The Band.

I did read it, last night! But in the morning I act like I never have read.

let’s get you two on a throbbing gristle thread and call it the dow james industrial

Heh. You could also just post that here: Create a Super-ILXer!

You’re still there, huh?

Robbie’s version of the story as told in Testimony is that they first met Dylan briefly through Hammond, that Mary Martin was working in the Grossman office and pushing for the Hawks, at some point Robbie was asked to come to meet Dylan at the office, they then took some guitars from the Grossman office and went to Grossman’s house to play a few tunes together, Robbie realized this was an audition and said “but I already have my own band!” Then there was a further meeting with some other management in which a full band audition was discussed and Robbie mentioned the Toronto gig, so Dylan- and Sara! - flew up to Toronto. Dylan came to a couple of gigs and after the customers left they all played Dylan material together to see how it went.

― ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, September 20, 2020 5:56 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

His version is sufficiently detailed to have the ring of truth, mostly, factoring whatever Robbie-centricity one attributes to him...
― ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs)

Yeah, and seems plausible to have this kind of process: Dylan took chances, but as calculated risks, often enough. He knew these road vets had mad skillz, but that they were from all around the boondocks, and, in at least one interview I've Robertson freely copped to their not really knowing much about him, and esp, not knowing that they were about to be "going around the world getting booed"---so he didn't warn them? Maybe he was hoping it wouldn't be so bad (and/or not wanting to think about it), and maybe it wasn't really *so* bad (by some eyewitness accounts, also earwitness to bootlegs of the show, Newport was a bit of a hype, booing-wise).
But apparently they weren't expecting it, and it became more predictable than a rando night in a rando dive past Moose Jaw, where there might at least be chicken wire giving them some sense of stage security---no, this was the Big Time!

“Big Time, Bill, Big Time!”

Finally figured out he was talking to Bill Graham.

Took John Simon’s book out of the library. Good stuff.

Not so great typesetting and proofreading but good stuff anyway.

You're still there, huh?

So one interesting thing I learned I didn't know was that Miles Davis opened for The Band at least once around the time of Bitches Brew. Levon had some troubles that night but that didn't seem to stop Jack DeJohnette from becoming a friend and a fan, playing at the Ramble and recording a pretty good version of "Up On Cripple Creek" with his Hudson project.

Oh cool, will have to check that.
Speaking of John Simon, think I saw this one a long time ago, always wondered about it--- from Xgau's 70s Guide, also on his site:
John Simon's Album [Warner Bros., 1970]
Somewhere beyond the plaintive quaver, rootsy supersession rock is mixed with pre-WW2 touches in a series of homely sketches--many of them about outsiders trying to make something of their lives, a theme to which a plaintive quaver is well-suited. Highlight: "The Song of the Elves," in which outsiders brag about how tall they are. B+

That's the book version, I guess, but the original column is also archived, more qualified at first, then more enthusiastic and specific about the album's higlights:

JOHN SIMON: John Simon's Album (Warner Bros.) If you can get past Simon's plaintive quaver, which took me three months and at least a dozen plays, this is almost as extraordinary as its reviewers claim. At least two sensibilities involved in the mix: the best pre-WW2 pop (Gershwin, Porter) and post-Pepper studio rock. Highlights: "The Song of the Elves," "Railroad Train Runnin' Up My Back." B PLUS

I learned that from Robbie's book but John's book is good too and I am curious about his solo material.

John Simon made a circuit of local (Hudson Valley, upstate NY) public libraries a few years ago, basically doing a q&a. While he stated up front that his memory isn’t great, he did say the following: he's on Robbie's side on the authorship dispute with Levon; Antonioni originally wanted the Band to do the music for Zabriske Point; Bob Dylan asked Simon to be his "musical secretary" for Renaldo & Clara (Simon declined); and he singled out Prince's "Erotic City" as a song that really knocked him out production-wise. He also played (piano) and sang a song from one of his solo records. Someone in the audience had a copy he wanted John to sign; John joked, “Ah, so you’re the one who bought it!” but also seemed genuinely appreciative that someone was into his solo work.

been playing that Richard Manuel's The Band playlist ever since UMS shared it, and i've been consistently knocked out by "in a station," which i'd always thought of as a minor track on big pink. no longer.

Seems like Antonioni wanted everybody in Rock in 1969 to do music for Zabriskie Point. Of course, this Band thing kind of explains him hiring the even more off the wall roots mavens (US) Kaleidoscope later.

