If authenticity is what you crave, look no further than the Band -these guys've got the stuff dripping from their scruffy chins thick as tobacco juice. In an era fraught with Victorian dandyism and pharmaceutical space exploration, five ace musicians had the good sense to cover themselves head to toe in Mississippi mud, sprinkle on a little Appalachian dust, and go tearing through the Great American Songbook like a Mack truck chewin’ up blacktop. Their very name implies primacy; a sound firmly grounded in the fundamentals; no other qualification necessary.
Before the Band was the…entire summary
Robbie Robertson - guitar
Rick Danko - bass, vocals
Levon Helm - drums, vocals
Richard Manuel - piano, vocals
Garth Hudson - vocals, keyboards
If authenticity is what you crave, look no further than the Band -these guys've got the stuff dripping from their scruffy chins thick as tobacco juice. In an era fraught with Victorian dandyism and pharmaceutical space exploration, five ace musicians had the good sense to cover themselves head to toe in Mississippi mud, sprinkle on a little Appalachian dust, and go tearing through the Great American Songbook like a Mack truck chewin’ up blacktop. Their very name implies primacy; a sound firmly grounded in the fundamentals; no other qualification necessary.
Before the Band was the Band, they were the Hawks, and spent the better part of a decade payin’ dues as barn-burning accompaniment to regional rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins. This lean, mean backing machine got a little leaner when it dropped Hawkins and lit out for New York City. The following six years at a glance: meet superstar manager Albert Grossman; embark on legendary tour antagonizing reactionary folk audiences with a guy named Dylan; record lost album in Woodstock with said "guy" while mythology surrounding group grows exponentially; release debut LP, Music from Big Pink, to critical acclaim; tour constantly, leaving just enough time to make more records; steal each others’ girlfriends; and consume quantities of Grand Marnier and cocaine that would make Stevie Nicks blush.
By 1974, the Band had reunited with Bob Dylan for his Planet Waves album. Though more subdued than their previous collaborations, the corresponding tour was anything but. The inevitable weariness of a life on the road, with all its endless excess, was beginning to show - as chronicled in the live album Before the Flood and in these selections from a Boston area performance in January of 1974. But however dark things seem, greatness can’t help but shine through, and the Band would continue delivering inspired sets until the end. Danko’s trembling tenor delivers "Stage Fright" with deep sincerity, belying the fact that his entire adult life was spent in front of some of the biggest audiences anywhere; and Richard Manuel’s falsetto on "I Shall Be Released" could move even the baddest Hell’s Angel to repent; Levon’s "Up On Cripple Creek" serves chest-deep, bayou funk so thick and greazy it should come with a side of coleslaw and a moist towelette; and Hudson and Robertson pepper the gumbo throughout with pumping calliope organ and some of the sleaziest R&B guitar playing this side of Memphis.
It’s not the Last Waltz, but still vintage Band material; and one of the benefits of writing material steeped in the American folk/blues/country/jazz/rock 'n’ roll/kitchen sink tradition is its timelessness. So pull up a rockin’ chair and take a draw off that mason jar, boy and girls; it's time for a lesson in rock music history.
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