Favourite Member Of The Band

[Aum Bop Diddit]

I go against the Robbie bashing much as I go against Mike Love bashing -- so much of it seems to be reflex and uninformed (face it -- by far most of us were NOT there).  I'm sure they could all be dicks.  Surely not saints.  What I see in the Last Waltz is a guy (Robertson) who wants to get off the road to save his life.  He steps out a bit in his playing and certainly reaches for the spotlight more than ever, but I'd say he does a good job of it.  It's Rock and Roll!  As for song writing credits, well that can be a bit dicey, but ultimately it was Robertson who sat down and put it together.  Kinda like Jagger/Richards in the Stones.  I admire bands like the Doors that made a point of democratic credits, but that is certainly the exception.

And Levon, great as he was, seems to have been content to hold a grudge a long long time, not what I consider an endearing quality.  Though I understand Robbie did visit him at the end and I hope they made peace.  But yeah, what an incredible talent.

BTW I voted for Danko because my favorite Band songs are sung by him.  And he seemed like a really likable guy.  But now I wished I had voted Garth.  Or Robbie.  Or....

[hypehat]

IDK, there are shades of gray. You can accept Robertson's failings. I do it with Mike Love!

[Aum Bop Diddit]

IDK, there are shades of gray. You can accept Robertson's failings. I do it with Mike Love!

It doesn't hurt that he wrote all those amazing songs.  One thing we all seem to agree on is we dig the Band.  Like the Beach Boys, their story is one of the greatest of heights along with squandered opportunities; interesting, brilliant, complex personalities interspersed with tragedy.  And of course some of the best music ever made that we can listen to any time we like.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

IDK, there are shades of gray. You can accept Robertson's failings. I do it with Mike Love!

It doesn't hurt that he wrote all those amazing songs.  One thing we all seem to agree on is we dig the Band.  Like the Beach Boys, their story is one of the greatest of heights along with squandered opportunities; interesting, brilliant, complex personalities interspersed with tragedy.  And of course some of the best music ever made that we can listen to any time we like.

I'd say he wrote maybe a handful or less of amazing songs and a whole lot of merely OK ones that were elevated to near greatness by his band's vocal/playing chops and his own playing chops.... I still love him though.

[hypehat]

I think the problem with Robertson's writing is that his storytelling can often become laboured. Like, Up On Cripple Creek clearly tells some kind of a story. It's a narrative. And so is, ooh, Daniel & The Sacred Harp.

But Cripple Creek isn't much of a story, it's a Tortilla Flat/Cannery Row kinda thing. It holds no great meaning. It's a shaggy dog story. Guy comes into town, he and Bessie have some fun, he leaves. Robertson sticks to the punchlines, the details are there when they need to be (an entire verse is about a horse race just to set up Besse tearing up his winnings 'just for a laugh', but then hey it has it's own little punchline too to keep you going). And, for me personally, you learn a lot about America and Americans by reading books like Tortilla Flat or Cannery Row.
But yeah, it's 'I went to Louisiana cos it's fun. Here is some of the really fun fun I had. I'm off now, somewhere, but I might be back'. With emphasis on the middle section.

Daniel & The Sacred Harp is literally a story, or more of a parable. Daniel hears about The Sacred Harp. Daniel goes off to find The Sacred Harp. Some time passes. Daniel comes back. He has... The Sacred Harp. Someone asks him how he got The Sacred Harp. He tells you about a guy he knows who got him The Sacred Harp. Daniel is sad because the Sacred Harp has a EVIL PRICE (that price just means you'll go to prison, tbh). He goes up on the mountain top and plays The Sacred Harp and notices a hackneyed manifestation of being a Lost Soul. Ner Ner Ner Ner. He goes for a dance in the fields, for reasons unspecified. And sells the rhythm section The Sacred Harp.

And for a song that detailed, it really doesn't explain a lot - Daniel just wants The Sacred Harp because... it's there? The guy just leaves him there and comes back with it? Yeah, I totally want a few lines of Levon singing about a guy sitting on his ass for 20 years or something rather than him singing about a daring harmonica heist and that guys odyssey to get some dude a stupid harmonica.

Also this song is about a harmonica, you can buy one of those for like £5, c'mon Daniel, why would you even want a second hand harmonica anyway that's nasty.