Oho. I've never heard it---saw the film on tcm long ago, don't remember the music, but this says a lot gathered/recorded for soundtrack didn't make it to the screen---but Roscoe Holcomb and John Fahey tracks are listed, seems like The Band could fit somewhere in between:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabriskie_Point_(album)

Pink Floyd ended up doing most of it, Jerry Garcia scored the love scene (which Floyd attempted, their effort rejected), and as mentioned in that article, the Doors wrote a song that was rejected, and supposedly prior to that they were considered for more.

Kaleidoscope got brought in extremely late in post-production, delivering the two songs on the album. After the work had been submitted and approved, one of the Kaleidoscope guys reported that upon receiving their paychecks, someone from MGM apologized for their small size, as "this project has gone on so long that there was barely any budget left for music: these checks are the absolute bottom of the barrel."

Those checks were the biggest payout Kaleidoscope had every gotten for their work up to that point.

...and probably after as well!

IIRC Dave Gilmour couldn't understand why Antonioni wanted them to write Country-oriented material, "because we were in L.A., where there were tons of great bands playing that kind of material."

Some of the stories Robbie and John Simon tell are exactly the same, like the one about Antonioni and Clare Peploe sitting on the edge of Levon’s bed to listen to the playback of “Across the Great Divide” and Antonioni perking up when he heard a word he recognized and making a finger gun and saying “pistole!”

Haven’t read the article yet so wondering which Kaleidoscope it was.

Correction: they tell similar stories with different but not contradictory details. Robbie mentions Clare Peploe, John Simon mentions the pistole.

Simon describes Robbie as “canny,” and this being a “consistent” quality of his.

xxp Think it was the Cali K-scope, most appropriately for the film---although, since he was trying to get Pink Floyd to go country, why not the UK or "Mexican" (actually mostly Caribbean, best I recall from promo sheet).

canny, cunning, why not.

wondering which Kaleidoscope it was.

<cough>

Seems like Antonioni wanted everybody in Rock in 1969 to do music for Zabriskie Point. Of course, this Band thing kind of explains him hiring the even more off the wall roots mavens (US) Kaleidoscope

D’oh, sorry! Can’t read/too much coffee/too late/too old/wishful thinking/zing/couldn’t resist bad joke et.

Thinking about the “canny” thing in comparison with a friend of mine. One time somebody accused him of some sort of fabrication and I asked him later “you didn’t make that up, did you?” and he said something like “no, of course not.” Some people can advance their case without actually factually dissimulating, it’s like a magician’s trick of emphasis and misdirection and concealment, which can be mildly infuriating if you have to deal with them enough. So even if Levon’s most outrageous claims were false, I understand the feeling. Also, Levon was more of a take-me-as-I-am life of the party kind of guy, whereas Robbie was more of a guy who could fit in at the sophisticated soirée, so I am starting to believe that he really was the impromptu best man or “very good man” at Bob and Sara’s wedding.

Even in Robbie’s own book a lot of the best lines belong to Levon. Maybe I should go through and post a few of them. So even if Ronnie Hawkins and John Simon are correct in asserting that Robbie wrote those songs, I can understand it still might irk the guy whose voice was being channeled. But then again Robbie said he split the publishing five ways, which Albert G. told him he didn’t have to do.

Levon didn’t want to join me in these new experiences with Bob, which put me in a hard place. I knew he felt somewhat alienated. He was becoming uncomfortable with the “show biz” aspects of rock ’n’ roll; he didn’t even like people taking his photograph. The music, the people, the lifestyle, even the private Lodestar plane we traveled in bothered him. “I ain’t that interested in touring in a Buddy Holly special,” he’d tell me. “Sometime, if the weather’s bad, that sucker could get blown right outta the sky.”

When I sat down with the guys to talk about how this music felt to them and their take on working with Bob, Richard offered, “He seems like an okay guy to me, but that run-through wasn’t very good on our end. We have to start by really learning these songs.” Bob had asked Garth to play some of the organ parts from his record, but these didn’t necessarily fit Garth’s style or aesthetic. Levon shrugged. “So far it’s sounding rough as a cob to me.”

Robbie says he got his very good memory from his bootlegging predecessors on his father’s side, or so his uncle told him.

A lot of the stuff about Dylan hooking up with The Hawks is synthesized in the book That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound, by Daryl Sanders, whom I’ve never heard of except for this book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuxefsE9bkc

Hawks spotted on Singing Drummers thread, but not in most predictable way:
"Moulty," by the Barbarians, is thee autobio of their drummer, who lost a hand, but gained a hook. "Now all I need is a girl." Other Barbarians: "Moulty!" (That's the chorus.) Prob on the 'Tube, but I no longer trust ilx to let me post it.

