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The Band is an extremely talented group of
five musicians, four from Canada and one from the United States; each
capable of playing multiple instruments. Their music was able to uniquely
incorporate guitars, fiddles, mandolins, horns, piano, organ, and three
vocalists into a rock and roll sound.
The members of The Band and their primary instruments are:
Levon Helm (vocals, guitar, mandolin, drums)
Robbie Robertson (vocals, guitar)
Rick Danko (vocals, violin, trombone, bass)
Richard Manuel (vocals, harmonica, baritone saxophone, piano, drums)
Garth Hudson (accordion, soprano, tenor & baritone saxophones,
trumpet, piano, organ, Clavinet)
The Band, was originally a back-up outfit for
Ronnie Hawkins in the early 1960's and they called themselves The Hawks.
After striking out on their own they renamed themselves The Band. Prior to
releasing their first album,
they toured with Dylan in 1965 and '66. After, Dylan and The Band wrote a
bunch of music in the Woodstock, NY area that would later become The
Basement Tapes. Their career lasted till Thanksgiving Day 1976 when they performed
their still talked about farewell performance, The Last
Waltz.
Another famous live performance featuring The
Band was the a triple billing with the Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead
at Watkins Glens, NY, August 28, 1973. They anticipated attendance of the
concert was approximately 150,000, but 600,000 music fans showed up. The
Watkins Glen performance was their first concert since December 31, 1971,
where they recorded of Rock of Ages.
The Band's best music was put out on their
first three releases, Music From the Big Pink, The Band, and
Stage Fright. For
casual fans their Greatest Hits may suffice to cover their studio
tracks. Alternatively, they released three box sets To Kingdom Come
(2 discs), Across the Great Divide (3
discs), and A Music History
5 CD's 1 DVD. The Band is quite good
live and they left a few treasures behind. You can't go wrong with any of
them.
Bob Dylan and The Band
The Band backed up Bob Dylan in the studio and live
for his 1966 and 1974 tours. There are four primary releases of their collaboration.
In the studio, The
Basement Tapes, and
Planet
Waves, and live
Before the Flood
, and Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live at the Royal Albert Hall.
Of them, the live releases are both exceptional. The studio albums are
worthwhile, especially Planet Waves, but both Bob Dylan and The Band
have better studio albums.
Non-primary
releases of their collaboration include:
Bob Dylan's box set
| Release |
Notes |
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Biograph
Songs with the Band, live and studio
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (3.32) (single - 12/65)
I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Have Never Met) (5.19)
(live, unreleased version - 5/6/66)
Million Dollar Bash [2.31] (The Basement Tapes)
Quinn The Eskimo (2.17) (unreleased version - 7/67)
You Angel You (2.52) (Planet Waves)
On A Night Like This (2.55) (Planet Waves)
Most Likely You Go Your Way (3.27) (Before The Flood)
All Along The Watchtower (3.03) (Before The Flood)
Songs performed during Dylan's solo set on the
Dylan and The Band tour
Visions of Johanna (7.31) (live, unreleased version - 5/26/66)
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (5.41) (live, unreleased version
- 5/17/66)
Other
Forever Young (2.02) (unreleased version - 6/73)
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Biograph is not
chronological order. Throughout its three discs there are live
performances from 1966 and 1974, both with The Band, and Dylan's
solo sets. There are also studio tracks from The Basement Tapes
period from 1967 and the Planet Waves album, and even a track
with The Hawks from 1965.
Also worth noting is also a version of
"Forever Young," a track that first appeared on Planet
Waves, that appears in a solo format here. In addition, Dylan's
version of "I shall Be Released," that he recorded for
Greatest Hits Vol. 2, a song they played together often and The
Band made their own.
I grouped the songs into categories and listed
them by date.
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| The
Bootleg Series Vol. 1 - 3
I'll Keep It With Mine (3:38)
(rehearsal in studio - 1/27/66)
w/ Robertson and Danko from The Band (also Dylan,
Al Kooper on keyboards, and Bobby Gregg on drums)
w/ The Band
She's Your Lover Now (6:08)
(outtake from the album Blonde On Blonde - 1/21/66)
I Shall Be Released (3:54)
(outtake from the album The Basement Tapes - Fall 1967)
Sante-Fe (2:08)
(outtake from the album The Basement Tapes - Fall 1967)
Nobody 'Cept You (2:39)
(outtake from the album Planet Waves - 11/2/73)
|
The song credits are
straight forward. |
The
Bootleg Series 7
Visions of Johanna [alternate take, [Blonde On Blonde]11/30/65
Live
Ballad of a Thin Man 5/20/66
Like a Rolling Stone 5/17/66
(previously released)
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Also worth noting is the
version of "Leopard-Skin
Pill-Box Hat," which was a staple of their 1966 sets is
performed with Michael Bloomfield
and others. |
The Last
Waltz
Box set edition
Baby Let Me Follow You Down
Hazel
I Don't Believe You
Forever Young
Baby Let Me Follow You Down
I Shall Be Released - (Add Ron Wood and Ringo Star) |
All editions of The Last Waltz (regular, Box-set, and DVD)
include a lengthy Dylan set, the box includes "Hazel." |
Rock of Ages Expanded
Dec. 31
Down in the Flood
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Don't Ya Tell Henry
Like a Rolling Stone |
Four songs from the encore of The
Band's 12/31/71, performance at the Academy of Arts in NY. |
| Self Portrait
Like a Rolling Stone
Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)
Minstrel Boy
She Belongs to Me
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Four tracks
from Isle of Wright, 8/31/1969.
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| Bob Dylan Live 1961 -
2000
I Don't Believe You (1966)
Grand Coulee Dam (1968)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (1974) |
A Japanese Import. It
is available in the U.S., but it is usually expensive. It is pretty
good if you're looking for a sampler of live Dylan. |
| A
Music History
Disc 1
15. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (single version) -
16. Tell Me, Momma (live 5/14/66, The Odeon, Liverpool) [track
previously unissued]
17. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (live 5/14/66, The Odeon, Liverpool)
(mono)[track previously unissued on LP (in the U.S.) or CD]
22. Odds And Ends - Bob Dylan & The Band
Disc 2
3. Don't Ya Tell Henry - Bob Dylan & The Band
14. I Ain't Got No Home (live 1/20/68, Carnegie Hall, NYC)
Disc 5
4. Forever Young -
5. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (live 2/13/74, The Forum, Inglewood,
CA) - Bob Dylan & The Band
6. Highway 61 Revisited (live 1/31/74, Madison Square Garden,
NYC)
[track previously unissued] |
The Band's five disc box
set includes lots of material with Bob Dylan and the Band, both
previously released and some heard heard first. |
Other:
Levon Helm, May 26, 1940 -- Apr 19, 2012 - Yahoo
News
Rick Danko died in his sleep at his home in Woodstock on
December 10, 1999.
Richard Manuel died in 1986.
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