The Band.

xpost It's an Omnichord, a Lanois/Eno secret weapon. You can hear it all over Lanois's solo stuff (and also U2). Like here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrhIfbUsptw

"Crazy River" also has a really cool Manu Katche drum part.

By contrast Katche is hysterically emphatic all over "Fallen Angel" -- the first time I thought, "Whoa, chill out, dude!"

Elvis Costello, a massive fan of The Band, had a pretty good take on that solo debut: "it was like he decided to make a Peter Gabriel album, whereas his songwriting was much more interesting and enigmatic when he was working on that smaller scale. It's almost like the best songs on the record are the ones that operate on that scale but have then been artificially inflated with steroids to become this widescreen Peter Gabriel music."

That first album is about a year early to qualify for the Poppy Bush Interzone, but it wasn't a great seller (or, rather, it sound at Band levels, i.e. certified gold) and...did those singles get heavy MTV/VH-1 play? I know old fart P&J voters loved both his solo albums enough to list them, but he wasn't omnipresent like the Wilburys.

― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, August 10, 2023 12:47 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I never once saw a Robertson video, except for just now watching "Crazy River," which I assume is a parody of the actual video. But WXRT in Chicago played 3-4 songs from that album all the goddamn time. I will only be baffled that the reaction to those songs isn't/wasn't universally, "What the hell happened to him?! Is that even the same guy who wrote 'The Weight'?"

lol at Elvis Costello throwing implied shade at Gabriel

Wilbury-era is what I call the zone from 87-91 or so when a bunch of oldsters put out high profile albums that got good reviews in Rolling Stone.

Checking wiki, "Showdown At Big Sky" was a #2 Mainstream Rock hit, while "Crazy River" hit #24 there (and #15 Pop in the UK!).

XP ...and benefited from boomers getting CD players.

Robertson could've let Manuel or Danko sing "Crazy River" or "Broken Arrow" and I'd hear what David Fricke or whoever did.

Lanois OTM about the steaming part.

Speaking of Elvis, there’s a funny story about The Band showing up at the Brinsley Schwarz compound to rehearse. The Brinsleys sat around and gaped until Bob Andrews just couldn’t contain himself and went up to Garth and said something like “you don’t have any idea how great you really are,” at which point Garth immediately got up and said “I guess it’s time to go” and that was it.

In a true "We're not in Kansas anymore" moment, Robertson appeared on SNL again in '92 to promote Storyville, a week after Nirvana's legendary first appearance on the show.

wait, the "Brinsley Schwarz compound" ??

the chilli willi homesteading

Good piece on Garth:

https://defector.com/the-last-of-the-band🕸

They lived in a communal house and had a rehearsal place in an old barn or something, just like, just like…it’ll come to me.

the chilli willi homesteading

The Ducks Deluxe Expanse.

Rancho Roogalator

there it is

Garth Vader... more machine than man, now.

Also Costello's Band fandom was centered on Danko iirc

It was centered on EC growing a beard

Thread just became loltastic with this last string of posts.

PK, he said he did it to scare people.

Did The Band scare people? I feel like Garth and Richard and Rick and Levon - beards and all - would be basically cuddly teddybears if you interacted with them one-on-one.

If I have a time machine I would probably want to give Richard Manuel a hug. I would not say that of Bob Dylan.

I feel like Garth and Richard and Rick and Levon - beards and all - would be basically cuddly teddybears if you interacted with them one-on-one.

Be ready to knee their balls if they've had a few bottles of Wild Turkey.

Lol

Or: tell that to Todd Rundgren!

Ok lol Alfred.

Anyway Xp to President Keyes - in case it was unclear I mean EC growing a beard. In the Extreme Honey liner notes he says "...start to grow hair and beard. Seems to scare people, so grow it longer."

it is fair to say that EC has never let go, or at least has had trouble letting go of, his disdain for the dinosaurish 70s rock people that immediately preceded him and the other spittle flecked class of 77 guys… strongly dislikes Led Zeppelin and for that matter the kind of expensive, very processed ethic associated with Petey G.

I remember reading somewhere (maybe the Marc Eliot Eagles book lol) that The Band had one of the most notorious behind the scenes party, ur, scenes in '70s Rock--drugs, women, booze.

Forgive me if someone already posted this story from Derek Downham, but it echoes what Andrew Sandoval wrote:

The last time I saw Robbie Robertson I was at George Strombolopolis’ house when I was about to perform with Andy Kim. I believe it was just myself, Andy, George, Robbie and his publicist.

Robbie had just finished an interview with George about his new book at the time (Testimony), but once the interview technically stopped, Robbie kept talking.

Off the record he spoke of how much he tried his best to give his bandmates just due in regards to royalties. You could hear the sadness in his voice. He was in near tears talking about Rick and Levon. He said Levon resented him and many others at the time, but he genuinely tried to give him his due and his love. He heartedly loved him like a brother.

Levon’s book hurt him deeply. Robbie was pretty much in tears talking about it.

It made me respect him more than ever before…rest assured I was already a huge fan.

The usually impeccable Wayne Robins made a bad error in his writeup today.

Waiting for ILX0r TSF to weigh in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQQf9j4DzP0

Veronica Moser, this is rather off-topic, but that time that Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen kicked off a cover of "London Calling" by shouting "THIS IS FOR JOE!" stays in my memory.

It seemed to me almost like, um, a declaration of a truce between the dinosaurs and their descendants.

