The one time backing band of Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan), The Band from Canada has been called everything from Roots Rock to Prog (lol). So how would you describe the music of The Band?
The one time backing band of Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan), The Band from Canada has been called everything from Roots Rock to Prog (lol). So how would you describe the music of The Band?
To be or not to be? That is the point. - Harry Nilsson.
Roots Rock with Proggish elementsOriginally Posted by StevegSr
A glorified bar band.
Well, I supposed that's better than being called a lounge act.
To be or not to be? That is the point. - Harry Nilsson.
And for the record, I don't particularly like The Band. So take aim and fire away.
To be or not to be? That is the point. - Harry Nilsson.
You're entitled to not like something.
I think they went downhill significantly after their 3rd album, though each album had at least a few worthwhile pieces.
Rick Danko was a good bass player for that type of stuff....The Weight is a good tune, and they had a handfull of others....thats about all I like about them
Like the first two albums, somehow they had that quality of writing songs which sounded like they'd been around for generations- 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', for instance. Those and The Flying Burrito Brothers' debut is as good as 'roots rock' gets IMHO.
Last edited by JJ88; 01-23-2017 at 02:59 AM.
Kind of unclassifiable - as was often the case with the great ones from that era.
"The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Stage Fright","The Shape I'm In" & "King Harvest".
AFAIC, their entire worthwhile songbook. But those 5 songs are damn good!
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
They're commonly described as "roots rock" and/or "Americana," but Robbie Robertson always said they were a rock 'n roll band.
I didn't much care for them when they first came out, but I saw them a few times in '69 and '70 and they were a dynamite "live" band.
I dig the first few LPs; good songs, played well.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
For a short while, the were recognized -by Rolling Stone and the post hippie establishment- not only as one of the most admired bands in the world of rock, but perhaps the most influential, and lots of artists tried to follow their lead in making 'down to earth' music after what some perceived as the excesses and pretenses of rock music of the late sixties: Eric Clapton, The Beatles ('Get Back' and parts of the Let it Be album), even The Grateful Dead of 'American Beauty' are some of the examples. Then Scorcese made the movie (The Last Waltz) that completely canonized them in their so called farewell concert, with numerous superstars participating and eulogizing them. Then, although they kept making records, their importance waned, although maybe it can considered an early inspiration for the recent wave of earthy and rural rock aggregations.
Although they wrote some good songs, they never appealed to me, though, and I particularly dislike their croaking 'down home' singing style.
I like Joan Baez's version better
They had a track record in rock 'n' roll...hear them tearing it up on Ronnie Hawkins' 'Who Do You Love'.
A pity most of them forgot the tunes. I would say that latter-day 'alt.country'/'Americana' is generally among my least favourite music.
Wow...tough room.
They're hard to pigeonhole. Like all the truly great acts, they were a synthesis of a multitude of things (rock n roll, R&B, country, folk, etc). The first three studio albums were great and a deserved history as a blazing live act (playing roadhouses for years will do that to you). One could make the argument that they were the first Americana band but they were beyond the confines of that genre as well. Remember, when the first album came out there was absolutely nothing like them. Their clothing, Robertson's songwriting approach, even the photos of family on the album, it was all so different from what was coming out of California, New York, Detroit, or London. Now of course, a handful of their songs have been so played to death by classic rock radio its hard to appreciate them and the rest of the catalog was ignored. And that's a shame.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
+1
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
-1
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Acadian Driftood, Evangeline (though it always bugs me that her name is pronounced differently within the same song depending on what word Robertson wanted to rhyme it with), Chest Fever, To Kingdom Come, This Wheel's On Fire, Ophelia, Twilight, Rag Mama Rag, Life Is A Carnival (the only really good thing on Cahoots), It Makes No Difference, Right As Rain, Twilight, Remedy - all good.
% 0
How would I describe the music of The Band? In a word, boring!
I saw Bob Dylan and The Band on their 1974 reunion tour when they recorded the "Before The Flood" album. Dylan was great, The Band was great. The Band's "Rock Of Ages" (with horn arrangements by the late, great Allen Toussaint) is one live album I never tire of hearing. I never considered them a prog band. Didn't keep me from liking them.
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
The Last Waltz is a film masterpiece.
Funny - I have not heard anything from that band that could keep my attention for more than 3 seconds.
Last edited by Zeuhlmate; 02-27-2016 at 07:07 PM.
*BANG*
Okay, got ya.
The albums Music from the Big Pink and The Band are two of the greatest albums from the 1960s because they transcended the 60s. There is nothing on those albums that one can point to a specific era of sound or music - it certainly didn't sound like the majority of rock bands at the time, and they still sound great.
Think of the epics like The Weight, The Night The Drove Old Dixie Down or Chest Fever, the witty Rag Mama Rag and Cripple Creek. Just splendid Americana, for want of a better definition.
"And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."
Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/
One of many artists that I respect without necessarily liking all that much - while I can recognize the excellence of their music and its historical importance, it just doesn't appeal to me personally. There's a lot of music I feel like that about, including many major artists and some whole genres. Part of it, I guess, is that I come from the suburbs. And thus, I didn't grow up on folk music or country music or gospel or R&B, and don't consider them necessarily deeper or more genuine than jazz or classical music or Sixties pop or, for that matter, prog.
In a way, they invented Americana, and gave it a quality and gravitas equal to Dylan's best work. Except in their case, it was a matter of a musical depth and breadth to match his lyric depth and breadth. There's a reason they were so popular and influential and that was it. And for many artists of the time who felt unmoored by the anything-goes extremes of psychedelia, their approach represented a way back to solid ground.
Indeed.
Yes, but they invented that sound. They're the reason bar bands sound like they do.
It's partly, though, because subsequent Americana bands all sounded like them. They defined that sound, that whole genre, and it hasn't changed much by its very nature. Some Americana bands may have more country in the mix, some may have more R&B, but they all go back to those same couple of albums and a few others.
Last edited by Baribrotzer; 02-26-2016 at 09:58 PM.
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