Roger Waters and Graham Nash on The Band.
I’ve just started reading the new book Levon Helm: Rock, Roll & Ramble; The Inside Story Of The Man, The Music, and The Midnight Ramble by John W. Barry (with a forward by Ringo Starr). I’m only on page 25 of the first chapter, and already I have read something I found very surprising:
Roger Waters: "Big Pink changed everything, overnight." (What have I been telling ya’ll? ;-). He continues: "It was sonic. It was the sound that they made all playing together. It was what they created. It was just completely different than anything I had heard before and it was remarkable. They (sic) were great songs as well. When I heard the record I went ’Wow, what was that?’ What a great band they were." No sh*t Sherlock.
Not as surprising is what I read in the paragraphs immediately preceding that of Waters, that being:
"When they served as opening act for the 1974 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young stadium tour, said Graham Nash: ’I would watch their set with great interest, of course.’
"But even though The Band was opening for CSNY, Nash remained in awe of them and, as a result, was too shy to approach any of the guys or chat them up."
’I should have, of course. I’m not particularly un-famous myself. But I was just too shy. They were too incredible a band in my mind...I mean holy sh*t, they were The Band...they were incredible. They were the best band in the world apart from The Beatles, as far as I was concerned. I was just a fan.’
Every good musician I knew felt just as did Roger and Graham, and still do. The best self-contained band (writing, singing, and playing) in the entire history of Rock ’n’ Roll. You see, Graham had the order reversed ;-) . When Abbey Road came out, it sounded like yesterdays news to me. The Band’s first two albums had completely changed the rules of the game. Those two albums still sound fresh, like they were recorded today. Abbey Road sounded dated to me on release day.
@bdp24 - Yeah, Dave Edmunds is great - my first exposure to him was 'Saber Dance' - my favorite of his is 'Repeat When Necessary', but they're all good. I loved seeing him with Rockpile, which I did a number of times. Last time I saw him must have been 20 years ago, doing a solo acoustic show.... Wonderful producer, too... |
@bdp24 + 1 - and of course Dave also had his Rockfield Studio in Wales where a great many bands over the decades went to record... |
@bdp24 - Roger had a lot of love for John Prine and his music - they actually got to be friends while John was still here - so he likes a lot of music that is nothing like his own.... |
... and the opinions of edcyn, boxcarman, and tonix are every bit as valid as the opinions of any of those others listed. Can't tell somebody they're wrong if they don't happen to like something that you do. I don't like jazz (for one example) - it's great and there are loads and loads of musicians who do, but all those musicians are not going to make me like jazz, and for me, I am not wrong... |
@bdp24 - a totally awesome track is 'Moon Tune' off of one Nick Gravenites album, forget which one, with some of Bloomfield's best playing I've heard. |
You make it sound like the Grateful Dead were just hired hands trying their best to do what Dylan wanted them to; these were collaborations - the Grateful Dead had been doing Dylan covers at just about every show through the 80's and 90's - they knew the songs really well - so it made sense to see how it would be to have Dylan himself sing them. There was no 'task' involved, in my opinion. I quite liked the results. |
@bdp24 - Hah! You are right - I am not a musician, though I am teaching myself piano these days. But I think that matters not a jot! And it would serve no purpose listening to Dylan and the Dead after Dylan and the Band, as I would have zero expectations that the Grateful Dead would sound like the Band, and I'm sure that the Dead had no intention of replicating the Band. The Band covered Dylan well. The Dead covered Dylan well. Jerry covered Dylan well. So did the Byrds. It's all good! |