If that same approach was given to Up On Cripple Creek it'd be a verse and a half of him getting off the mountain. Or why Levon wants off the mountain. He'd never make it to Cripple Creek. It'd just be about Levon Helm having a boring time doing his menial job on the mountain and then it would finish with the first verse.

I think he gets confused as to what good storytelling in song actually is. I mean, you could sit and read Daniel & The Sacred Harp, sure. But you sure as hell can't listen to it.

[SMiLE Brian]

Whispering Pines is blowing my mind....

[JK]

Whispering Pines is blowing my mind....

One of The Band's finest. Richard and Levon's call and response is positively heartbreaking.

[SMiLE Brian]

Listening to the early albums, and its apparent how Richard Manuel was almost a robbie's equal in songwriting. Such a shame Richard stopped developing from too much booze and drugs.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Listening to the early albums, and its apparent how Richard Manuel was almost a robbie's equal in songwriting. Such a shame Richard stopped developing from too much booze and drugs.

Hey, ain't that the story with most of us? 

[SMiLE Brian]

Except Mike Love.

[Lonely Summer]

Except Mike Love.

If Richard had lived, he'd probably be writing songs like "I was up on cripple creek suffering from stage fright, driving old Dixie down through the night; on that endless highway northern lights, ...."

[feelsflow]

Richard got my vote - voice and beard.  Only Stevie Winwood could equal his Ray Charles.  Great falsetto too.  Cahoots is not a snooze.  It came after three stunners, and Robbie was trying to write about something more than just songs of the south.  It was their last record of original material made in the Woodstock area, at the Bearsville Studio.  They went on to make some great music after this, but the power shift changed things.  Let's leave it at that.  Cahoots had power under the needle.  The Moon Struck One is my favorite.  Shoot Out in Chinatown and 4% Pantomime (boy, wish they would have taken advantage of having Van at Winterland to do it) are brilliant.  Smoke Signal and Volcano worked even better live, as did When I Paint My Masterpiece and The River Hymn.  And, this is when Robbie approached Allen Toussaint, which led to his help on Rock of Ages - one of the best live records ever.  I got to see the Before the Flood tour with Dylan, but they were even better at the Day On the Green show in Oakland 1974 when they were one of the opening acts, along with Jessie Colin Young and Barnstorm, for CSN&Y's incredible four hour blow-out/bow-out.  I have a DVD boot of the London show, and next year they will make it official.  The Band played for over three hours.  Hypehat, Daniel and the Sacred Harp was born out of a discussion on Sacred Harp, a type of traditional Protestant/Church of England hymnal using four-part singing. IIRC Levon mentions this in The Last Waltz, when he talks about singing "rounds."  But, a round is different than a Sacred Harp.  The group did this often, The Weight is a good example, each taking a turn then all coming in together.  Daniel Read was one of the American leaders (First New England School) of the style.  Garth is a music historian, and could have been the one to first bring it up - though he did not ask for a co-writer credit.  But it was just such what Levon did feel, that the songs were a group effort.   Although Robbie could have just been going for a Biblical reference using Daniel, and Levon adding "blew" his harp, the imagery is most surely the kind of harp an Angel plays - Robbie plays Auto-Harp on it.  Can I resist mentioning Levon changed a word without the appropriate credit?  Nah, can't.  Not when it made you think what he was singing had a completely different meaning.  The song is a parable - Faustian, about greed.  Check with Robert Johnson for more on that.           The track is from my favorite Band long-player, Stage Fright.  Recorded mostly at The Woodstock Playhouse.  Which btw, has now been rebuilt after burning down in 1988.   Will    

[Ovi]

Decided to give their discography a try and started out chronologically. I'm listening to 'Music from Big Pink' for the first time just as I'm typing this. Just out of curiosity, can someone point out to me which members sings lead on each song? Also, what's the general consensus on the 2000 remasters?

[G.C]

My vote goes to Laurie Anderson.

[SMiLE Brian]

Feelsflow, that is amazing you saw the "before the flood" tour of 1974.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Feelsflow, that is amazing you saw the "before the flood" tour of 1974.

So did I, at the L.A. Forum. Blew my mind. Was on the floor, bout a third of the way back. Probably the best show I ever saw (that and McCartney & Wings Rock show).

