Post a controversial music opinion

I love the version with the Staples from the Last Waltz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2eTW8qZBtk

I've put on a few songs by The Band and am quite enjoying it. I never checked them out because I just thought of them as Dylan's (excellent) backing group. Didn't think they'd have any songs, but actually they often do and their chops seem to make it up when they don't..

Totally see what Scott was saying though. This can easily slide into things I would hate.

They're always called "roots rock" but that's a long long way from what they actually were.

I’ve been puzzled by their powerful influence on bands to move communally to the country to “get it together” - including Traffic and Fairport Convention.

Cliche TS: Just five guys living in a house vs. just four guys in a room

I mean, like, how about two women and an ocelot in a yurt?

there was also the hippie commune movement developing at the same time, I think again as with the roots music impulses, the Band tapped into something that was in the air (a larger "let's get back to the land" vibe)

I’ve been puzzled by their powerful influence on bands to move communally to the country to “get it together” - including Traffic and Fairport Convention.

― Dr Drudge (Bob Six), Friday, August 11, 2023 8:11 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

iirc, Traffic actually Got Their Heads Together In The Country in 1967, during the time Dylan and the Band were making The Basement Tapes, but before those (and the legend) circulated).

But yeah, so many UK bands (and a few US bands) had acid hangovers, listened to Big Pink, and either broke up, formed other bands, or went "back to basics." Of course, the Band themselves didn't take a (self-) conscious approach to isolating themselves -- it was just the easiest way to help Dylan work out new songs. But it caused the breakups of Cream and the Small Faces (and the formations of Blind Faith and Humble Pie, respectively), inspired the Beatles' Get Back thing, got Fairport and Floyd to be more pastoral, pushed the Dead onto a farm, and even Hendrix got into the spirit by covering "Tears of Rage."

i heard Joan Baez sing "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" for the first time and it sounded so lovely to me

Levon Helm was so appalled by her version that he refused to ever sing the song again. And I don't blame him. She didn't even bother to get the words right.

i.e. the mark of a good cover

trying to think who my favourite "heads back together in the country" attempts are and it's hawkwind for doremi fasol latido

not for the results; for the notion that the country would help with their heads

I keep toying with the idea of starting a Let's Get Our Heads Together In The Country poll, but I can never settle on a decent list. Also, some are albums (Humble Pie's Town and Country, Fairport's Holidays and Unhalfbricking), some are isolated songs (Jefferson Airplane's "The Farm," Jack Bruce's "Theme For An Imaginary Western"), and some (the Byrds' (untitled), the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies) were late to the party, but still part of the phenomenon.

Write in vote for Schwarzwaldfahrt by Han Bennink and Peter Brötzmann

^^^ would vote for that

Harmonia, "Deluxe".

Faust also.

... and Gong.

not sure that gong ever visited a city (or even a small town)

Incredible String Band - twice. A whole lot of bands tried and invariably failed to get it together in the country.

Led Zeppelin, at both Bron-Yr-Aur and Headley Grange.

for band newbies: 'music from big pink' is still remarkable, tapped into an arcane spirit that no other album has managed to channel. the self-titled is excellent roots music, less alien, more traditional country-style, still beautiful. i prefer it, on most days, but it's not as singular an effort as 'big pink.' beyond there, there are some excellent songs, but nothing as astonishing as the first two albums.

this has been my entry into the "post a conventional opinion" thread

The cousin to this would be leaving your home country to work it out elsewhere, possibly for fiscal/tax reasons (Exile On Main St. those ELO albums Lynne wrote & recorded in Germany, Bowie & Iggy in Berlin etc).

Still failing to see how something like "Whispering Pines", for instance, is roots music.

It's 'roots' as in it's Folk-based, like if AP Carter had heard Dylan.

It doesn't sound anything like folk music though plus have you seen the chords to that song?

I do think the Band's country influence is way overstated, I think for example the R&B influences are much stronger

OTM

"King Harvest" is funky as hell.

otm

"whispering pines" is a down-home ballad, not too far off from "when you awake" a couple tracks earlier or "all la glory" on stage fright. just because it's a complicated progression doesn't mean it's not rooted in that traditional balladry.

