C/D: The Last Waltz

So, aside from Neil Young's "Helpless" this movie is a GIGANTOR DUD.

Or, how about the part where they talk about "women on the road" and how much they like to get on top of them and how important they are to their great sludgey garbage-country rock AND THEN INTRODUCE JONI MITCHELL. Even I was offended.

So C and D at the same time. Can I pick that?

A few great performances (Helpless, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down) + the sheer volume of starpower at this show + Scorsese's kinetic direction + the majestic decadence of Winterland + a turkey dinner = Thanksgiving Day satisfaction.

When you're trotting out so many guests at your final show, obviously the actual music is going to kind of take a backseat to the spectacle.

that's some pretty good (unintentional(?)) rock criticism there on Scorsese's part

If you don't like Van Morrisson in Last Waltz, you don't like rock or being fucking wasted and fat and and awesome singer.

Manuel is fucking amazingly bonkers the whole time, the song where he plays drums (evangeline, it's one of the "set ups" not live)...he plays like some kinda wierd heroin muppet, he moves his body is such strange ways.....the scene where he's talking about how the name Honkies was "a little too street", i always wished i was an electronic music dude cuz i would sample that and have a song called "a little to street".....

also crewcial: the clapton/robertson guitar showdown where robbie pretty much hands God his fucking lunch until crapton decides "oh dude he's killing me" and actually delivers on his last solo turn....

also as everyone mentioned "don't do it" is so fucking epic...

ronnie hawkins is a goofball, but i still love it when he takes off his waylon cowboy hat and fans off robbie's guitar during the solo to cool things down...watch it robbie you might catch fire.

However, anybody who doesn't think the Band rocks should then watch Festival Express.

no shit they rip it up in fest exprs.

But Derek, I fucking love The Band, and they're like the epitome of a lot you don't like. But great sludgey garbage-country rock? Insert "punk" for "country" and you've got My War.

Deeeeeaaamn!!!!

I can't believe some of the sweeping statements on here. Yes, some of the performances are disappointing, particularly Dylan's, and the pious singalong of I Shall Be Released has none of the Big Pink version's mystery and longing, but as pointed out, it's beautifully shot and has more than its fair share of goodness and entertaining last gasp of the 60s rockistocracy antics (Van's trousers and high kicks, Neil Diamond's totally OTT and awesome turn, Ronnie Hawkin's showmanship, Neil Young's cocaine encrusted nasal hairs).
While Rock Of Ages is the truly great Band live recording, they're still on fine form here. Don't Do It is glorious and Levon is just immense on Dixie. The Joni and Emmylou tunes are lovely but I think the absolute highlight is Muddy Waters. He's just utterly, utterly awesome.
The pointless jam you get as a DVD extra is k-rub though.
Also, the interview segments were a massive influence on Spinal Tap, so even if you're not a fan of the music in the Last Waltz, you can't deny that it spawned one of the greatest comedy films evah!

I love this movie, overdubs and all.

this is on tv right now. every time i see it i like danko more and robbie less. danko, it's like you just wanna find some way to keep him safe. he's so great, but he seems so unequipped for life outside the band.

which i guess is an unfair characterization, because he really had a busy post-band career and all (and was obviously better equipped than richard manuel). but there's just something goofy and endearing and almost innocent about him in the movie, even though he always seems at least half-loaded. and he's so much fun to watch on stage.

There's a Scorsese season coming up in Vienna and they're showing this on the big screen. I am so there.

Am I the only one who thinks that Danko and Robertson were the spittin' images of De Niro and Keitel in Mean Streets?

Marty probably noticed that

I read somewhere that Neil Diamond said "just try and top that" to Dylan as he left the stage, to which Dylan said something like "how, by falling asleep?"

Yeah, I heard that story too, I can't really see Neil Diamond being that arrogant, after all he was about the only one there not coked off his nut

Which reminds me of another story, about a sequence having to be re-edited because Neil Young a huge line of coke-encrusted snot dangling from his nose... allegedly

it's actually just a small crystal hanging off his left nostril, iirc. i remember reading that they tried to fuzz it out, but you can see it if you're looking for it. (and if you're not looking for it, you probably wouldn't notice.) neil's also chewing gum sort of manically through the whole thing in a very cokey fashion. or looks like he's chewing gum, he could be just grinding his teeth. the accounts of the backstage coke room at that show are pretty crazy. wish there was footage of that.

also, this is a pretty nice backstage report.

