The Band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78gR3Dlj7l0

i love danko and manuel to death but those two guys were frequently basket cases that couldn't have done a thing on their own, garth was the best musician of them but would have probably been teaching piano lessons in canada without robbie's drive...levon definitely probably would have been in ace drummer in some band or another but robbie was the guy who made it happen

just eats clapton's fuckin lunch on that i love it

robbie was the guy who made it happen

Sure, but as the other members checked out, even the songwriting suffered (to say nothing of the performances).

Ums otm.

I am a decently ardent fan of Levon Helm, but I tired of hearing him complain about Robbie Robertson.

They were both essential but in different ways, can we just embrace that?

I have similar feelz about Don Felder. Dude, if you could have done it all yourself, then you fucking should have. You had chances.

Maybe Robbie couldn't sing very well... by which I mean maybe he couldn't sing as well as several of the best singers in the world at that time, who happened to be in his own fucking band, and in their immediate circle.

You know what? I can't sing as well as Emmylou Harris either. Nor can I write a song on Robertson's level.

That said, I am glad I am not going out to play tonight.

Sure, but as the other members checked out, even the songwriting suffered (to say nothing of the performances).

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, August 9, 2023 3:34 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

i don't think they get as far as doing the first two records without robbie

what a glorious racket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgMZcq2Y2U8

even the S/T Robbie is credited on every song for songwriting with 3 cowrites w/manuel and one with levon, in comparison with big pink where he has 4 solo credits and that's it (they were doing dylan material obv too then)

Again, upper miss otm. Creative engines exist, and they exist for a reason. Geniuses and singular talents sometimes just fritter away in their corners. Sometimes the workhorse who pulls the cart is a type of hero/ine.

Robertson went to work. Even with coke nose he had discipline. The guy who shows up gets the credit.

Apologies for cliché recycling but there is that moment in The Last Waltz where Clapton's guitar strap comes undone, and Robertson just effortlessly covers. As Alfred says: he went to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1GU1qQ1zQ

I'm sure he went to work on his solo albums too, but it wasn't sufficient!

Well, there's the argument for surrounding yourself with simpatico musicians with whom you have chemistry.

I mean, of all bands, the Band is probably one of the most dependent on a magical group chemistry

also are we starting to disqualify great producer/songwriters who wrote for much better singers?

plenty of songwriters go on to create inferior work when separated from their creative collaborators. it's more surprising to find people who don't

Bernard Sumner, the Robbie Robertson of New Order.

I was thinking of Roger Waters too.

Who embarrassed themselves more, Robbie after the Band or the Band after Robbie?

The Band post-Robbie recorded a handful of mediocre-to-decent albums. Levon and Danko each managed a great album. Robbie’s solo albums were rarely better than awful. If he could’ve done it all himself, he would’ve. And he couldn’t, but he tried anyway, and I respect him for that. He was also an insanely underrated guitarist, and assembled (or co-assembled) at least two of the greatest and most effective movie soundtracks in American film history (Goodfellas and Casino).

dude just couldn't sing

just learned that he composed the score for killers of the flower moon

the upcoming scorsese film

At the very least, Robertson was an incredible guitarist. I always found it odd that he released so little of note after the Band. Are any of his scores worthwhile? I guess he just did "Killers of the Flower Moon."

lol

i always love the beginning of somewhere down the crazy river where it's a durutti column song for 20 seconds

too bad about the costco tom waits vox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KP9PNSUME4

What is going on in Visions of Johanna? The guitar is so sparse and stabbing, almost seems random.

the good (fucking amazing solo that gets close to rock n' roll verlain/quine) and the bad (pretending to sing into a turned off mic lol) of Robbie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2aAN3MZhm0

He did a lot for Scorsese after The Last Waltz. There's a brief but funny interview with him on the bonus features for Raging Bull where he talks about fixing a terrible tape drag on a recording of "Cavalleria Rusticana" so that it was usable, but he was often the music supervisor going forward. Occasionally he'd even perform on the soundtracks himself - King of Comedy is probably the best (he produced Van Morrison's "Wonderful Remark" on there and plays lead guitar). The Color of Money may be the worst.