[Mr. Wilson]

The Weight is one of my all time favorite songs of all time and I"ve been  playin that song Off + on for 30 yrs..  I love the band GREAT songs..!  Another fave is  It makes No Difference.. When I  got a  divorce I would put that on + cry in my beer + jam along with it.. Very touching song + vocal.. You can hear the pain in his voice when he sings it. { Rick } He knows all too well the pain inside.. The Band gets a 10..

[Lonely Summer]

The Weight is one of my all time favorite songs of all time and I"ve been  playin that song Off + on for 30 yrs..  I love the band GREAT songs..!  Another fave is  It makes No Difference.. When I  got a  divorce I would put that on + cry in my beer + jam along with it.. Very touching song + vocal.. You can hear the pain in his voice when he sings it. { Rick } He knows all too well the pain inside.. The Band gets a 10..

I'm always reading that their first and second albums were great, and everything that followed was worthless, so it's nice to know that I'm not alone in enjoying their later stuff. It Makes No Difference had the same effect on me after a very painful breakup. I was in a record store in the winter of 2000 when that song came on, and it just tore me to pieces.

[Mr. Wilson]

All their albums are worthy some more than others..  The problem is the 1st two were perfection so they were bound to disappoint .. They elevated song writing + musicianship to a higher level.. Clapton broke up Cream cause He knew after listening to The Band that Jamming was worn out and good songs were IT..  Huge Influence on music back then..I LOVE EM..!!!!!!!!!

[Mark H]

Thanks for the opening post Hypehat!

A fantastic and funny read, I just got their albums on japanese mini LP and will be burning and re-listening to the discography during bus trips over the next few days.  I'll pick a favourite after that I think!

100% correct in your beard ratings 

[Mr. Wilson]

Good songwriting will always outshine jamming.. When I heard  The Band I had the same reaction as Clapton. .But I was a nobody in high school .. Around the same time The Byrds were getting country With Gram Parsons + Clarence White so the song form continued.. I changed musically from a jammer to thinking songs way back then still to this day..  I only bring this up cause of the HUGE movement around then towards the changing of music values.. I mean after that you had the country rock thing + the singer songwriters mode..  You still had bands that jammed but you had to be REALLY good + songs.. {Allmans + Dead }  Bands Like Iron Butterfly  And those bands died away.. It all started way back then.. I have a lot of respect for The Band..

[Lonely Summer]

I like their second album the best, followed by Northern Lights-Southern Cross. I never cared much for jam bands, although I know plenty of people that eat up that stuff. IMHO the jammers brought out the worst excesses in music, and hundreds of second and third rate musicians look up to them as icons. Better I say to model yourself after The Band - not a note was played that didn't need to be there. It all served the song.

[Menace Wilson]

I could have gone with practically any of them except for Robertson.  In the end I chose Garth, the unsung genius of the group.

[Lonely Summer]

I guess Garth is the easiest one to overlook, he wasn't a singer, or a songwriter, but boy, could that man play! All that classical training he had as a young man sure enhanced his playing. Very inventive musician. Now if I was to go by The Last Waltz alone, I would say Richard was the easiest to overlook - he was barely in it, only got a couple vocal leads - The Shape I'm In and during the I Shall Be Released finale. I don't know if this was Robbie's doing, or if Richard just wasn't up to it by that time.

[JK]

I'm listening to 'Music from Big Pink' for the first time just as I'm typing this. Just out of curiosity, can someone point out to me which members sings lead on each song?

Better late than never. This, to the best of my knowledge, is the run-down (corrections welcome):

"Tears of Rage"----Richard
"To Kingdom Come"----Robbie
"In a Station"----Richard
"Caledonia Mission----Rick, Richard's falsetto added in verses
"The Weight"----Levon (first 3 verses), Rick (fourth verse), Rick/Levon (fifth verse), Richard's falsetto added in choruses
"We Can Talk"----Richard/Rick/Levon
"Long Black Veil"----Rick
"Chest Fever"----Richard/Rick/Levon
"Lonesome Suzie"----Richard
"This Wheel's on Fire"----Rick
"I Shall Be Released"----Richard 

According to biographer Barney Hoskyns, whose Across the Great Divide supplied much of the above information, "In The Band's staple three-part harmony, Richard's falsetto sat on top, Rick was in the middle, and Levon lay on the bottom."