Once Were Brothers in theaters Friday, February 28th

If I could have the music of only one music creator (thankfully, such is not the case), it would be that of JSB. If I could have the music of only one Rock ’n’ Roll band, it would be that of The Band (for a solo Rock & Roller, it would be Dave Edmunds). But those are two very different things, and cannot be appraised by the same metric. The opinion about ANY Rock ’n’ Roll by one who considers ALL of it beneath him is irrelevant, just as is my opinion about anything in the Rap genre.

But The Band wasn’t just a Rock ’n’ Roll band. They started out playing R & B in the clubs in Toronto, though individually they had very deep roots, which I won’t go into here (you can read about it in the books by Robertson, Levon Helm, and Harvey Kubernik). Dylan spent all of 1967 in the basement of Big Pink tutoring them on the entire history of American Popular music, back to the music brought over from England and Ireland (Folk to you, schubert). In The Last Waltz, they perform music in all Pop genres: Blues (Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton; Paul Butterfield blows harp with a couple of performers as well), R & B (Dr. John and Van Morrison), Gospel (The Staples), Folk (Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young), Country (Emmylou Harris), Rockabilly (Ronnie Hawkins), Pop (a dreadful dirge by Neil Diamond). And Garth performs his Classically-infused Organ intro on "Chest Fever."

When The Band were booked into The Hollywood Bowl in 1970, they were given carte blanche for the opening act of their choice. They chose The Miles Davis Group, pianist Keith Jarrett being a favorite musician of both Robertson and Garth Hudson. Miles’ drummer Jack DeJohnette and Levon Helm became lifelong friends and admirers. Here’s what Jack had to say about The Band: "I knew The Band---Music From Big Pink---and thought they were terrific, not flashy but real soulful, with great lyrics and great singing. We got to jam briefly with The Band, and really dug their musicianship." When Jack himself headlined the Playboy Jazz Festival at The Bowl in 2017, he included "Up On Cripple Creek" from the second Band album in his set. Ironically, though Levon sings the song, it was pianist Richard Manuel who plays the drums heard on the studio recording.

"The Weight" is hardly the only song of note (sorry ;-) from The Band. But even if it were, that song alone is worth more to me than the entire recorded output of The Beatles. I realize that is a minority opinion, one I can offer no explanation or rationale for. The song fills me with a feeling so glorious, the physical world evaporates, my consciousness elevated. The same when I listen to J.S. Bach’s Concerto For 4 Harpsichords And Orchestra. Good music is good music.

The Band are sort of a Rorschach test. ;-) Bob Dylan thought they were phenomenal, Nick Lowe says Brinsley Schwarz (in which he was the bassist/songwriter/singer) were trying to be the British Band, Elvis Costello has expressed his deep appreciation, as have Lucinda Williams, Ry Cooder, the guys in Los Lobos, Buddy Miller, T Bone Burnett, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Richard Thompson, John Hiatt, Neil Young, the guys in Little Feat, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner, Jim Lauderdale, Springsteen (as noted above), Bill Graham, countless others. And Clapton gave up Cream after hearing Music From Big Pink, saying the album "changed his life." Is that "a bit overpraised."? ;-)

But that’s just them. Like anything else, The Band are not for everyone, only those who understand and appreciate what made them very, very special. No offense intended. I myself didn’t "get" them at first, try as I might. I couldn’t hear what all the fuss was about (there was a lot of fuss made about them in 1968 and ’69). Once I did, a new world was opened to me. You either get it, or you don’t. For those who don’t, oh well.

No, The Band weren’t The Berlin Philharmonic (though Garth Hudson IS Classically trained ;-) . Listen to his "Genetic Method" intro to "Chest Fever" on The Band’s live album, if you dare). Neither were The Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras. And Frank Sinatra wasn’t an Opera singer. Horses for courses. Interviewer to Keith Moon: "Could you play in The Buddy Rich Big Band?" Moon: "No, and Buddy couldn’t play in The Who."

Saying "They were the real dead (sic) in a meaningless genre" is like a Vegan saying the best steak in town is the real meal in a meaningless menu. Mind your own business, ya smug elitist square. Speaking of squares: did ya hear the one about what Buddy Holly said about Jazz music? "It’s strictly for the stay-at-homes" ;-) . Vivian Stanshall (The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band) said "Jazz; delicious hot, disgusting cold."

Oh, notice how he changed "They were the real dead in a meaningless genre" to "They were the real deal in a genre with a very low bar." in response to this post? Too late, you already revealed your true character.

Robertson was essential to The Band, especially as a songwriter. When they regrouped without him (Jim Weider taking his place on guitar) it was not remotely the same. Richard Manuel never got back his songwriting mojo, and the magic just wasn’t there. Like all bands, they had run their course, given all they had to give, pretty much in those first two, perfect albums.