Love his guitar on those 1966 tour recordings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvKTSUTcDKo

Also, I'm no fan of his self-titled debut, but it definitely got some love back in the day. 30 voters pushed it to #13 on that year's Pazz & Jop poll.

He produced this gem for Tom Petty, the closest the Heartbreakers came to sounding like...The Band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hySGRNEKYN0

Yup. That's another that was done for King of Comedy. (Three long years before it showed up again on Southern Accents.)

he was pretty hot too

I loved so much of his writing. It’s just Garth left now. pic.twitter.com/ewKzvOwgkW

— Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) August 9, 2023

Not said often enough: well in the late '70s he was kinda hot?

Posting a picture of what is now a pretty morbid tic-tac-toe board hanging in my living room:

https://i.imgur.com/rkBeoVx.jpg

:(

do wanna post one more hot shot, he could really pull off the "low level pool hustler" look, it's really hard not to look stupid dressed like this!

Canadian musician Robbie Robertson best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for The Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist has died today at the age of 80. RIP pic.twitter.com/2k46IjXT2B

— Jake (the ‘80s never ended in my world) Rudh (@JakeRudh) August 9, 2023

aw marty ;_;

Martin Scorsese's statement to @NBCNews on the death of his collaborator and friend Robbie Robertson:

"It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting." pic.twitter.com/reSLs44RDN

— Daniel Arkin (@d_arkin) August 9, 2023

IIRC, there was an anecdote from one of Scorsese's exes in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls about how it was too bad that Marty & Robbie weren't gay, because their relationship was by far the best either one was involved in at that time.

Pretty crazy how they lived. Robertson talked about in-depth for the first time in an interview he did to promote his solo debut:

The wild times with Scorsese also included many highflying jaunts to Europe to promote The Last Waltz, attend film festivals and pick up awards — trophies and gold records — garnered over the years but never collected. “Seems like there was always a commotion wherever we went,” says Robertson. “Marty has big extremes in his personality. One minute he would be laughing, and the next minute there would be telephones flying out the windows.”

As the months of extreme living drifted by, word inevitably leaked out. “There was a magazine article,” Robertson says, “and it was called ‘Bel Air, Bel Air.’ It said something like ‘I went to Martin Scorsese’s house. He and Robbie Robertson are having these wild parties, and there are women everywhere, and there are drugs, and it makes Hugh Hefner’s place look like a kindergarten.’ So we get a copy of this article and Marty goes crazy.” Robertson laughs. “He starts breaking glasses immediately. Smashing things. Talking with lawyers, ripping phones out. He says, ‘Look at this! Look at this article! Read it! I’m suing these people. I’m taking them to court.’ And I looked at it, and I said, ‘Marty, the only thing inaccurate here is that we don’t live in Bel Air.'”

That chapter came to an end when Scorsese, an asthmatic, suffered health problems brought on by the fast living. “He got real sick and ended up in the hospital,” says Robertson. “It was either change your lifestyle or die. I remember seeing him in the hospital and thinking, ‘Boy, this is definitely the end of an era right here.'”

Then there's this:

It wasn’t until after another “crazy” period — with Gary Busey during the making of Carny — that he finally decided it was time to slow his pace and patch up his marriage.

And that's all they print about that - Jesus how do you reserve one line for "another 'crazy' period with Gary Busey"?

Wonder why Robbie didn't do more acting in Scorsese pictures. I've always thought the reason Marty had such a hard-on for The Band was that Robertson and Danko were basically Mean Streets-era Keitel and De Niro.