Levon's bio has a great section on the utter ridiculousness of Neil Diamond's presence at the concert. Basically, Robbie was producing him at the time and got him on the bill.

all this talk of coke-encrusted faces...is that why Dylan wore whiteface on the Rolling Thunder tour?

"His munificence was engorged with snow" - Ginsberg on Dylan during the Rolling Thunder tour

I'll bet it was

“ Or, how about the part where they talk about "women on the road" and how much they like to get on top of them and how important they are to their great sludgey garbage-country rock AND THEN INTRODUCE JONI MITCHELL. Even I was offended.”

I caught that too, it was gross

Wasn’t familiar with The Band in any meaningful way prior to this, though while watching realized I’d encountered a few songs in the wild.

As an exercise in musicianship this was pretty fun. Neat to see Bob Dylan enjoying himself and loved the Joni Mitchell song, which I hadn’t heard before somehow.

But at some point during one of the many interludes I leaned over to my friend and muttered “this just makes me want to rewatch This Is Spinal Tap.”

Another thought, and it’s the same thought I had during Shine A a Light (which I wasn’t as impressed by in terms of performance): holy shit, how expensive was it to tour this production?!? And I’m not talking about the famous special guests, but the proper band and (if they were involved) the horn players and such?

Simple: they didn't tour the production. In the past they had only used horn sections live on special occasions (like the recording of Rock of Ages), and most of the arrangements in The Last Waltz were repeats from those sessions.

They didn't tour it, it was a one-off. Wiki doesn't give a budget but says the whole thing was financed by Warner Bros., who only agreed to fund it if the film included Dylan's performance. There was an anxious moment when Dylan suddenly said he didn't want to be filmed, but Bill Graham talked him round.

xp

Thanks Xpost

I love certain highlights but haven’t sat through the whole thing in decades and don’t plan on doing so anytime soon.

I wish they'd have left Neil's coke booger in and removed the prominent Confederate flag instead, tbh.

after Neil Diamond does his song doesn't Robbie say "thats a great song" or something?

Robbie co-wrote that song and produced that album, which says "produced by Neil Diamond" on the cover very prominently. That's pretty unusual for a 70s rock record. He's not exactly Phil Spector or even a Beatle or whatever.

xgau:

Beautiful Noise [Columbia, 1976]
This is a monstrous record. The "rock" star who broke the Broadway barrier seems to be thinking Big Musical, in the urban sentimental mode (complete with Evil, of course) that does such small justice to the challenge of New York. Although fellow urban sentimentalist Robbie Robertson can achieve an awesome (almost fulsome) fullness with rock instrumentation, his production is basically pop program music. Yet somewhere in my cockles I found Diamond hooking me as I listened for the last time and I had to admit that it takes a special kind of chutzpah to create a monster. C+

Robbie? Urban? that's an interesting take.

Urban on his father's side, and xgau may have been thinking along the lines of his Nothern Lights---Southern Cross review:

... the pure comeliness of every melody on this album led to an immediate infatuation. As I listened to the words, however, infatuation turned to mild affection, for the best of these songs is sentimental, and the worst (the two that are set in the city) are grossly sentimental. Only Garth Hudson, who has turned into a synthesizer natural, saves things in the end, and just barely. B+

Robbie? Urban? that's an interesting take.

He's from Toronto I believe? That's kind of a big city.

i spent a lot of time trying to figure out wtf van was wearing

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 9 August 2013 17:45 (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^^

somehow i only just watched this for the first time ever

neil diamond is fine you goofy mob lol (and better than fkn clapton)

I used to think it was a leisure suit Van has on but it’s not quite that, plus the hue of it changes as if one were watching an old color television like a Quasar or Magnavox.

i too take my leisure in a tight puce undershirt

*high kick*

rip

🥁

Leisure suit…pants suit…jump suit!

Is it purple? Is it brown? Some kind of textile version of a mood ring maybe?

It’s one of those things that’s perhaps best left unexplained

You can’t dust for sequin shade.

Sorry, one word, pantsuit. Trouser suit to you Britishes.

Some say that they're coming back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I'll just let the mystery be.

er, DeMent, I meant.

