August 21, 2009 Playlist

 

"The Band" by The Band (1969)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
The Band  "The Band"  1969 (Canada/USA)
The band known simply as "The Band" were crucial in the late 1960's move away from heavy flower-power rock towards the mellower, country-ish "Americana" sounds of the 1970's.  Bob Dylan's 1967 album John Wesley Harding may have been the spark that set this movement off, but that album had in turn been recorded immediately after Dylan spent the summer jamming with the five cats pictured at left, and re-working his style in the process (those jams of course later turned up as The Basement Tapes in 1975.)  The Band officially debuted the following year in 1968 with a landmark debut album Music From Big Pink.  But it was arguably on this, their second album, where the group truly hit its peak.  Whereas the spirit of Dylan loomed large over their debut, on this self-titled record featuring all original compositions The Band stepped out from under Bob's shadow and became a legendary musical force in their own right.  (And how ironic is it that the "greatest America-rock band ever" was four-fifths Canadian?)
Here's a compulsively watchable clip of The Band jamming on "King Harvest" from The Band, and here's a live version of the group's biggest hit from this album, "Up On Cripple Creek".  And finally here is yet another classic tune off of this LP, as performed in the concert film The Last Waltz:  "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".  Like most of The Band's material beginning with this album, all three of these amazing tunes were written by guitarist J. Robbie Robertson (far right on the album cover.)
 
(N) = New Release
   
Artist Song Album Year (label) Country
William Penn Fyve Swami Pebbles Vol. 3 (various artists) rec. 1966 USA
Christmas Just Suppose Christmas 1970 Canada
Bent Wind Mystify Sussex 1969 Canada
Shadrack Chameleon Long Road To Ole' Miss. Shadrack Chameleon 1973 USA
Lea Riders Group Dom Kellar Os Mods Pebbles Vol. 3 (various artists) rec. 1968 Sweden
Mecki Mark Men I Had A Horse Mecki Mark Men 1967 Sweden
 
 
Big Brother & The Holding Company Combination Of The Two (live) Cheap Thrills 1968 USA
The Chambers Brothers Bang Bang (live) Peace Love & Happiness 1968 USA
Neil Young Yonder Stands The Sinner (live) Time Fades Away 1973 Canada
The Band Look Out Cleveland (live) A Musical History (box set) rec. 1971 Canada/USA
The Band Across The Great Divide The Band
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		 1969 Canada/USA
The Band King Harvest (Has Surely Come) The Band
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		 1969 Canada/USA
   
 
Dinosaur jr Plans Farm (N) 2009 (Jagjaguwar) USA
Sonic Youth Massage The History The Eternal (N) 2009 (Matador) USA
Wand Eyes Hard Knox (N) 2009 (Ecstatic Peace!) USA
Joan Of Arc Tsunshine / A Delicious Herbal Laxative Flowers (N)
 2009 (Polyvinyl) USA
Boogie Boarder Dirty Gary / USRA Pizza Hero (N) 2009 (Famous Class) USA
   
 
Pan To Scratch The Sourcerer Pan To Scratch / Xiphiidae (N - split LP) 2009 (Earjerk / Housecraft) USA
Lens Side A Surveyor (N - cassette) 2009 (Too Heavy Cassettes) USA
 
 
The Serpents Tape Hiss You Have Just Been Poisoned By The Serpents 1999 UK (Wales)
Jerry Garcia Spidergawd / Eep Hour Garcia 1972 USA
Seishokki Tracks 5 & 6 Organs of Blue Eclipse rec. 1975-77 Japan
 
  
Karlheinz Stockhausen
(Aug 22, 1928 - Dec 5, 2007)		 Stimmung (excerpt) Stimmung 1969 Germany
          
 Karlheinz Stockhausen
   
Back to playlists         Back to main