The band

[Lonelysea30]

Love how maunuel sings whispering pines, at the end helm join in...epic

[hypehat]

Love The Band. The Last Waltz is great because its a normal set SUPERCHARGED. But the guest spots get a bit boring, apart from The Weight, Caravan (dear Jesus, when the horns kick in), Joni, Emmylou (but then I'm in love with her), The Hawk... I love the horn section too, they are fire.

As for the Robertson debacle, all I know is that he comes off as a bit of a twat in The Last Waltz and that Levon hated his guts after it all. But you can't fault his songs, for the most part.


My faves? Rag Mama Rag, Unfaithful Servant, 99% of anything Richard Manuel sang, The Moon Struck One... There's too many. Second Whispering Pines, so incredible. The Band!

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Amazing band wrecked by Robbie Robertson's ego/Dylan hang-up... He wanted to get credit for everything and to write everything but he just didn't have the goods beyond maybe a half an album of stuff, helped along by Richard Manuel and Dylan.... Once it was all Robbie songs, it got stale, but with some good stuff here and there. Guy was damn lucky he had the bandmates he did who could beef his stuff up with flair and authenticity.

I completely disagree, on every level imaginable. You are entirely wrong about Robbie. And his writing has plenty enough authenticity. That is why his songs can be interpreted so well by other artists.

These songs are all absolutely brilliant:

To Kingdom Come
Caledonia Mission
The Weight
Chest Fever
Across The Great Divide
Rag Mama Rag
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Up On Cripple Creek
Rockin' Chair
Look Out Cleveland
Unfaithful Servant
King Harvest
Get Up Jake
Time To Kill
All La Glory
The Shape I'm In
The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
Daniel And The Sacred Harp
Stage Fright
The Rumor
The Moon Struck One
The River Hymn
Yazoo Street Scandal
Ophelia
Acadian Driftwood
It Makes No Difference


That is a great, great list of compositions. Add up the great songs written by Manuel, Danko and Helm (and they did write some), and see if it matches up. The others could possibly have matched Robbie, if they hadn't been too busy with heroin, leaving Robbie to take the sole artistic reins of the band, which he didn't want to happen.

True true. Must've have felt like being in charge of an entire band full of Dennis's! ..... Well, except for Garth.

[I. Spaceman]

Garth, being a narcoleptic, didn't need heroin to nod off!

[Wild-Honey]

Love The Band, though I haven't listened to all their albums.  My favourite song is King Harvest.  That song is so damn good!!  Rag Mama Rag is a pearler too.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Hey, I. Spaceman: do you know if there are any boots of those Levon/Rick acoustic club shows from 1983 (I think) floating around? .... I know Bob showed up and played at least one show with them.....

[halblaineisgood]

.

[Lonely Summer]

Me too. Give a listen to the brown self-titled album again. Rockin' Chair, man. Tears me up every time.

Me, too. There was one night a few years after Richard's death that I put that album on, and when that song came on...it really hit me for the first time, what a loss this was. And now all three of The Band's voices are gone. Rock 'n' roll is a bummer.

[Mike's Beard]

I love The Band!! Northern Lights, Southern Cross is my favourite album by them. Most critics claim they blew their wad after the first two records but I think they just got better and better.

[Lonely Summer]

I love The Band!! Northern Lights, Southern Cross is my favourite album by them. Most critics claim they blew their wad after the first two records but I think they just got better and better.

I'm probably the only person that likes Islands, but I would say the second album and Northern Lights are my favs.

[king of anglia]

I love The Band. The album "The Band" is by far their best - ten times better than anything else they did. Lookout Cleveland and Get Up Jake are some of my favourites.

They were also great live - listen to Lookout Cleveland from the boxset and the version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down from The Last Waltz - spine tingling.
Rock of Ages is awesome.

Few  questions:

How much input did the other band members have in writing the songs?
Why did the quality drop so quickly after The Band?
Why did Levon Helm never sing "The Night..." after The Last Waltz?

Robbie Robertson - pretty terrible guitarist if you ask me. Sometime after 1971 he seems to only play pinched harmonics when soloing, but badly.

