the band box set—anybody heard it??

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or, more precisely, what does anybody think of the pre- Dylan, pre-Big Pink stuff? To my knowledge, this is the first time (or first for a very long time) that those singles have been on CD…

I cannot spend my hard-earned on it at the moment, but am quite keen to hear what they sounded like as a hard-bitten bar band. Robertson was supposed to be quite the bad-ass picker for the time…

over to you…and I did a pretty thorough search, so apologies if I missed an existing thread…

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Thursday, 29 September 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

I have no real desire to hear it, not being a fan, but I will say that it's a very pretty artifact.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 29 September 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

I've always "appreciated" The Band more than I actually care to listen to them. They're clearly at their best with Dylan, on their own they're a little too NPR-ey for my taste.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 29 September 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

You're calling Richard Manuel "NPR-ey"? Ich don't think so.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 29 September 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

Two truly great albums -- Big Pink and the self-titled one -- and a handful of fine concert recordings doesn't diminish the fact that they don't quite live up to their legend. But I'll always love Levon, Garth, Richard and Rick (the latter sang beautifully at a free outdoor concert in Providence shortly before he died).
Robbie Robertson is a big fuckin' poseur, a thief, a fraud. But hey, he looked great in the Last Waltz, right?

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Thursday, 29 September 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

That box is a back and wallet buster but the first disc looks real good.

There are a lot of sound files at the Band website in Norway.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 29 September 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

here

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 29 September 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

The stuff with Ronnie Hawkins and then Levon and the Hawks is a lot of fun. The alt. tracks mostly scraping the bottom, since so much good stuff ended up on the reissues of the individual albums. One weird exclusion: the DVD includes three out of four of the band's 11/10/76 "SNL" perfromances, but not "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." My friend and I figure it's because that clip is on some other "SNL" collection, and either they had some no competition clause, or they wanted to keep it all unreleased.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 29 September 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

The "Don't Do It" clip from the '71 Academy of Music show is awesome. Sort of the opposite of the version that starts "The Last Waltz," in that everyone is made out to be a complete equal, and Robbie isn't pretending to sing.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 29 September 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

That version that starts the movie The Last Waltz was actually the encore of the show, wasn't it?

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 29 September 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, it was.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 29 September 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

I can never understand why people hate on Robbie Robertson so hard, it's like he personally stole their smokes or something

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Thursday, 29 September 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

I got sent an advance copy of the 33 1/3 book about Music from Big Pink: wow! It's described on the back cover as "faction", but it's basically a very very good novella that happens to have a bunch of real people in it (Danko, Manuel, Robertson, Dylan, Grossman, etc).

― Rick Spence (spencerman), Thursday, 29 September 2005 19:58 (twenty years ago)

o.k. then how about this…

who's the bigger douche, in terms of how he treated his bandmates…Fogerty or Robertson?

Do you let Fogerty off the hook, since the other guys apparently just did what they were told and never contributed significantly to songwriting, etc. (Mardi Gras being a good reason why they shouldn't have), whereas the case has been made credibly that Robertson took credit for things Levon and them did, and then preyed upon them?

On the other hand, Fogerty refused to share a stage with Cook and Clifford at the HoF induction of Creedence, and could not even bear to let bygones be bygones even as his own brother was on his deathbed?

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Thursday, 29 September 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

Levon's vocal take on this performance of "Up On Cripple Creek," from the Ed Sullivan show in '69, reminds me why I love this band so much

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Thursday, 29 September 2005 20:07 (twenty years ago)

One wonders what Ed thought of it, though. I mean, he didn't even know how to pronounce Levon's name, for Christ's sake.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Thursday, 29 September 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

Man, that sounds pretty good, I don't care what the naysayers on the other thread are saying!

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 29 September 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

fogerty's dickishness is more petty and unforgiveable but he's by far the bigger genius so i'm leaning his way.

is "moulty" on this?

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 29 September 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

Read Levon Helm's autobiography, and tell me what you think of Robbie Robertson after that. The guy's ego killed The Band.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 29 September 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

I haven't read that autobio, and Helm seems to me by far the greatest creative mind in the band - but at the same time, I don't ask my artists to be great guys: just make good records, and Robertson did that. I'll even rep for "Storyville," that's how bad off I am.

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Thursday, 29 September 2005 22:50 (twenty years ago)

Holy shit! I didn't know that about Fogerty!!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 29 September 2005 22:58 (twenty years ago)

Is there more evidence besides "This Wheel's On Fire" for Robertson being a dick?

― Jason Dent (jason dont), Thursday, 29 September 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

I got the impression after reading both 'This Wheel's on Fire' and 'Across the Great Divide' that Robertson may have been a dick but the rest of the band were too lazy to do anything about it.

― robertw, Friday, 30 September 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

blount, I don't think we're ever going to get to the bottom of this "Moulty" thing.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 30 September 2005 12:03 (twenty years ago)

They're clearly at their best with Dylan

There speaks a man who has never heard "Whispering Pines"

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

"Moulty" is not on this, nor are any of their other random apearances by various Band members: John Hammond, John Simon, Canonball Aderly, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, solo works ...

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Friday, 30 September 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

Dadaismus OTM. For my money, Richard Manuel is one of the most moving singers ever.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 30 September 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

... and Rick Danko's not far behind him!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 13:35 (twenty years ago)

I always like that part in "The Weight" when Rick takes over the lead vocal for a while.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 30 September 2005 13:55 (twenty years ago)

However, to be honest, I can't stand Levon Helm

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

... I mean I can't stand his voice, I'm sure he's a fine chap

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 30 September 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

Further to Robertw's post, I recommend Barney Hoskins'"Across the Great Divide: The Band and America" for a more balanced account of the story than Levon's sour grapes autobiography (at least toward Robertson).

Musically, the Band was greater than the sum of its parts. Yet we need only look at post-Robertson incarnations of the group to see what they were without Robbie's songs: a really good, soulful covers band.

― Tiberius, Friday, 30 September 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

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