The Band.

All The King's Men:Ree-markable album, some of it like nothing else (in a good way)

"Keith Richards, Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana -plus Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko of the Band- all got together at Helm’s Woodstock, New York barn studio to record a track. The occasion was All the Kings Men, an LP honoring Presley" #theband #levonhelm #KeithRichards pic.twitter.com/iDhcKVuSa8

— Levon And The Hawks (@LevonTheHawk) September 8, 2022

as xgau sez (dunno what first sentence means, but rest seems right:

Scotty Moore/D.J. Fontana: All the King's Men [Sweetfish, 1997]
There's no rationalizing the success ratio of this tribute comp--I mean, gosh, Elvis Presley's original sidemen collaborate with artists who like them. I'd like to credit Scotty and D.J.'s groove, but with second drummers powering the two rockingest cuts and extra guitarists everywhere, let's just call it serendipity. Plus maybe--since Joe Ely, Steve Earle, and Raul Malo all benefit from not trying too hard--the kind of affable discretion that stays out of talent's way. The knockout rockouts are Cheap Trick's "Bad Little Girl," which sounds like great John Lennon, and Keith Richards and the Band's "Deuce and a Quarter," which sounds like great old roots-rock and also like nothing I've ever heard. And then there's Ronnie McDowell with that essential soupcon of Memphis-to-Vegas schmaltz. A-

Never noticed this before but on "Rags & Bones," when we get to the cat lyric, Garth does a pretty awesome impression of a cat shreik on the synths. It may not have been noticeable on headphones while on-the-go but on a good stereo system with at least bookshelf speakers it's pretty clear. Not as good but still cute, when Garth does his own version of an ice cream truck jingle during the lyric about the "ice cream man."

Anyway, kind of representative of the album, where the song is actually not that good, but it's played well and Garth really shines. The three cuts that always get anthologized are definitely the three highlights, but Garth's other big number is "Jupiter Hollow" - again not a great song, but it's wonderful just to hear Garth layer things together.

Yeah i feel the same about Garth on Cahoots.

It's a shame they didn't come up with more great original material past Stage Fright, but I guess in fairness there was a lot of excellent stuff that didn't make the albums proper. (The best of the bonus cuts from the 2000/2001 reissues add up to a great lost album - Robbie slipped a lot of those into The Basement Tapes in 1975.)

Someone posted that Georgia on My Mind from SNL on Vimeo - enjoy!🕸

“Hosted Flower Hill House Concert No. 6 last night!” Perrotta wrote on Instagram. “What a gift to not only have Cindy Cashdollar, Jerry Marotta and Happy Traum play with SuperFolk but also a surprise set from Garth Hudson of The Band who has not played a concert in years! Making rock and roll history in my living room.”

love garth

One of my many terrible ideas is a Halloween costume with black helmet, luxurious beard, and a chest=mounted keyboard = Garth Vader

Literally no one would get it and I would slink home in richly deserved shame

I have a lot of extremely bad ideas, if you want more, like & subscribe

lol everyone that would get the joke is right here

Yep. Which is why I don't leave.

yet another band member in the galaxy far far away

It's #NationalLookAlikeDay! 🎉 Many of you have mentioned the striking resemblance between #PedroPascal and our very own Rick Danko – we couldn't agree more! 😄 Who's your celebrity doppelgänger?

Photo of Rick by @ElliottLandy pic.twitter.com/g6dubn1V23

— The Band (@TheBandOfficial) April 20, 2023

Listened to big pink like 5 times so far this week

Crazy Pedro followed me
And he caught me in the hay
I am not a fungal zombie
But he shot me anyway

totally in love with the garth synth sound on a couple of '76 shows i've been checking out lately. been so long since i've seen it that i can't remember if he was playing synthesizer on the last waltz as well?

Seems like xpost Garth Vader, as described, could look so cool that few would feel like they needed the origin story to enjoy thee vision before them.

xps Slightly off-topic, but I always thought Chris Kattan of all people was a dead ringer for Jaco Pastorius.

