156. The Band - The Band (1969)




















Track Listing

1. Across The Great Divide
2. Rag Mama Rag
3. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
4. When You Awake
5. Up On Cripple Creek
6. Whispering Pines
7. Jemima Surrender
8. Rockin' Chair
9. Lookout Cleveland
10. Jawbone
11. Unfaithful Servant
12. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Review

The Band, by The Band... After Music From Big Pink, The Band kept on developing their exploration of American traditional sounds with a twist, and this album is a great example of that. It's peppered with Americana, from the lyrics to the Banjos and Harmonicas which mix with electronic organs and electric guitars like they were always meant to be a part of the songs.

There is one problem with this album, but it has nothing to to with The Band. The problem is how influential The Band were and who they influenced, and sometimes there are whiffs of what would later be AOR, or Adult Oriented Rock, and stuff like the Eagles, which is a problem, but not The Band's fault at all. This is a great album.

The Band are true originals in their search for the roots of American music without compromising with country, folk or bluegrass purists, much in the same way they former band mate Bob Dylan had done, and their music is infectious and just a lot of fun. Get it from Napster or buy it from Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
2. Up On Cripple Creek
3. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
4. Look Out Cleveland

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, you can also look on Youtube for the Johnny Cash and Joan Baez covers:



Wikipedia:

The Band peaked at #9 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. In 2000, it recharted on Billboard's Internet Albums chart, peaking at #10. The singles "Rag Mama Rag" and "Up on Cripple Creek" peaked on the Pop Singles chart at #57 and #25 respectively.

In 1998 Q magazine readers voted The Band the 76th greatest album of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 45 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

According to the liner notes to the 2000 reissue of "The Band" by Rob Bowman, the album, "The Band", has been viewed as a concept album, with the songs focusing on peoples, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana.

The Cripple Creek Theatre Company in New Orleans, LA is named after the song "Up on Cripple Creek".