have for anyone who likes good music.
The Band Poster
Limited Edition Japanese "Mini Vinyl" CD, faithfully reproduced using original LP artwork including the inner sleeve. Features most recently mastered audio including bonus tracks where applicable.Popularly known as the "Brown Album," this is the collection people first think of when this august outfit's name is mentioned. The four-parts Canadian, one-part Arkansan quintet's sophomore effort boasts more soon-to-be-staples than any other Band studio recording, what with the likes of the Joan Baez hit "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "Across the Great Divide," and "Up on Cripple Creek" standing out among the dozen uniformly memorable tracks. Lesser-known group originals such as the achingly lovely "Whispering Pines" and the cryptic "Unfaithful Servant," however, play crucial roles in giving this 1969 classic its unique flavor. Given the high standard established by The Band and its better-still 1968 predecessor, Music from Big Pink, it's not surprising the Band peaked early as a recording group. As with all the 2000 Band reissues, this remastered reissue boasts a number of bonus tracks, though all but "Get Up Jake" are alternate takes of album selections. --Steven Stolder
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