You know this album. Even if you have somehow managed to miss it over the years, you know it from the countless other albums it has influenced in the 31 years since its release. Music From Big Pink is the closest thing we have to a sacred album in the annals of rock and roll. But let’s put the myth aside for a moment, and discuss the music.
The Band’s debut album was released in 1968, one of the most tumultuous years in the history of this country, and the world for that matter. It was a time of immense social and political change. There was civil unrest, assassination, war raging in Southeast Asia, the rise of the drug culture, and some of the most earth-shaking music ever made as the soundtrack to the whole mess. To say that the Band was unknown would not quite be accurate. They had been slugging it out on the road with Ronnie Hawkins for years, and more recently they had served as Bob Dylan’s backing band. It is fair to say that they weren’t on the radar of most people at the time. So in the midst of all of this change and chaos, what did these four Canadians and one American do? They released an album that took us back to our roots via popular music. Lives were changed. Eric Clapton decided to quit Cream after he heard the album. George Harrison paid close attention to the sound, and became even more disenchanted with the Beatles. (more…)
As you may recall, last week I wrote about a very fine Black Crowes show that took place at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. The show was part of the band’s “Stuck In Utopia” tour in support of their new albums, Before the Frost … and Until the Freeze … on their own Silver Arrow label, which is distributed through Megaforce Records. Provided as an incentive to purchase the new album, each copy of Before the Frost … comes with a download card that gives you an a code to use to download … Until the Freeze, the second half of the new package. The entire 20-song set features 19 new Black Crowes songs, plus a cover of the Stephen Stills – Chris Hillman song “So Many Times.”
The new albums were recorded in front of a live audience over the course of five nights at Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, N.Y. It takes a bit of chutzpah to record two albums consisting almost entirely of new songs in front of a live crowd, but the Crowes have never suffered from a lack of nerve. And if you’re going to do it in that somewhat unconventional style, I can think of no better place than Levon’s beautiful studio, which has become famous as the location of his weekly Midnight Rambles.
I’ve been a fan of the Black Crowes since the very moment that I first heard “Jealous Again” on the radio in the early ’90s. Sure, they sounded like a throwback, but a throwback to a very cool era, and especially to one of my very favorite bands, the Faces. They’ve grown a lot since then, developing their own sound which in turn has been imitated by others. The thing is, I’ve always found their albums to be somewhat hit-or-miss. The number of truly memorable songs they’ve recorded over the course of a career that has now lasted close to 20 years (of course there was a three year “hiatus” in there, 2002-2005) is fairly negligible for a band of their considerable talents. I’m afraid that these two new albums aren’t going to do much to change that. It can’t be easy for the Black Crowes whose careers began with classic singles like the aforementioned “Jealous Again,” and “Remedy.” How are you going to top those? (more…)
David Medsker:
As a rule, music lovers begin their journey square in the middle of the mainstream, and once they’ve gotten a taste for more adventurous fare, they take off for the fringes, often never to return. Over time, I’ve slowly found myself coming back to the middle. I have to say, I never thought this would happen. But then again, I never thought I’d move back to Ohio after over a decade in Boston and Chicago, but that’s life for ya: it changes you in ways you can’t anticipate.
This is all a roundabout way of saying that my list, much like last year’s list, isn’t exactly hip, or edgy, but that’s mainly because I’m not hip or edgy. I like what I like, whether it’s Massive Attack or Mandy Moore. And here are five albums from this year that I really, really like.
Metric: Fantasies
I am admittedly late to the Emily Haines Show – a friend of mine persuaded me to download Live It Out a few years ago, but it never hooked me – but their latest is a monster blast of New Wave-tinged DOR that Garbage would kill for. Metric – “Stadium Love”
Epic, sky-high pop that recalls the best of the Verve, Keane and even the Wonder Stuff in singer Antony Genn’s delivery. The title track is a “Common People”-style slow burner and one of the finest pieces of British pop I’ve heard in years. The Hours – “Big Black Hole” (more…)
In the late 1990s, Levon Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer. The radiation treatments reduced his once powerful voice to a mere rasp. Unable to make any money touring or recording, the medical and other bills piled up. For a time, it looked like his beloved home in Woodstock, NY would face foreclosure. That was the impetus for the creation of the now famous Midnight Ramble in early 2004. The Ramble takes place in the studio attached to Levon’s house every Saturday night that Levon is in town. Having had the pleasure of attending the Ramble, I can report that it is one of the most amazing musical events that you will ever attend. The money brought in from ticket sales for these and other shows allowed Levon to keep the wolves from the door.
