I thought this was interesting:
"In [Dylan's] approach, the poetry aspect of it, poetic license in
songwriting. It's a culmination of a whole bunch of things but
because we were working with Bob it was really obvious. I didn't pay
attention to a lot of the things that he wrote, though. It was too
talky for me. It was just like I was getting lost and this was like
reading subtitles to a song. I was saying if this thing could be more
soulful and simplified...Later on things like `Just Like A Woman'
came, things that I thought were realy touching.
"I was afraid to write like that. I thought it was just going to be
blah, blah, blah. When we would play with Bob he would do this
acoustic set and then the electric set. In the acoustic set it was
just blah, blah, blah, blah all the way through. Not that he wasn't
saying amazing things, it was just too much. I didn't want to listen
to that many words from anybody - anybody! That was just somebody
that talked too much. It was brilliantly done.
"But, from my background, I came in on a rock'n'roll train, blues and
country music mixed together where the music played a part of it.
There was a sound, there was an effect to this whole thing and it all
added up. That's what made rock'n'roll to me. You mix this and you
mix that and a little bit of this and a little bit of that and you
get something and God knows what it is. It's just magical when you
put it all together. I wasn't getting that out of [Dylan's] music.
"Curtis Mayfield was a tremendous influence on me. I remember playing
Curtis Mayfield for Bob Dylan, saying `Listen to this, listen to the
mood, listen to the sound quality.' I was trying to get him into the
idea of making records, not going in there and just bashing inthe
studio and whatever everybody plays, that's what the record is; that
there's actually a sound quality to it. We would talk about early
rockabilly records and stuff like that.
"Between all our influences, my influences, Bob's opening up this
door, it was like a calling. It was like adding up these pieces
together where you actually are going to hear the humor of Little
Willie John's `All Around The World' and you're going to hear these
voices doing Staple Singers stuff, and a high singer like Smokey
Robinson, but with these kind of lyrics, the Hank Williams-influenced
things. All of these things add up - you mix them all in a big pot
and you stir them with a spoon and you get the
Music From Big
Pink and
The Band albums." - Robbie Robertson of The Band
taken from the
history of The
Band― aaron m, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)
i like dylan and the band but someone shd put gaffertape over r.robertson's mouth whenever a "rock historian" hoves
into view, you'd think the only reason he picked up a guitar in the first place was to ensure his place in a cultural
studies module
― mark s, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)
Spot on. Also "In the acoustic set it was just blah, blah, blah, blah"
Err - Robbie - shut up. I like Robbie's playing and all, I mean the guy
can fucking play but he talks too much. And his solo work is mostly
wack. He clearly needed guys like Manuel and Helm, and of course
Zimmerframe to keep his galactic ego in check.
― Roger Fascist, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)
Yep, Robbie's a problem. The Band would be nothing without that
rhythm section -- it took them (not to mention Levon's fine, fine
voice) to make Robbie's songs, which are, admittedly, great, work. If
I had to pick between them... I dunno. I think the Band does Dylan
songs better than Dylan does. But Bob's done so many more things. I
call it a tie.
― Yancey, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)
five years pass...