Hi. It´s not the first time i´d rank a back catalogue same as you. Totally agree with your ranking. Fun fact (for me at least): A friend of mine and i sat for an hour with Rick in a pub in Tromsø and drank some beers. We talked and laughed and had a real good time. I believe it was i 1991. Danko was such a gentle soul. I love that guy.
my father was a musician, and he was such a superfan of The Band that I heard every album ad nauseum until I was 10yo. my father is responsible for my losing interest in a lot of music due to overplay, but somehow The Band's albums have aged well for me. I would flip 1 and 2 because I think Songs from the Big Pink resonates more with me. I also think the morose atmosphere of Cahoots makes me place it higher than Stage Fright. but the rest I fully agree with. I enjoy all of their 70s records (including Rock of Ages), and I guess I'm afraid to check out the reunion albums from the 90s. I agree that Moondog Matinee is easily the least satisfying from their original run, but it should be no surprise no one was excited when this extremely talented bunch of songwriters did an entire album of covers?!
Hi Adam. How on earth has it taken 82 episodes to get round to critique the work of The Band. They are in my opinion one of the very best bands of all time. Those first few albums essential. Not sure what it is with me and Canadian bands/artists. I love Rock of Ages, especially with the horns.
I think you are pretty much spot on here. Where would you place Bob Dylan & The Bands Planet Waves from 1974? I would have loved to hear The Band sing more on that album instead of mostly Bob Dylan even though I like the album how it is. I prefer it over several releases by The Band. I don't think any of their records (mentioned in this video) deserve the label as bad. But some are as put it flat and not really something you must have. Of the albums that rarely get any praise.. Islands is the one I return to the most. Some of the others just gather dust in my collection... Like Jubilation and Moondog Matinee. My first record from The Band was Stage Fright. Maybe not as important as the two before but a easy listen that also is a very good listen. It was a perfect entry for me. I would say that any of these four is a good place to begin: Music from Big Pink (1968) The Band (1969) Stage Fright (1970) Northern Lights - Southern Cross (1975)
Here is a list following slightly different rules but that does not much impact the overall outcome. 10. High on the Hog - Even the "High" in the album title is a lie. 9. Jubilation - Had it not "Band" on the cover probably nobody would even talk about this album. 8. Moondog Matinee - They started their career as somebody's band playing somebody's songs... 7. Islands - I had to look up the track list and still could not remember most of the songs. This is sadly the case for everything Robertson wrote after 1975. 6. Jericho - Atlantic City and Blind Willie McTell beat the originals. They were not written by a band member, nor was any of the other acceptable tracks. This is their dilemma at that stage. 5. Cahoots - The highlights are less high and the rest is just competent. 4. Stage Fright - This is where "great" ends and "solid" begins. There are a few top songs (The Shape I'm In, Stage Fright, The Rumour) and the rest is perfectly performed, but as a whole it is uneven and at times uninspired. 3. Northern Lights, Southern Cross - Five years in the 70s was a very long time and probably most people did not expect the group to ever come up with a good album again. It was different from anything they had done before as they were putting more emphasis on the music than on the songs - in a way this is Garth Hudson's masterpiece more than the others. 2. The Band - Sure, they invented Americana with this one although it took decades until they had a name for it. Until then it was simply "The Brown Album" and everybody knew what you were talking about. Robbie Robertson's masterwork with a band that shared and illustrated his vision. 1. Music From Big Pink - This was 1968 when they released an album like nothing ever recorded before or after. Had they never recorded another one they would still have written history. None of the topics were "rock topics", none of the band members was the star or the lead singer or the virtuoso, none of the songs was a hit. Then you listen a second and third time and you realise, each song is a classic and each band member is a genius and this is one of the greatest albums ever made. And when it is re-evaluated anew each decade you find it has again grown stronger. There are perfect albums in music history and this is one. Where to put Basement Tapes? The songs are great, they were history already long before the official release - this is a document of an era rather than an album. Unbelievable in its impact on whoever heard a bootleg copy of one of the songs and covered it. It is not a record I pull out to listen to since a long time. Odds and ends... Not to forget that they released one classic Live Double Album, the fantastic Rock of Ages - forget about the drunken all star overblown party they pumped out later.
The Last Waltz was a beautiful goodbye to a band and a whole era. Wonderfully shot and edited too. Up there with the Woodstock film and Concert for George. As Adam says, try getting through Rick Danko singing It Makes No Difference without tearing up. I can't.
@@PhilBaird1 Last Waltz may have well been a goodbye to an era - I was 19 when it came out, so I think I must know. But it was no celebration but a very sad sell-out by a band that was no longer one. There are good guest appearances here and there but I take the album (not the movie) and that was 3 LPs of which at least two sides were garbage, e.g. the studio suite. Overblown. The 70s were full of great live albums but this was not one of them. I see that later generations often fall for that "legend" making - but in 1976 the Band were just drunken drugged shadows of a former self and caught inside their own legend. Not to forget that the whole thing was released almost two years after the event - at a time when meanwhile everything had changed drastically.
My go to album by The Band is Rock of Ages. It would have been great to be at The Last Waltz concert, but all those star names break the flow and means that it rarely suits my mood. I only have the three studio albums, Music from Big Pink, The Band and Stage Fright. All are very good, but I don't love any of them.
Great stuff man! Like your reviews!
Hi. It´s not the first time i´d rank a back catalogue same as you. Totally agree with your ranking.