In 2007, with his voice 80% restored by his estimate, Levon released his Grammy Award-winning comeback album, Dirt Farmer. Now he’s back with a brand-new album entitled Electric Dirt (Dirt Farmer Music/Vanguard Records). I’m happy to tell you that the new album is the closest thing to an album by the Band since, well, since the last Band album. Levon’s voice is certainly an American treasure and he belongs in the company of great roots singers like Charlie Louvin, Ralph Stanley, and Buddy Miller. (more…)
Robbie Robertson’s recorded output with his legendary band — that is, The Band — and his solo career would seem like different beasts on the surface. While The Band was known for its exploration of the various forms of American roots music — folk, country, and rhythm and blues — his solo recordings have aimed for a more expansive sound, incorporating electronic instrumentation, prog-rock arrangements, and even dance remixes. But beyond that, Robertson’s solo career actually follows a similar level of output as The Band: two good albums (or in the case of The Band’s first two, great albums), followed by a few more middling works, and then absolutely nothing for at least a decade. Eleven years passed between The Last Waltzand Robbie Robertson, and it was ten years this March that Robertson’s most recent record (Contact From the Underworld of Red Boy) came out. Don’t expect that drought to be broken any time soon: The only times in the last few years that Robertson has been attached to music was to help oversee The Band’s 2005 retrospective box set, and to make an abbreviated appearance at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads guitar festival last year.
Robertson’s solo career also follows a similar pattern as to his time both within The Band, and after their breakup: the pattern of being a flaming jag-off. How much a jerk you believe Robertson to be is usually inversely proportional to how much you like his former Band-mate, Levon Helm, since most of the more juicy tales about Robertson are tied to the decades-long feud between the two men.
-Both blame the other for the suicide of The Band’s Richard Manuel. Robertson blames Helm because Helm supposedly dragged Manuel along on the sans-Robertson incarnation of The Band, putting more pressure on the depressed and alcoholic Manuel until he got to the breaking point and hung himself in his Florida hotel room during a 1986 tour. Helm blames Robertson for breaking up The Band via his unilateral decision, and leading Manuel to be in no financial position to to afford proper treatment (since Robertson controlled almost all the songwriting and publishing royalties), and contends that re-forming The Band actually allowed Manuel to survive longer, regardless of his tragic end coming on tour. Robertson would eulogize Manuel on the opening track of his first solo album, “Fallen Angel” (download). (more…)
Before telling you how much I love this album, and how I’ve hung onto it since stumbling across it in a used bin in the spring of ‘98, I will tell you what it is:
1. A full-length tribute to Antonin Dvorak’s From the New World.
2. Mostly written by Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, also known as the creative engine that drives the Hooters.
3. Featuring special guests including Cyndi Lauper and Joan Osborne.
So now that I’ve gotten that out of the way — and you’re probably thinking this is something you’d never want to hear — let’s talk about why Largo is better than it has any right to be. Let’s talk, first, about Dvorak. For the sake of making things easy for me, I’ll assume you know nothing at all about nineteenth-century classical composers, and begin by telling you that Dvorak was one. Specifically, he was a Czech nineteenth-century classical composer, which makes him seem like a bit of an odd choice for a ’90s pop tribute, but appearances can be deceiving. (more…)
You know this album. Even if you have somehow managed to miss it over the years, you know it from the countless other albums it has influenced in the 31 years since its release. Music From Big Pink is the closest thing we have to a sacred album in the annals of rock and roll. But let’s put the myth aside for a moment, and discuss the music.
![38ea810ae7a05023171b0210.L._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]](http://popdose.com/wp-content/uploads/38ea810ae7a05023171b0210.L._SCLZZZZZZZ_1.jpg "38ea810ae7a05023171b0210.L._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]")
Metric: Fantasies
Robbie Robertson’s recorded output with his legendary band — that is, The Band — and his solo career would seem like different beasts on the surface. While The Band was known for its exploration of the various forms of American roots music — folk, country, and rhythm and blues — his solo recordings have aimed for a more expansive sound, incorporating electronic instrumentation, prog-rock arrangements, and even dance remixes. But beyond that, Robertson’s solo career actually follows a similar level of output as The Band: two good albums (or in the case of The Band’s first two, great albums), followed by a few more middling works, and then absolutely nothing for at least a decade. Eleven years passed between 
Various Artists – Largo (1998)