....until you hear Dave Grohl's sodden bellow, and you wish a meteor would hit him and the earth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whE20y5e1pI

Elvis actually liked Springsteen, who was kind of well-liked by a lot of up-and-coming rockers around the late '70s. (He hung out with the Ramones, Patti Smith was a skeptic who eventually warmed up to him, especially after he gave her "Because the Night," and Lou Reed even put it on record - literally - that he liked Bruce.) Costello's discussed this before - while he didn't like the romanticism of Born to Run or the way Darkness on the Edge of Town was produced (blaming that on Iovine), he's really a huge fan. At various times, he's given much praise to The Wild, The Innocent..., The River, Tunnel of Love, even The Ghost of Tom Joad.

FWIW, I found this re: Levon's financial problems, which really snowballed over the years. This was from his attorney Michael Pinsky in 2007 after Levon died:

Levon and his wife, Sandy, successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the second week of October of this year.
Their case is now closed, with creditors being paid in full and with interest over time.
One of the bankruptcy trustees in the Poughkeepsie court makes a practice of asking folks: “And what led up to your financial difficulty?”
In Levon’s case, the short answer to that question is several paragraphs long.

It began roughly 30 years ago with the break-up of the original Band and with “The Last Waltz”, the Martin Scorcese rock documentary chronicling the untimely end of one of the most groundbreaking and influential acts in the history of modern music.
After The Band reunited (without J.R. Robertson) came the tragic loss of lead singer, keyboardist and spiritual brother Richard Manuel in 1986.
Richard Manuel’s death devastated Levon.

Stan Szelest (who had been a member of The Hawks even before Ronnie Hawkins and Levon recruited Richard, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Robertson; and who also, in the 1980s, played with Levon in the Woodstock All-Stars) stepped in to play for the reunited Band in Richards’s place in 1990.
Because of Stan, also a close friend, Levon, Rick and Garth had started to move on after losing Richard.
Then in 1991, Stan Szelest died and Levon’s barn recording studio and home burned down.

In the fire, Levon and Sandy lost almost all of their possessions, along with many of Levon’s contracts and financial records.
The insurance proceeds for the rebuilding of their home and Levon’s studio were $100,000 short of what was needed.
They went into debt, and remortgaged their home.
Conflicts over finances with management and professionals for the reunited Band eventually boiled over into litigation.
Multiple lawsuits were filed against Levon, Sandy, Rick and Garth, leading to a default judgment eventually vacated as improper.
In the meantime, Levon’s royalty checks, then his primary source of income, were seized to satisfy that judgment and have never been returned.

Right after that, Helm gets cancer, which obviously causes a world of problems.

(obviously Reed wasn't up-and-coming by then, but spiritually a part of that scene)

Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen kicked off a cover of "London Calling" by shouting "THIS IS FOR JOE!" stays in my memory.

It seemed to me almost like, um, a declaration of a truce between the dinosaurs and their descendants.

huh? Didn't Springsteen, Strummer and Costello start their careers around the same time?

Did those midnight specials I mean midnight rambles bail Levon out towards the end?

bruce debuted 6 years before costello

Elvis Costello gave a couple of interviews early on deriding Springsteen for always “singing about the effing street” but later on he sort of changed his tune. Perhaps they bonded over shared appreciation of Van Morrison.

Springsteen debuted in 1973, when Costello was playing in pub rock bands. By the time Springsteen broke in 1975, Strummer was playing in pub rock bands too. Not sure where you get 6 years from--was there some Bruce demo in 1971?

This happens a lot with EC, usually in one of two distinct flavors. The first is pretending to dislike or at least not acknowledging something he actually did enjoy listening to like The Grateful Dead. The second is insulting a performer he didn’t think was cool enough at the time but eventually coming around, as was the case with Linda Ronstadt.

xp no you're right, i misread the date on 'greetings'

For me it is less about the timing than the arena style. I can't and won't explain it any better than that.

If you have seen any of Spectacle you will see how catholic (small c) are the tastes of Mr MacManus.

Anyway it has very little to do with Robbie and the Band, so it may be best to just leave it there.

Leaving it here:
https://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Uncut,_November_2008

Mistyped, should only be This was from his attorney Michael Pinsky in 2007: because Levon was still alive.

The Midnight Rambles DID save him financially, but those did not begin until January 2004. (Levon was first diagnosed with cancer in 1997 and went through surgery and radiation treatment the following year, all before Danko died in 1999, and it was awhile before Levon could really speak and sing again. Basically, a long stretch of time before he could right the ship.

xp I can't find a link, but watch the Spectacle episode with Springsteen, because he brings THAT up. As reported at the time:

The most amusing segment comes when they talk about the way Springsteen’s songwriting changed between 1975’s "Born to Run" and 1978’s "Darkness on the Edge of Town," becoming ... well, darker.

"One reason it was different is there was some young English songwriter at the time who said the songs on ‘Born To Run’ were too romantic," says Springsteen. "I can’t remember his name right now, but ..."

Costello looks genuinely surprised. "Was it me?" he asks. "It wasn’t me."

"I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment," says Springsteen, with delight. "What do you think? Of course it was."

IIRC Elvis then says something like "I had very strange ideas about romance back then."

There was a really good Rolling Stone profile on Levon in 2000, including Danko's funeral, and--Drudge sirens gif--Robbie doesn't come off well at all in his own direct quotes.