And that fake microphone? Jeez. Cringe etc...

[Mike's Beard]

How much input did the other band members have in writing the songs

More than Robbie would like to admit, although he was the guy responsible for generating the initial idea of each song.

Why did the quality drop so quickly after The Band?

I don't personally think it did. However the booze and smack did rob them of much of their momentum.

[I. Spaceman]

How much input did the other band members have in writing the songs?
Why did the quality drop so quickly after The Band?
Robbie Robertson - pretty terrible guitarist if you ask me. Sometime after 1971 he seems to only play pinched harmonics when soloing, but badly.

And that fake microphone? Jeez. Cringe etc...

Look at the label for the songwriting credits.
It didn't.
Robbie is an incredible guitarist, brilliant. My biggest influence. Pinched harmonics badly? Ummm, you must not like harmonics, because as far as those go, he is the best there is. His solo on Unfaithful Servant from Rock Of Ages is the best thing I have ever heard.
The fake microphone is a legend. It was turned on, and Robbie is more than capable of singing well. His leads on To Kingdom Come and Out Of The Blue are wonderful.

[king of anglia]

His solo on Unfaithful Servant from Rock Of Ages is the best thing I have ever heard.
The fake microphone is a legend. It was turned on, and Robbie is more than capable of singing well. His leads on To Kingdom Come and Out Of The Blue are wonderful.

Nyeh. You can't be serious. It's ok. The album version is much better. Suits the acoustic more than electric. I admit it's a nice understated little solo, but I can't believe you think it's the best thing you've ever heard.

Those pinched harmonics - he overdid them waaaay too much.
Best there is? No. Just no.

You literally cannot hear one note of his singing on The Last Waltz. Total poser in that film - admit it man!

Anyway, awesome band. Robbie was obviously a very talented songwriter for a period. A bit like Ricky Gervais - a brief flash of brilliance and then a dick grew out of his head.

[I. Spaceman]

Robbie is an icon. An icon transcends pose, and becomes what others pose as. In The Last Waltz, he becomes a classic Scorsese leading man, ala De Niro in New York New York. People should really blame Martin if they don't like how Robbie is portrayed there.
If you don't like harmonics, you don't like Robbie's playing, that's fine. It is similar to not liking blues runs played on the electric guitar, and trying to listen to Eric Clapton. It doesn't mean Clapton isn't great at that style. Robbie's in my Top 3 favorite players. Even at 16, on Ronnie Hawkins' version of Who Do You Love, he was as good as anyone who ever picked up a guitar to play a rock and roll lead.
If you can't hear Robbie's voice in The Last Waltz, that is because HE made the choice to mix himself out.

[Moon Dawg]

 MUSIC FROM BIG PINK goes deep with me, but conversely I've never fully appreciated THE BAND. The Band was better when Robbie was first among equals rather than the insufferable demigod of THE LAST WALTZ. Great movie that unwittingly shows why The Band HAD to break up: Could you have stood Robertson by that time?  

[Lonely Summer]

It's true that Scorsese put Robbie out front in Last Waltz, but Rick and Levon get a fair share of the spotlight. I love the scene where Levon is describing the medicine shows of old. The man just oozes charm, in a way that Robertson can only dream of. Danko is like the mischevious but kind hearted young boy of the group.

[I. Spaceman]

Robbie comes off as a charismatic professional, tackling an intense job of musical director, guiding the band from style to style, doing a great job on a wealth of unfamiliar material, and a great set of the group's own music. If I was him, I couldn't have stood being in a band with a bunch of junkies moving from booze to coke to smack, whining about Robbie not helping them finish their songs for them, and when he did, daring to take credit for it. Manuel wasted his talent and his voice and had no sense of a work ethic, he told Greil Marcus in 1972 that he probably would never finish another song. THAT is why the group broke up, Robbie didn't want to shoulder the responsibility, and spend the rest of his life on tour. The other members of the group wanted no real involvement in the postproduction of the film, besides rerecording parts of the soundtrack. The people who actually do the nuts and bolts work, stay the course, always end up with the blame as well.

