The Band

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the band are gr8 i went to see them at a festerval and charlie mattie and james was all gr8 charlie is sooooooooo fit why di ppl take the piss out of charlies eyebrows i think its up 2 him how he wants them and i think they r fine the way they r love ya loads charlie mattie and james love vick g

>>By vicky g   (Sunday, 20 Jul 2003 18:37)



Are you guys talking about thelegendary "The Band" formed in 1968 and dismembert in 1975? Great for their own music, but also for the great line up of people they were the studio and/or tour band for? Naming: Bob Dylan, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Ed Sullivan, Joan Baez, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Van Morrison.... etc etc etc etc...

widely known with a smal group of music lovers....

The Band kicked......

RIP Rick Danko

>>By Campking   (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 17:17)



and: Richard Manuel

>>By Campking   (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 17:18)



ah, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is one of my favorite songs...

>>By RavenBran   (Monday, 15 Dec 2003 03:12)



I was introduced to The Band's music after watching them appear on The Mike Douglas Show and, yes, this was some years back. Soon thereafter they announced they would break up and appeared on Saturday Night Live in advance of their final concert that would become the classic Scorsese documentary "The Last Waltz".

Simply put, they are a one stop shop for American music and this is significant because they were all from Canada except for the drummer. They are, sadly, also an example that you should quit while you're ahead. Levon Helm and a few of the others wanted to soldier on as a blues/rock ensemble and the bar band tours they led likely contributed to the unfortunate demise of Richard Emanuel, who was a terrific talent.

My favorite album was "Music For Big Pink" because it was very traditional and highly experimental at the same time. I also really enjoyed "Cahoots", although it was panned at the time.

What they confronted was the fact that it is extremely difficult to manage a band with multiple writers and to blend everyones artistry into a sound that conveys a common vision. This is especially true when you are saddled with being the exemplars of Americana (and you are Canadian), and the record company wants a string of hits. That they managed to hang together as long as they did is spectacular. Too many bands now are pretty much over within three records. The few labels that are left won't work with a group even through the initial term of their contracts. The music industry is full of silly people with atrocious business sense. I am convinced that if The Band were signed today as a new act they would have never had an opportunity to release "Music From Big Pink" because there is no hit on it and it sounds kinda homemade (in a good way). They would have been dropped and there A&R guy fired, I'm certain.

Robbie Robertson, after an eight year layoff, emerged with a very contemporary sound and he is a consistent innovator with his songwriting, which is commendable. However, to my mind tracks like "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Life Is A Carnival", etc., tracks that everyone pitched in on, are personal faves.

I saw Rick Danko and Levon Helm on one of Ringo Starr's summer revues years ago and, man, did those songs hold up! Danko did some Buddy Holly covers and those tunes held up well too. It is not so much, I believe, that the audience has so much invested in the material, although that factors in, it is simply that the tunes work great live. They have a certain spark that players know and can work. How many pop hits today are going to survive as bar band material? Are we really going to be playing Linkin Park and Fountains of Wayne songs at wedding gigs fifteen years from now. Will anyone even care about this stuff?

It may seem like a banal point, but live music must originate in small clubs and evoke a common experience enough to generate some small spark twenty years hence in a variety of settings if it is to adequately contribute to what we think of as popular culture.

The music that The Band made still works great. They are not an anachronism, their stuff maintains a vitality. Contemporary artists may borrow some of their schtick from these guys and do well...if record companies still care to hear stuff that will last.

>>By obelus   (Wednesday, 17 Dec 2003 17:34)



the band truly were a group of artists in a medium riddled with performers only given the monker of "artist". they had the greatest sense of how the other worked, especially live. they were the most homogenous band, i think, that popular has seen in thirty years or more. "music from big pink" and "the band" will forever stand as indelible marks on the history of popular music. they were a helluva lot of fun. they were stellar songwriters and musicians (so very rare). they were people of the highest order. and maybe most of all, they did everything from the heart. RIP Richard Manuel and Rick Danko. robbie is still a dick, though.

>>By exile103   (Tuesday, 23 Dec 2003 20:18)



Anyone who hasn't seen The Last Waltz is missing out. The Band really put on a show. "Acadian Driftwood" is insanely awesome, I can't even think of any words to describe it. I also love "It makes no difference".

>>By etsubucs23   (Thursday, 4 Mar 2004 00:26)



agree 100% with etsubuc23 also love " when i paint my masterpiece" and "the weight" i don"t think you can classify them as just popular or rock and roll they are in a class all their own. i will ALWAYS be one their biggest fans.

>>By xman256256   (Sunday, 18 Apr 2004 22:11)



Say what you want to about J. Robbie Robertson, he was the motivating influence behind The Band, and is a Guitarist of the First Order.Doubt it?LISTEN to the album "The Last Waltz" - it has Eric Clapton doing a Scorching rendition of Further on Up the Road. Made me think "This is Eric at his BEST". Then WATCH the Movie, "The Last Waltz". As the Guitar Solo is just getting started, Clapton's strap came undone, and he damned near dropped the Guitar onto the stage. WITHOUT MISSING A LICK, Robbie Robertson stepped in and did the better part of the Solo. When Clapton got his Guitar restrapped, the two of 'em laid it to rest. There were no prisoners taken and no survivors: just some of the hottest Electric Blues riffs in the History of Western Civilization. Robertson's solo album, "Showdown at Big Sky" is simply wonderful - and when he performed the title track on SNL, that was Maria McKee of Lone Justice backing him up.
The Band w/out J. Robbie is like the Beatles w/out John Lennon: they ceased to exist after the farewell concert, The Last Waltz. I saw them once, at what was, up to that time, the largest Rock Concert ever held - Watkins Glen in June, 1973 (600,00 in attendance - that's 200,000 more than were at Woodstock). Although the Rolling Stones were the self-proclaimed "Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band" in the World at the time (and they WERE good back then) (My first concert - The Stones w/Stevie Wonder and WonderLove at RFK Stadium, July 4, 1972 In D.C.), many/most Live Music aficionados of the Time believed that the Title belonged to either the Grateful Dead or The Allman Bros. Band - who just happened to be the other two Acts at the Glen that day. All three put on shows that were worthy of all the superlatives in the book. But it was during the Band's set that a Thunderstorm suddenly rolled in, cooling off the Heathen Masses from the 95 degree Heat, and The Band seized that moment to kick it up just a notch more for the Highlight of the whole damned afternoon. Magnificent.
And Robertson's a pretty good Actor, as well. That's him with Gary Busey in "Carney" (Jodie Foster, too). He handled that straight razor with authority - as if though, maybe, he knew something about that type of Lifestyle in real life. Before Bob Dylan "discovered" them, they were an itinerant, Bar Band. They paid their dues.....
Say what you will about Robbie Robertson; he's okay in my book....

>>By Pincushion   (Tuesday, 20 Apr 2004 08:51)



the shape i'm in one of the best fucking song

>>By wo_Ot-   (Sunday, 23 Jan 2005 01:37)



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