The Band (50th Anniversary)

Coming after the legendary Music From The Big Pink, the follow-up The Band 50th Anniversary Edition certainly hits the spot all these years later. Upon original release back in 1969, it even made the likes of George Harrison rethink his onward direction in music, such was The Band's authentic approach to their album. While it includes songs that through time are fondly remembered as 'hits' for The Band including The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Up On Crippe Creek, it was still the bands 'story songs' that connected so well to the music loving public and turned heads in many directions. It was 'old time' reflective music carefully considered and put through The Band's musical blender to come out in such a way as to make one feel they were there - whether it was via The American Civil War for The Night They Drive Old Dixie Down; a young boy recalling the wisdom of his grandfather on Rick Danko's When You Awake and Robbie Robertson taking a style of music from the turn of the century for Rag Mamma Rag and making it all his own, the 'Brown album' literally spoke volumes. The songs also gave license to The Band's collective musicians to set free with their feeling intuition and play those instruments like they also sang - eg, the Clavinet sounding like Jew's harp and the lowry organ wailing to its hearts content. The Bands 'brown' album could also be considered to have produced its own genre, such was the sound and feel of the album. This 50th Anniversary Edition also includes Live At Woodstock - check out Long Black Veil and This Wheel's On Fire - timeless. The Blu-Ray includes a most informative doco via Classic Albums Series The Band and the set also includes 2LP 45 rpm and the original 1969 mix of Rag Mamma Rag. With the most beautiful sepia shots of The Band included, one only has to look at this set of musicians and simply wonder in the most reflective way. I did and I was continually amazed. The Band 50th Anniversary Edition is a pure classic of a set and deserves a place in any serious music followers room.

EXCELLENT BOX SET

Album was perfect lots of extras

The sound is great but make sure you can play 45 RPM on your turntable before ordering. I have the LP box set of the last waltz and this sounds much better. Granted the last waltz was recorded live during their show in San Francisco 1976. The blu-ray extra disk sounds good but the vinyl sound is better as you would imagine.

As my title suggests, compared to the travesty that was the 50th anniversary of Big Pink, the super deluxe edition of The Band is a far better effort. There are six new studio bonus tracks that were not part of the 2000 reissue: Up On Cripple Creek - This is basically a truncated studio run through. I won't ever complain about the inclusion of any bonus material, but this is the closest thing to a throw away track on the album. Levon is literally going through the motions vocally and trying to figure out how to properly emote the song. And then.... it just fades about half way through. Rag Mama Rag and Unfaithful Servant - Both are 10/10! What alternate versions! Absolutely glorious. Rocking Chair Acapella - Though not quite truly acapella, it is a massively stripped down version and is beyond gorgeous. Look out Cleveland/Cripple instrumental mixes - Surely a couple of fun inclusions. But I would have far preferred additional alternate takes of other album tracks. They have also included the seven bonus tracks from the previous release as well as the "rough mix" of the complete Woodstock performance. I'm obviously very happy to have the Woodstock show, but there are two problems. A - It has NOTHING to do with the Brown album. If anything, this should have been on Pink. B - The rough mix is exactly that. Surely they could have taken some additional time to clean it up ala the Rhino reissue. I'm going to spend the rest of my time on the 5.1 mix since there does not seem to be a lot of detailed discussion around it on any of the major forums. Overall, it is a thing of splendor. I don't know about you, but I want my 5.1 mixes to be a little bit dangerous. We've lived with the stereo versions for far so long. Give us good clean discreet separation, and take a few chances so long as they don't borderline on making a mockery of the songs. For the most part, this 5.1 mix does exactly that. Almost every song has a fresh coat of paint on it. To these prickly ears, there are two decisions that could have been better made. On the opening track, Across the Great Divide, the horn section comes blistering from the rear. It would be a thing of beauty except, Robbie's guitar is almost nowhere to be found. A very strange decision for the album's opening track. I need to drastically alter my surround settings to achieve a far great balance. My second observation has to with The Night They Drove Dixie. Levon's voice is beautifully isolated in the center front with his drum track. But his voice is so centered, and SO dry, (no reverb), it is completely disarming. After about 7 or 8 listens I've just learned to live with it. But I don't understand why they didn't put more echo on his vocal to make it less glaring. It is a major distraction and I'm very suprised they left the mix this way. Outside of those two specific critiques, this new mix is a thing of joy. Guitar bursts/Organ flourishes/horn spots all sing in their own speakers but are blended together so well. For my money, Rag Mama Rag (with the extra piano at the outro), Rocking Chair and Unfaithful Servant are the strongest mixes. But truly the entire rest of the album is extremely well done. Check out the left rear speaker in the intro to Jawbone. Little moments like that are what make the 5.1 medium so special. I DO wish they also gave us the previous seven bonus tracks remixed in 5.1 as well. Get Up Jake is a very fun song and it would have been great to hear that get the 5.1 treatment as well. But getting the new versions of Rag Mama Rag and Unfaithful almost makes up for it! I could go on about the specifics of each song, but overall, this edition is a massive upgrade and comes very highly recommended.

Tha Band has always been and always will be great.

I loved this vinyl. It kinda sucks that there is only 2 vinyls but the extra stuff is worth having.

Across the Great divide. Just grab your hat and take that ride.