The Band.

Great post, birdistheword. I’ve weirdly only heard the 2020 remix, which I generally like. The one or two songs I’ve heard in the original mix (“Stage Fright” and “The Shape I’m In”) always sounded claustrophobic and cluttered to me. The Clearmountain mix opens things up.

yeah I've only heard the 2020 as well and love it. I recall RR changed the running order to more accurately reflect his vision of the album

Thanks James, and apologies forgot to circle back! They packaged a great show with the 2020 remix so at minimum the 2CD version is worth it for that. There's a lot of compression on that CD, which may or may not be baked into the new mix, and it has a lot of characteristics typically found in Clearmountain's mixes so it was kind of jarring to hear: it really sounds like something mixed in 2020 than, say, 1970. He applies quite a bit of reverb, like on "The Rumor" and I think on Danko's entire vocal for the title track - he's kind of known for his wide array of "echoes" and I think he even has a plugin based on them. That part I'm not so sure about as it's not to my preference but it was Robertson's call whether or not to have that. Compression aside, he does a great job of balancing the instruments so everything does come together nicely. He doesn't always use the same approach for every song - he clearly knows what to focus on. (On "Sleeping," Manuel's vocal sounds very present while everything else is brought down, much moreso than past mixes.) Tough call on Robertson's new sequence because "Sleeping" does make a great closer, better than "The Rumor"...on the other hand, I don't think "The Rumor" really works as well anywhere else. I don't think anything was wrong withe original sequence so that's my preference, but FWIW Greil Marcus much prefers the new sequence.

I'll also say that Clearmountain did a far better job mixing the live Academy album (i.e. Rock of Ages) than what was originally released, and he also did better than the remixes Andrew Sandoval made for A Musical History. However, I also prefer the "soundboard mix" Sebastian Robertson made of the New Year's show - it feels more apiece with the first two albums. I can also see it getting rejected for being too natural-sounding - Clearmountain's mix sounds really polished, what you'd expect from a major label live release.

*I don't think anything was wrong with the track sequence that everyone lived with until 2020 so that's my preference, but FWIW Greil Marcus much prefers the new sequence.

I also prefer the "soundboard mix" Sebastian Robertson made of the New Year's show - it feels more apiece with the first two albums.

Ooh, where can I hear this?

On physical media, it was made available only through the Live At The Academy Of Music 1971 box set, but that entire set (sans DVD) should be on all streaming services, so you'll be able to see the two discs marked "soundboard mix."

Thinking I mgith have to watch ONCE WERE BROTHERS again despite any, um, reservations.

thank you bird!

“Robbie was a lifelong friend. His passing leaves a vacancy in the world.”

This is it from you-know-who?

Seems like the Soundboard mix starts with “Up on Cripple Creek.”

Subtracting some more points from ONCE FOR BROTHERS for anachronistic appearance of “Je t’aime… moi non plus” in 1968.

Sorry, much worse, 1966.

“Robbie was a lifelong friend. His passing leaves a vacancy in the world.”

This is it from you-know-who?

Bono obviously.

Haha! Close

More points deducted for misattribution of some Basement Tapes backing vocals to HELM.

Who does of course eventually reappear but still.

I thought a lot of the Basement Tapes was recorded later - the Band songs anyway.

Right but this was weird demo about a dog that seems to be clearly from that period. Plus voice sounded like Richard Manuel whose photo is also on screen immediately afterwards.

Dominique is even referred to as Dominique Robertson. Maybe she kept her married name after divorce, not that it’s any of my business really. Not even sure how I knew they were divorced except for rock and roll Last Waltz extrapolation and various photos of Robbie plus arm candy du jour.

“Kickin’ My Dog Around”

Hint to Tom D: it wasn’t Peter Gabriel what said that either

Considering bird's tales of regal demands re mixes, somebody up or down there might dig this serving ov the 50th Anniversary Larks' Tongues In Aspic:

...This set comprises two blu-ray audio discs and two CDs. The first blu-ray contains Steven Wilson’s brand new Dolby Atmos Mix which is described as “more expansive than the earlier mixes as released in 2012, while still retaining and enhancing the core power of the original material”. Since Wilson’s Atmos process involves going back to the multi-track tapes and first building a new stereo mix and then a 5.1 surround mix, we are presented with three brand news mixes for this product.

While Steven was working on this aspect of the material Alex R. Mundy and David Singleton were mixing every single take of the original studio sessions. These unreleased early takes are presented not as traditionally blended pieces, but with maximum separation, with the idea being to mimic “the experience of sitting in the studio with the individual elements being performed around you”.

David Singleton’s ‘Elemental mixes’ apply this same approach to the main album takes to give a fresh view on the familiar, with the focus often falling in unusual places, some originally hidden, some unused. Four of the album’s core tracks feature: extended mixes of ‘Larks’ 1’ and ‘Talking Drum’ along with ‘Easy Money’ and ‘Larks’ 2’. This material is also on the first blu-ray alongside Wilson’s three mixes and some instrumental mixes.

Thanks to the capacity of the blu-ray audio format, the second blu-ray disc contains the complete recordings of every session recorded for the album. As stated, all of this material has been newly mixed from the original performances and is presented on disc for the first time in hi-res 24/96 stereo. This second blu-ray also includes the original stereo mixes of the album and David Singleton’s audio documentary of the album recording Keep That One, Nick. These are the sole previously released elements in this package (both were included in the 2012 box set).

As if all that’s not enough, there’s two CDs. The first includes the 2023 stereo mix and instrumentals of the album and the second offers the elemental mixes and selected master reels...

All that talk about his first wife made me wonder what his second wife might be like. This seems to give us a pretty good idea:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cpsa5pPrGcy/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Ask Greil today ends with quite the kicker.

Ha, Robbie himself talks a bit about that in his WTF episode

https://greilmarcus.substack.com/p/ask-greil-september-5-2023

Dalton sings Manuel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr46KHgjkso

Manuel sings and/or writes lyrics about Dalton, 'tis long said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRsiO8KdKg

Never knew about this, but Dylan apparently wanted the reunited Band (without Robbie but with Richard still alive) to back him in 1986 - they didn't because their manager nixed the idea.

This is according to Jim Weider in a new interview.

That's a really interesting interview, thanks for posting.

Yes, enjoyed reading that.