― dow, Monday, October 26, 2020 12:14 PM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

That was actually a session gig where Moulty was backed by members of The Band (when they were still the Hawks), not the Barbarians. He reportedly was mortified by that track.

― Chris L, Monday, October 26, 2020 12:21 PM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh yeah, forgot about that, sorry. It was released as by the Barbarians, and incl. on Lenny Kaye's 70s-refreshing comp, Nuggets, which is where I heard it--wiki sez:

Originally, the song was only intended to be released under the consent of Moulton, who was opposed to its distribution. However, Laurie Records released "Moulty" along with "I'll Keep On Seeing You" in February 1966 as a single. Upon discovering the distribution of the song, Moulton was infuriated with president of Laurie Records, Robert Schwartz, reportedly quarreling with him, and destroying some copies of the single.[6] Regardless, "Moulty" managed to peak at number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the charts for four weeks.[7] The song became somewhat of an inspiration to the band's younger followers, insisting them to "never give up no matter what the odds". However, The Barbarians were so disgruntled with management for releasing the song, despite Moulton's insistence against it, that the band soon ceased relations with the company.[6] "Moulty" was later immortalized in the compilation album, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968,[8] and included as a bonus track in the 2000 Sundazed Records reissue of the group's debut album.[9]

― dow, Monday, October 26, 2020 1:00 PM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think my favorite recordings of them may actually be these rehearsal studio clips that I've come across on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKD1Vdarnw

That one is fun.

Incredible--thanks for the heads-up.

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It's from the DVD that was included with that box set Robbie Robertson curated, A Musical History. Probably the best clip on that DVD too.

I’d always assumed it was Levon Helm singing that

There was quite a bit of that poolhouse footage used in the Classic Albums documentary, would watch the crap out of a full-length version of whatever's there.

Robbie Robertson: So are we sure it should be old depressing music cuz—

Levon helm: Right. Its just we made the words “went down ta Naz’reth” so the music kinda has to be old themed now—

Robbie: totally and we go “load off fannie!” So it’s all

Levon: All old timey words. Right

— jeremy levick (@jeremylevick) February 3, 2021

in what dreadful millennial thirsty-twitter reality is the weight "depressing"?

Wikipedia: Although it has long been believed that the reason for Helm's refusal to play [The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down] was a dispute with Robertson over songwriting credits, according to Garth Hudson the refusal was due to Helm's dislike for Joan Baez's version.

I wouldn't blame him in the slightest. I heard the Baez recording for the first time last week and it actually made me angry. Has anyone ever fucked up a cover version as badly as she did with that monstrosity?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB9vvxYocW0

I had managed to avoid hearing that until now, but yes, it's spectacularly horrible. Baez's fifty-year record may have been broken. That said, at least JBJ gets the chords right in his cover version.

Just came across this via Variety - rare live footage from 1970 (filmed for a Dutch TV broadcast).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFgyD3Uk1JQ

Just a regular gig compared to The Last Waltz, they didn't film any of Richard Manuel's numbers but he looks like he's in much better health. (We do hear him thank the audience on the band's behalf.) It looks like Robbie does harmonize a lot with the group even though he's clearly not pushing himself in the spotlight. There's no sense of any individual standing out, it's clearly a far more democratic picture of the Band, just as they were meant to be.

wow great footage

as far as I can tell Robbie's mic is always pretty much turned off or mixed so far low I can't tell if he's singing or just wanted the image that he was singing

nothing in his solo material would indicate he could sing harmony

He may be mixed a little low, but you can definitely single him out during the whoops at the end of "Cripple Creek," when his voice doesn't overlap with others (plus he may or may not interject an audible and quick "thank you" immediately after a performance, like he does here at one point, and it wouldn't make sense to turn on-and-off his mic like that).

Listen to "Bessie Smith" (on the doctored Basement Tapes and later re-located as a bonus track on Cahoots), his voice was more ordinary and less whispery back then. He's not going to sing harmony like the Beatles of the Everly Brothers, that's for sure, but the Band's harmonies have often been called ragged and individualistic, with the voices sung together but not quite together as if emphasizing the idea of community without leaving behind personal identity. Within that context, it works for him to fill out those harmonies.

He sings lead on "To Kingdom Come" on the first album, and in each part of the song, each of the other singers alternates harmonizing with him, as far as I can tell.