The Band albums after the first and second had scattered good songs (the duet between Manuel and Van Morrison on Cahoots’ "4% Pantomime" is a gas! Northern Lights-Southern Cross’ "It Makes No Difference" is utterly majestic.), and their live album is about the best I’ve ever heard (as is their live album with Dylan, Before The Flood.). On Moondog Matinee they created some very interesting versions of old songs. NO other band could have created that album!

But as far as the level of musicianship in a Rock ’n’ Roll band, they really raised the bar. They played like studio musicians, their only competition being the house band at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals (The Swampers), Booker T & The MG’s, the Motown guys (The Funk Brothers), The Wrecking Crew (Spector’s L.A. studio band), and the Nashville players Dylan went there to record with starting in ’65.

If I go "overboard", I’m not alone. Eric Clapton’s reaction to hearing Music From Big Pink was to disband Cream (at the time the biggest band in the world), and go to West Saugerties (the location of the pink house) for a coupla weeks, waiting to be asked to join The Band. It finally occurred to him that they neither desired nor required his services ;-) . Every good guitarist I knew in the Bay Area traded his Les Paul or SG for a Telecaster, their Sunn, Marshall, or Fender Dual Showman for a small combo amp (the Fender Deluxe Reverb being a particular favorite). Gone were the long guitar solos, in was songwriting, harmony singing, and ensemble-style musicianship (playing for the song). The Band completely changed what was hip.

But of course unhip was much more commonplace. As the above was going on, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, ELP, Elton John, Aerosmith, and all the rest took over Rock. There was Creedence from the East Bay, and The Doobie Brothers from my hometown of San Jose, and then Fleetwood Mac (when fronted by a couple more San Jose residents, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. I saw their SJ garage band Fritz live in ’68), and lots and lots of Blues-based UK bands. Hundreds, maybe. Ugh (as Sonny Boy Williamson said to The Hawks when they jammed together in ’65, right after he returned from a UK tour with promoter-provided UK bands: "They {the UK bands} wanna play the Blues SO bad. And that’s just how they play it." One of those bands was The Yardbirds, featuring Eric Clapton on guitar ;-) .

By the time things had gotten REAL bad (mid-70’s, right before the appearance of The Ramones), everybody I knew was doing what Dylan had done with The Hawks in the basement of Big Pink throughout all of 1967: follow the trail of music back to before Elvis Presley walked into Sam Phillips’ little recording studio in Memphis. We discovered Rural Blues, Urban Blues (Howlin’ Wolf rules!), Jump Blues, Big Bands, Western Swing, Hillbilly, Bluegrass, Folk (including it’s English/Irish roots), Tin Pan Alley, and some of us Classical. But we also learned there was a lot more to early Rock ’n’ Roll than just the big names: Rockabilly! The Johnny Burnette Trio Rules!! Listen to their version of "Train Kept A Rollin’" to hear how bad Aerosmith’s version sucks.

Would there even be the Americana Music scene as we know it had there been no The Band? I don’t think so.

Agree 100%, @rpeluso. I know there are Robertson apologists, but I see right through his self-serving rationalizations for what he did. He is a fine guitarist and songwriter (or rather was), a terrible singer (he "fakes" singing all throughout The Last Waltz. I find his solo albums unlistenable, and quite pretentious.), and not much of a friend.

In his autobiography (Testimonial, which I refrained from reading until very recently, out of respect for Levon. It’s actually fantastic, the best retelling of their story I’ve read.), Robertson talks about the songwriting credits issue, and his explanation sounds very bogus. I stood next to him at a movie theater on Sunset Blvd. in the early-2000’s, and was sorely tempted to say something nasty to him. Let it go, Eric ;-) .

It was Levon who had a great post-Band career, not Robbie. Including a Grammy for one of his albums. A not bad actor, too (The Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Right Stuff, a couple others). You’ll notice Muddy Waters walks right past Robertson as he exits The Last Waltz stage, over to Levon’s drum riser to shake his hand. During rehearsals it became apparent the show was running long, and Robertson asked Levon to tell Muddy they were going to have to cut him from the show (instead of Neil Diamond?! Robertson was at that time producing Diamond’s in-progress recordings sessions ;-). Levon replied "If Muddy don’t play, I don’t play." When Muddy’s segment became a highlight of The Last Waltz film (in spite of Robertson’s showboating on guitar, and his uncalled-for vocal proclamations), Robertson acted as is having Muddy on the roster was his doing. He’s shameless.

By the way, there’s a video on You tube chronicling Garth Hudson’s revisiting the Big Pink house, and speaking with it’s current owner (a musician). It’s fantastic, including a snippet of Garth displaying his incredible prowess on piano.