In my mid teens I was a huge Dylan fan and saw a "Dylan and The Hawks" (the Band without Levon Helm for that tour anyway) show in Honolulu in 1966...whew...it was the first time anybody had played that arena (called the Honolulu International Center or HIC back then) with their own sound system (on their way to Australia I think) consisting of piles of Altec A7s, and the first time I'd seen Leslie speaker cabinets. An hour or so of Bob killing it solo, followed by him and the Hawks just loud and really powerfully putting on one of the best shows possible...utterly life transforming for my 15 year old self. Big Pink was like something carved out of wood and at the time was also purely amazing, and I basically wore out my first copy the Brown Album and listen to it still. I bought the boxed set reissue/remix thing last year and the vinyl in that set is maybe the cleanest and best sounding vinyl album I own...highly recommended. I saw the Band again in 1972 or so, and later versions without Robbie a couple of times much later. My favorite band through the 70s was the original Little Feat who, for my tastes and that of most fellow musicians I knew back then, were the hottest live band at the time.
Springsteen and Clapton on their favorite, heh, band.
I went and saw Once Were Brothers; Robbie Robertson And The Band in a theater early last year, and now tonight on a DVD at home. It is alternately both thrilling and irritating, but that’s not the point of this thread. If you don’t already know how very, very special The Band were, and the deep impact they made on Rock ’n’ Roll, here is what Bruce and Eric had to say about them in the film:
- Springsteen: "I think I was in a little coffee shop in Redbank, New Jersey. I kid came in with Music From Big Pink, put it on the sound system. And suddenly this music comes on, and everything changes."
- Clapton: "When I heard Big Pink, it was like someone had nailed me through my chest onto the wall. I was immediately converted. I thought ’This is what I want to do’. It changed my life."
Mine too.
- Springsteen: "I think I was in a little coffee shop in Redbank, New Jersey. I kid came in with Music From Big Pink, put it on the sound system. And suddenly this music comes on, and everything changes."
- Clapton: "When I heard Big Pink, it was like someone had nailed me through my chest onto the wall. I was immediately converted. I thought ’This is what I want to do’. It changed my life."
Mine too.