Apr 212012
Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!
In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In your host, Mr. Moderator, lacks time to chat but constructs a set around some thoughts on Levon Helm and the passing of yet another member of one of his childhood faves, The Band.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-76.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 76][Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your iTunes by clicking here. The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player.]
Mod, I share your sadness, believe me. The Band mean a lot to me, both as Dylan’s co-conspirators on some of the most remarkable music ever recorded or played live as well as on their own.
It is a little odd to remember that Levon, such a vital part of the Band as a singer and drummer, isn’t even present on the incredible 1966 live recordings of Dylan the “the Hawks.” The rest of the Band earn immortality in my book on the merits of that music alone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAjTIZ-DqpU Robertson’s lead work on the 1966 tour covers up a multitude of future sins from him.
Levon also isn’t present for most of the Basement Tapes recordings.
The other odd thing is that although I don’t think there is any question that the Band were one of the greatest and most significant groups in rock history, this greatness and significance rests on, let’s face it, 2 records–Big Pink and The Band. After that we are talking about a handful of great songs spread across a number of uneven to weak records. Then, of course, there are the great live records, but they are composed mainly of live versions of songs from those first two records, no?
I know many people, including big Dylan people, who have little use for the Band on their own, even those first two records. For myself, it took me a long time. I can’t understand now what my problem was.
The funny thing is that what helped get me into the Band in the first place, The Last Waltz, is something that I now have to mostly avoid. The outright phoniness of the band interviews and the jive about the road and all that crap gets to me.