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Since we spoke about Neil Young before and a little earlier Bob Dylan also I came to think about a great documentary I saw about The Band the other night.
Man, aren't they just the coolest dudes that has ever been in the business?? I mean, there's just no weak link.
Robbie Robertson, what a great songwriter and underrated guitarist. And he looks so cool. There's not many songwriters that would stand back and let other people sing such great works of their own.
Rick Danko, did you ever hear a bass player during that time playing traditionally rooted music that funky? Terrific singer too. Passed away just a year or two ago.
Garth Hudson, I just can't believe this man really exists. He looks like a rural magician or something with the beard and all, and he must be one of the most musically gifted persons ever existed. Multiinstrumentalist.
Richard Manuel. Guess noone really knew how real that pain in his voice was before he hung himself. A great singer/pianoplayer. He made Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" his own.
And so, Levon Helm. My favourite. The only american in The Band (the rest are canadians) and a genuine southener. He sings with so much soul and power. But it's the drumplaying that just gets me. Now that is groovy! He was so cool in the documentary. This 60-year old really polite guy, speaking with a real strong southern accent (I think he's from Arkansas), wearing shades, spinning his drumstick and still playing like a god. Man, I wanna be like that when I'm sixty.
I order you all to see "The Last Waltz" by Martin Scorsese, a documentary about The Band's last show in 1978. It's filled with excellent "special guests performances" and the versions of the songs are brilliant. It's also very interesting interviews. I wish I could find out what that documentary that I saw last night is called, but I can't find it.
You should also check out some albums. If you're only getting one album, get "The Band", their second. It's a masterpiece. Then you can cheat and get "Before the Flood", a live album with Dylan from 1974, where The Band is backing him AND also playing a large number of their own songs. Both Dylan and The Band at their best.
Man, aren't they just the coolest dudes that has ever been in the business?? I mean, there's just no weak link.
Robbie Robertson, what a great songwriter and underrated guitarist. And he looks so cool. There's not many songwriters that would stand back and let other people sing such great works of their own.
Rick Danko, did you ever hear a bass player during that time playing traditionally rooted music that funky? Terrific singer too. Passed away just a year or two ago.
Garth Hudson, I just can't believe this man really exists. He looks like a rural magician or something with the beard and all, and he must be one of the most musically gifted persons ever existed. Multiinstrumentalist.
Richard Manuel. Guess noone really knew how real that pain in his voice was before he hung himself. A great singer/pianoplayer. He made Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" his own.
And so, Levon Helm. My favourite. The only american in The Band (the rest are canadians) and a genuine southener. He sings with so much soul and power. But it's the drumplaying that just gets me. Now that is groovy! He was so cool in the documentary. This 60-year old really polite guy, speaking with a real strong southern accent (I think he's from Arkansas), wearing shades, spinning his drumstick and still playing like a god. Man, I wanna be like that when I'm sixty.
I order you all to see "The Last Waltz" by Martin Scorsese, a documentary about The Band's last show in 1978. It's filled with excellent "special guests performances" and the versions of the songs are brilliant. It's also very interesting interviews. I wish I could find out what that documentary that I saw last night is called, but I can't find it.
You should also check out some albums. If you're only getting one album, get "The Band", their second. It's a masterpiece. Then you can cheat and get "Before the Flood", a live album with Dylan from 1974, where The Band is backing him AND also playing a large number of their own songs. Both Dylan and The Band at their best.
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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".
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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.
The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".
--------
They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.
.....to make it worse......he sings along.....