[grillo]

Robbie comes off as a charismatic professional, tackling an intense job of musical director, guiding the band from style to style, doing a great job on a wealth of unfamiliar material, and a great set of the group's own music. If I was him, I couldn't have stood being in a band with a bunch of junkies moving from booze to coke to smack, whining about Robbie not helping them finish their songs for them, and when he did, daring to take credit for it. Manuel wasted his talent and his voice and had no sense of a work ethic, he told Greil Marcus in 1972 that he probably would never finish another song. THAT is why the group broke up, Robbie didn't want to shoulder the responsibility, and spend the rest of his life on tour. The other members of the group wanted no real involvement in the postproduction of the film, besides rerecording parts of the soundtrack. The people who actually do the nuts and bolts work, stay the course, always end up with the blame as well.

Read Levon's book and you might have a better idea of just what a lame prick robbie really was. Robbie wanted to be a movie star and live with scorsese and do blow all day. He was lucky to have those four guys playing his songs, and here's my favorite of Rick singing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDm5o3FJ2Q8! When you Awake.

[I. Spaceman]

Levon told several outright lies in that ghostwritten book, and admitted that his publishers insisted he heat up the conflict with Robbie in the book, for greater sales potential. He practically disowned the book. He and Robbie made up, and had a moving farewell meeting on Levon's deathbed.

OK?

[I. Spaceman]

And boy, aren't Jericho and High On The Hog such great Band albums? They were so much better without Robbie in the band. 

[Ron]

Whenever I come across The Last Waltz on TV, I have to watch it. I also like their Christmas song, "Christmas Must Be Tonight". There is going to be a special tribute to Levon Helm telecast on The Grammys this Sunday night.

It was o.k.  I'm still trying to figure out though why you get Elton John to cover two songs on the Grammys, then have some dude come out and do a pretty weak cover of an Elton John song.  Also.   Explain to me why you have Elton tribue a guy named Levon but don't have him sing his famous, beautiful, unbelievable greatest thing anybody ever did song named Levon. 

Signed,

Bitter in Charlotte, NC. 

[hypehat]

Robbie is an icon. An icon transcends pose, and becomes what others pose as. In The Last Waltz, he becomes a classic Scorsese leading man, ala De Niro in New York New York. People should really blame Martin if they don't like how Robbie is portrayed there.

Oh totally, he sets him up in his first shot! "Ask me that again", and all that.

The other members are so reticent at points, though, I can't blame him for relying on chatterbox Robbie.

As for Robertson shouldering the songwriting, there's Danko saying quite frankly that they always got more done without distractions. Ie, Manuel practically drinking himself into a coma, mountains of cocaine everywhere, general 70's rock excess. A shame, but I always saw that as kind of an admission.

Is there a good book on The Band? I know Barney Hoskyns wrote one, but isn't it pretty old by this point?

[grillo]

The Hoskyns book is great, as is Levon's book, though I guess it is a little Heroes & Villains at points. Also, I do agree that the Band was not very good without Robertson, but Robertson wasn't even kind of good without the band, so I think It's the chemistry etc. that made the band, especially the first two albums, so insanely amazing.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Whenever I come across The Last Waltz on TV, I have to watch it. I also like their Christmas song, "Christmas Must Be Tonight". There is going to be a special tribute to Levon Helm telecast on The Grammys this Sunday night.

It was o.k.  I'm still trying to figure out though why you get Elton John to cover two songs on the Grammys, then have some dude come out and do a pretty weak cover of an Elton John song.  Also.   Explain to me why you have Elton tribue a guy named Levon but don't have him sing his famous, beautiful, unbelievable greatest thing anybody ever did song named Levon. 

Signed,

Bitter in Charlotte, NC. 

I actually found the Levon Helm tribute song (The Weight) quite moving. Flawed but moving. I kept getting flashbacks or visions of a younger Levon, including The Last Waltz, and I was getting misty-eyed. Maybe it was the camera angle but the audience was really responding, too, especially the standing ovation at the end. That was quite a tribute to Levon, and a little surprising that they did it. There were a few other heavyweights who passed in 2012.