Band Wagon – Part 3

The Band is perhaps best remembered for their 1967 musical collaboration with Bob Dylan which resulted in The Basement Tapes- a bootleg of Dylan and the Band jamming in the basement of the Band’s hideout- Big Pink- in upstate New York. While the recordings on The Basement Tapes were supposedly not meant for public consumption, they were eventually released as a critically acclaimed album (although I’ve never really been much of a bootleg fan).

The Band: Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard 
Manuel, Garth Hudson, and Robbie Robertson

I guess what I like most about the Band is you definitely get your money’s worth with three lead singers (Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm), tons of different musical styles, and five artists forming one organic sound after years of living and playing together night after night and soaking up everything they saw and heard along the way. Following their farewell concert in ‘76, some members of the Band tried reuniting a few times but without Robbie Robertson at the helm there just wasn’t the same synergy. Robertson and Garth Hudson are the only living members now but thankfully we will always have the Band’s music to enjoy (and for me the boys get a pass on the smoldering “Smoke Signal” as Robbie is half Native American). Here are some more of my favorites. Enjoy!

01. The Band – “Right as Rain” (1977)

02. The Band – “Georgia on My Mind” (1976)

03. The Band – “Chest Fever” (1968)

04. The Band – “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” (1969)

05. The Band – “Twilight” (1975)

06. The Band – “Stage Fright” (1970)

07. The Band – “Blind Willie McTell” (1993)

08. The Band – “Smoke Signal” (1971)

09. Bob Dylan and the Band – “Tears of Rage” (1967) 

10. Bob Dylan and the Band – “This Wheel’s on Fire” (1967)

Listen to the playlist on Spotify...

Recommended Links:

Rare Concert Footage of the Band, 1970

Robbie Robertson on Recording the Basement Tapes