The Band.

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)

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