Some early indications that Robbie Robertson may have gone on to the Last Waltz in the sky ...

Or maybe not?

Just found this - is he playing the bronzed guitar from the Last Waltz?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2SfFQQ81cs

wait what Josh??

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/robbie-robertson-dead-the-band-1235692172/

Tributes rolling in

RIP Robbie Robertson - you were easily the worst member of The Band. You were lucky enough to springboard off the backs of 4 other gentleman who each possessed the grace, talent and artistry that you lacked.

— JEHawks (@jehawks) August 9, 2023

Shit, was hoping it was a false alarm.

rip robbie, this sucks

RIP

Even if he never wrote a single song he'd be an all-timer for some of the weird guitar he provided on Dylan's material in 65-67.

Worst member of the Band is a subjective call, but no-one has ever denied that he wrote those songs. Helm just wanted the royalties to be shared around.

x -post

I mean, JRR did write some unbelievably classic songs, so I'm not 100% sure I agree with that assessment. But he was easily the most grating of the 5 and had a frequently embarrassing solo career.

RIP.

my jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te7KW4K-00E

Oldest guy in the band is the only one left

What a bummer, RIP Robbie.

Oldest guy in the band is the only one left

Like Can and the Bee Gees.

Ringo will outlive Paul.

I mean, JRR did write some unbelievably classic songs, so I'm not 100% sure I agree with that assessment. But he was easily the most grating of the 5 and had a frequently embarrassing solo career.

He played amazing guitar on that tour, but true.

Worst member of the Band is a subjective call, but no-one has ever denied that he wrote those songs. Helm just wanted the royalties to be shared around.

Apparently they were per Jonathan Taplin, but it's a little complicated:

In his memoir, Levon was very critical of The Last Waltz, down to saying Robertson was singing into a dead mic. How do you respond to that?

Robbie listened to Dylan, who said songwriting is like a bond — it keeps paying you money. And by the third album, Stage Fright, Robbie was doing it all. He was getting up at 9 a.m. and going into his studio at the piano or the guitar and writing songs because he needed 11 or 12 songs to make an album. And nobody was saying, “I want some of that song.”

So this is all revisionist history for people to say, “Levon should have publishing rights on all that music because he helped make the songs in the studio.” Not true. Robbie brought in the songs fully baked. Did Levon change the beat? Fine. But that’s not a songwriting credit. So by 2001, 2002, when Levon got sick and Napster eliminated royalty income from the old catalog, Levon was pissed because Robbie had money and he didn’t. And he looked back and thought the whole thing was a big scam, including The Last Waltz.

Look, Levon got movie jobs off The Last Waltz too. Phil Kaufman told me he saw Levon telling those stories and thought he could be an actor, so Levon was in The Right Stuff. So I don’t have any tolerance for people who say Robbie’s a thief or something like that. It’s just not right.

*true on both counts.

(also accidentally pasted in another line, the one that says "in his memoir, Levon...")

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

Agh, I see what happened - I pasted in the wrong line. I meant to include this at the beginning of the quoted section:

Here’s the deal. If you were a musician in 1969, it would not be obvious to you that the only people who are going to make money in 2001 would be songwriters. If you look at the royalty account for the Band — how much per album was going to the Band, split evenly, and how much per album was going to the songwriters — the royalties for the Band were three and a half times as much as the songwriters’.

And by the third album, Stage Fright, Robbie was doing it all. He was getting up at 9 a.m. and going into his studio at the piano or the guitar and writing songs because he needed 11 or 12 songs to make an album. And nobody was saying, “I want some of that song.”

... because they were all nodding out on heroin.

during the trip hop era, this collab with howie b was a massive late night fave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUJ0kprtBmE

The two songs Manuel co-wrote on Stage Fright are the best two on the record...but he never worked up another song for the next 16 years of his life.

listen i love the other guys in the band and robbie could be a dickhead but c'mon he was the main force behind their career it's not even a question

"acadian driftwood" is so beautiful :(

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)