"jawbone" also has a complicated progression, and "the unfaithful servant"

I do think the Band's country influence is way overstated, I think for example the R&B influences are much stronger

the album starts off with "across the great divide" and "rag mama rag," that's a mighty first impression

Premier agrees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q42ghNsHw6k

though in fairness to the country thing they did dress like civil war era farmers which probably had soemething to do with it

well yeah the whole thing about the band was the mix of all these american traditions into a slurry that can't be neatly categorized. there's lead belly-esque folk, traditional new orleans music, delta blues, contemporary rock and r&b, etc. there is absolutely some country in there, and that element is more present on the brown album than any of their other releases

oh yeah i don't mean to suggest the country influences don't exists (they covered Long Black Veil even) but i just think people ignore the other stuff you mentioned sometimes

Yes that's a fair description. I just think when people say the Band, oh yeah roots rock it's a bit misleading as to what they actually sound like.

(xp)

he said something like "reverse two letters and you'll learn what Aerosmith is really about"

― linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal), Thursday, August 10, 2023 4:37 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao, classic tyler

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

so this is the first post after the cut and i'm going "wait, earosmith? i don't get it..."

I mean, like, how about two women and an ocelot in a yurt?

― Bonobo Vox (Ye Mad Puffin)

never been to michfest i see

me either :(

Still failing to see how something like "Whispering Pines", for instance, is roots music.

― Monthly Python (Tom D.)

"whispering pines" is a great song, i haven't really heard, like, anything by the band. i heard "leave me alone" by the canadian squires, which i like a lot. "whispering pines" doesn't sound much like that song either.

Hendrix got into the spirit by covering "Tears of Rage."

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

i mean hendrix just loved dylan a lot, i feel like hearing dylan made him feel less self-conscious about his voice - which is awesome, because hendrix's voice is great!

even country people went back to the country after hearing the band, ccr, dylan, byrds, etc. those dusty outlaw records from the 70s. those singer/songwriter types like mickey and guy and the texas dudes. even early 60s teen pop stars who decided to use their full names on albums covers. everyone was weary of the bright lights.

(ftr, ccr are my band...)

lol at Earosmith

Redence Ceerwater Crevival

^^^ sometimes I wonder if the haters are confusing The Band with someone else??

― brimstead

well yeah the whole thing about the band was the mix of all these american traditions into a slurry that can't be neatly categorized. there's lead belly-esque folk, traditional new orleans music, delta blues, contemporary rock and r&b, etc. there is absolutely some country in there, and that element is more present on the brown album than any of their other releases

― ludicrously capacious bag (voodoo chili)

wait, fans call one of their albums "the brown album"? i think i've cracked it, clearly haters are confusing The Band with Ween

(i like old dr. john records a lot too. those are the funky genre gumbos for me. great songs and space and darkness and drum beats. i enjoy louisiana blues from the late 60s and early 70s a ton. more than most kinds of blues. i like that swampy mix of influences and strains. french people on top of fats domino on top of chicago blues on top of new orleans jazz, etc. i listen to professor longhair records.)

it can sometimes be confusing to refer to an album called 'the band' by the band called 'the band'

xp

gris-gris is so great

well, heck, since i'm here, i'll continue with my ban-worthiness. i don't even care that The Band backed up Dylan. i like Dylan and the songs and i LOVE the production of those records but i don't love The Band. i feel like they cemented that shaggy ramshackle thing that is not always my fave thing and probably a big reason why i don't listen to a lot of live Dylan from the latter years. i would have preferred the Small Faces backing Dylan up in the 60s. or Creedence! and from then on he would have been known for his tight and fiery death choogle power rock live gigs. i don't even like Al Kooper that much really. i like the soundtrack to The Landlord. i like BS&T post-Kooper. i don't think he was a great producer. i'm not a huge Mike Bloomfield fan. i can listen to bootleg live versions of "East-West" all day. that's a given. but other than stuff on those first 3 Paul Butterfield albums..eh. but i could say the same about John Mayall and Alexis Korner or whoever. i adore Bob Johnston. best touring Dylan band would have just been Area Code 615 or Barefoot Jerry! in an alternate universe we could have heard that glory.