Sad news! I’ve been singing “Dixie down” since I heard the last waltz version a few weeks ago, recommended

Andrew Sandoval posted this:

In 1997, I met Cheryl Pawelski at Capitol Records while working on the soundtrack album for the Beach Boys’ documentary, Endless Harmony. A few months later, we worked on another collection (The Beach Boys’ Ultimate Christmas) and Cheryl and I launched into what would be a decade of projects we produced together at various labels. Around that time, Cheryl asked me if I was a fan of The Band. I told her I had grown up listening to their first three albums (which my parents had) but hadn’t listened much since. She suggested that if I could apply myself and really learn their catalog, we might collaborate on expanded reissues of their original albums. Done and done.

Thusly, we began our research in Bearsville at their former manager Albert Grossman’s studio (staying at Robbie Robertson’s 1970 era residence on the estate). We proceeded to listen to everything we could lay our hands on. The results were expanded reissues of The Band’s original catalog albums – Music From Big Pink, The Band, Stage Fright, Cahoots, Rock Of Ages, Moondog Matinee, Northern Lights/Southern Cross & Islands – which were issued in the year 2000. Subsequent sales were enough to finally push Music From Big Pink (in particular) to RIAA certified gold status. The award presentation gave us both an opportunity to pitch Robbie Robertson in person on a bigger project: an all-encompassing box set.

For the next three or so years, we were invited to meet with Robbie once-a-week at his office in Beverly Hills’ Dream Works. We looked at lists, we listened to multiple takes of songs, we joked and he told us lots of amazing stories. He was warm, candid and he valued our opinions. It was also an amazing lesson in diplomacy, for as much as we were fans of The Band, a unique balance had to be struck between our collective desires to bring the box to fruition. The end result was 2005’s The Band: A Musical History. I still think it is an excellent overview of their finest work. Nevertheless, it is not the final word and in fact it is only one of many box sets that have landed on The Band.

Nonetheless, it was a great education and in particular about something which I am sure a lot of people will be commenting on now that Robbie has sadly passed. The original formation of The Band and their earliest albums were a team effort. Subsequent releases were marred by their early success, excessive drug use and dissension. It is a popularly held belief in rock lore that Robbie lifted all of his ideas from his bandmates and they deserved greater credit for their contributions. However, having personally listened to every surviving session and live recording they made between 1968-1976 I can tell you that this is not the case.

Had the idea that Robbie was a less-than-talented journeyman who preyed on the vulnerability of his bandmates been true, they would have never made the music they made in the first place. You know, I personally wish that Richard Manuel and Rick Danko had gotten their lives together, because they wrote (and were properly credited with) my favorite songs in The Band’s catalog. The entire world was denied more of their work. In fact, the individual members all had years to prove to the world how great they were outside of The Band. They staged reunion tours, made multiple albums and had solo careers. The sad truth is the whole was greater than its sum of parts.

One day we were meeting with Robbie and he casually mentioned that he had phoned Levon Helm the day before to ask him something. We both were a little shocked having believed that Levon must be some kind of enemy with the way he spoke of Robbie in print. This was clearly not the case, in fact Robbie never said anything negative about any of the band members privately (or publicly). He only talked about his heartbreak that they couldn’t have done more. The lesson I learned from this is that sometimes a great story isn’t always true. It makes a great tale, it gets a lot of likes, but the truth is stranger and sadder.

The profound influence of The Band on late 1960s music and culture has never been fully credited. In much the same way The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night made it look like fun to be in a band, The Band’s first two albums made it seem like you could create your own world in exile. Stashed away in the Catskills with only a tape recorder and time to kill, they sang to the heavens and some of it was pretty damn great. So long, Robbie; I can’t believe we crossed paths and I am appreciative of the time and great stories you shared.

plenty of songwriters go on to create inferior work when separated from their creative collaborators

Cough cough Beatles cough cough

How many are part of a genuinely great band and go on to do better on their own?

I would argue Peter Gabriel. Arguably Jason Isbell (though I think it’s more of a draw).

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thanks for posting that bird, great stuff

Lou Reed.

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oh BETTER. Never mind.

if you say Jeff Tweedy you're wrong

Justin Timberlake obv

Gene Clark imo