Fun fact (for me at least): A friend of mine and i sat for an hour with Rick in a pub in Tromsø and drank some beers. We talked and laughed and had a real good time. I believe it was i 1991. Danko was such a gentle soul. I love that guy.
Wow! That would have been some drink. Nice to hear he was a lovely guy
my father was a musician, and he was such a superfan of The Band that I heard every album ad nauseum until I was 10yo. my father is responsible for my losing interest in a lot of music due to overplay, but somehow The Band's albums have aged well for me. I would flip 1 and 2 because I think Songs from the Big Pink resonates more with me. I also think the morose atmosphere of Cahoots makes me place it higher than Stage Fright. but the rest I fully agree with. I enjoy all of their 70s records (including Rock of Ages), and I guess I'm afraid to check out the reunion albums from the 90s. I agree that Moondog Matinee is easily the least satisfying from their original run, but it should be no surprise no one was excited when this extremely talented bunch of songwriters did an entire album of covers?!
Hi Adam.
How on earth has it taken 82 episodes to get round to critique the work of The Band.
They are in my opinion one of the very best bands of all time. Those first few albums essential. Not sure what it is with me and Canadian bands/artists.
I love Rock of Ages, especially with the horns.
I think you are pretty much spot on here. Where would you place Bob Dylan & The Bands Planet Waves from 1974? I would have loved to hear The Band sing more on that album instead of mostly Bob Dylan even though I like the album how it is. I prefer it over several releases by The Band.
I don't think any of their records (mentioned in this video) deserve the label as bad. But some are as put it flat and not really something you must have. Of the albums that rarely get any praise.. Islands is the one I return to the most. Some of the others just gather dust in my collection... Like Jubilation and Moondog Matinee.
My first record from The Band was Stage Fright. Maybe not as important as the two before but a easy listen that also is a very good listen. It was a perfect entry for me. I would say that any of these four is a good place to begin:
Music from Big Pink (1968)
The Band (1969)
Stage Fright (1970)
Northern Lights - Southern Cross (1975)
Here is a list following slightly different rules but that does not much impact the overall outcome.
10. High on the Hog - Even the "High" in the album title is a lie.
9. Jubilation - Had it not "Band" on the cover probably nobody would even talk about this album.
8. Moondog Matinee - They started their career as somebody's band playing somebody's songs...
7. Islands - I had to look up the track list and still could not remember most of the songs. This is sadly the case for everything Robertson wrote after 1975.
6. Jericho - Atlantic City and Blind Willie McTell beat the originals. They were not written by a band member, nor was any of the other acceptable tracks. This is their dilemma at that stage.
5. Cahoots - The highlights are less high and the rest is just competent.
4. Stage Fright - This is where "great" ends and "solid" begins. There are a few top songs (The Shape I'm In, Stage Fright, The Rumour) and the rest is perfectly performed, but as a whole it is uneven and at times uninspired.
3. Northern Lights, Southern Cross - Five years in the 70s was a very long time and probably most people did not expect the group to ever come up with a good album again. It was different from anything they had done before as they were putting more emphasis on the music than on the songs - in a way this is Garth Hudson's masterpiece more than the others.
2. The Band - Sure, they invented Americana with this one although it took decades until they had a name for it. Until then it was simply "The Brown Album" and everybody knew what you were talking about. Robbie Robertson's masterwork with a band that shared and illustrated his vision.
1. Music From Big Pink - This was 1968 when they released an album like nothing ever recorded before or after. Had they never recorded another one they would still have written history. None of the topics were "rock topics", none of the band members was the star or the lead singer or the virtuoso, none of the songs was a hit. Then you listen a second and third time and you realise, each song is a classic and each band member is a genius and this is one of the greatest albums ever made. And when it is re-evaluated anew each decade you find it has again grown stronger. There are perfect albums in music history and this is one.
Where to put Basement Tapes? The songs are great, they were history already long before the official release - this is a document of an era rather than an album. Unbelievable in its impact on whoever heard a bootleg copy of one of the songs and covered it. It is not a record I pull out to listen to since a long time. Odds and ends...
Not to forget that they released one classic Live Double Album, the fantastic Rock of Ages - forget about the drunken all star overblown party they pumped out later.
Brilliant reviews Roxanne....we disagree on Rock of Ages and The Last Waltz but love your appraisals of the other albums!
The Last Waltz was a beautiful goodbye to a band and a whole era. Wonderfully shot and edited too. Up there with the Woodstock film and Concert for George. As Adam says, try getting through Rick Danko singing It Makes No Difference without tearing up. I can't.
@@PhilBaird1 Last Waltz may have well been a goodbye to an era - I was 19 when it came out, so I think I must know. But it was no celebration but a very sad sell-out by a band that was no longer one. There are good guest appearances here and there but I take the album (not the movie) and that was 3 LPs of which at least two sides were garbage, e.g. the studio suite. Overblown. The 70s were full of great live albums but this was not one of them.
I see that later generations often fall for that "legend" making - but in 1976 the Band were just drunken drugged shadows of a former self and caught inside their own legend.
Not to forget that the whole thing was released almost two years after the event - at a time when meanwhile everything had changed drastically.
It must’ve took ages for them to come up with that band name
My go to album by The Band is Rock of Ages. It would have been great to be at The Last Waltz concert, but all those star names break the flow and means that it rarely suits my mood. I only have the three studio albums, Music from Big Pink, The Band and Stage Fright. All are very good, but I don't love any of them.