Robbie? Urban? that's an interesting take.

He's from Toronto I believe? That's kind of a big city.

Sure, but nobody would describe the Band's music as urban, would they? Even if they did their first album in NYC and their second in LA.

"Hobo Jungle" and "Rags and Bones", the two songs under reference, are both set in the city.

...and, the songs under accusation of being grossly sentimental, that makes Robertson an "urban sentimentalist" a year later.

Yeah, although xgau admits he likes the *sound* of the songs, and even gives the album a B+. Don't get so hung up on lyrics, 'gau (seems like he does that more and more). But since The Band did have some good lyrics some time before that record came out, guess he was struck by the difference.

He seems to consider Islands their worst, though I've never heard it. Is he right? Seems plausible at that point (I take it the title had to do with gaps).

Islands was an odds'n'sods set (that according to Robbie was promoted as a proper album) they delivered as a contractual obligation to Capital so Warners could release The Last Waltz.

If you like The Band, it's worth hearing as sort of a last hurrah of the original lineup as a studio band. They cover "Ain't That A Lot of Love" of which I know not a bad version. "The Saga of Pepote Rouge" is a sweet sing-along that appears on comps. "Twilight" is them doing Reggae.

I seem to also recall it was front-loaded with weaker material, a fatal move in the vinyl days.

my friends watch this every year on Thanksgiving

this year I went away thinking that Dr. John steals the show

Re: Islands, I think the last three tracks are keepers: "Georgia on My Mind," "Knockin' Lost John" and "Livin' in a Dream" (probably my favorite of the three). I enjoy them but don't care for the rest though "Pepote Rouge" and the Christmas song definitely have their fans.

The Last Waltz was my first real introduction to Dr. John. I only knew him as a piece of pop culture (Popeye's Chicken, Dr. Teeth's inspiration) and not as a musician - I was completely unfamiliar with "Such a Night" and absolutely loved it. The whole film was my introduction to a lot of things: "Helpless," "Caravan," Paul Butterfield, and above all the Band, and speaking as a kid who didn't know any of those songs or those particular people, the movie was amazing. So despite all the issues one would have with it (for good reason), I still think there's a lot that's great about it that can still make converts.

there's a lot you could sneer at, make fun of, poke holes in -- but as a once-a-year Thanksgiving ritual, it's brilliant. i always look forward to making fun of Neil Diamond, laughing hysterically at Van Morrison's kicks, grooving to Joni and Muddy Waters

the part where Clapton's guitar strap falls off and Robbie, without missing a beat, jumps right in and smokes him: classic

I don’t know if I buy that Robbie smoked him

Re: Neil Diamond, I'm not a fan, but I love his Bang recordings. Wish they played one of THOSE songs, it would've made the case for his inclusion rock solid. (Besides their history together, Robbie wanted Diamond as a representative of the Brill Building - every guest was supposed to represent one vital aspect of rock history up to that point, minus the proto-punk and avant-garde side that Robbie never seemed to care for.)

XP Fresh Smoked Clapton

I don't remember Diamond in that; what songs did he do, just ones from xxxpost Beautiful Noise? Don't know if it was out yet, but shoulda done "Sweet Caroline" with The Band x Toussaint's horns, also yeah Brill Building.

“Dry Your Eyes” iirc

And yeah the Bang stuff is great.

XP Fresh Smoked Clapton

minus the proto-punk and avant-garde side that Robbie never seemed to care for

Now pining for the Iggy & Zappa collabs that could have been.

Robbie: "The man...IGGY POP! He was in the Stooges!"

<The Band + Iggy perform shaky version of "Search & Destroy">

<Zappa's guitar strap breaks, Robertson smokes him by picking up the solo on "Pumping The Poodle (Variations #2)">

Robbie: "The man...IGGY POP! He was in the Stooges!"

<The Band + Iggy perform shaky version of "Search & Destroy">

Moe Tucker continues all the while unfazed and focused on pounding out the rhythm on her upended bass drum, doesn’t miss a beat.

David Crosby makes face to show that he is not amused, picks fights with all and sundry, including Graham Nash and a very out of it Michael Clarke.

i want this as my xmas card, i'm inbetween levon and garth lookswise at this point in my life

https://www.upstatefilms.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/theband-2048x1307.jpg