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The Band - Moondog Matinee [Remastered and Expanded]

Posted By: Toxxy

Date: 21 Jan 2009 08:43:00

By 1973, the Band were at a crossroads. Having summed up the first phase of their recording career with the Rock of Ages concert recording, Robbie Robertson flirted with an ambitious project inspired by Polish composer Krzystof Penderecki. But instead of forging ahead into uncharted territory, the quintet opted to hearken back to their roadhouse days with an LP that renovated oldies associated with the likes of Clarence "Frogman" Henry, the Platters, and Fats Domino. Given that Robertson's originals were no longer coming as fast and true as in the late '60s, a covers collection was a wise move. After all, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel were all vocalists who could tackle classics from the canons of Chuck Berry ("The Promised Land"), Bobby "Blue" Bland ("Share Your Love"), and Sam Cooke ("A Change Is Gonna Come") without straining under the weight of the originals. The 2001 reissue of this unaffected delight is fleshed out with a half-dozen outtakes that fit in nicely with the 10 tracks from the original LP.

[Steven Stolder, Amazon]

The Band started their career with two stunningly perfect albums in '68 and '69 (MUSIC FROM BIG PINK and THE BAND, respectively). An edgy comment on their newfound fame, STAGE FRIGHT, came in '70. Then an album of scattered focus (CAHOOTS) and … Full Descriptiona brilliant live retrospective (ROCK OF AGES) followed over the next two years. Whether or not the well of new material was running dry, The Band wisely chose to take some of the pressure off by revisiting their days as The Hawks for this 1973 set of covers.

From the Levon Helm-sung "Ain't Got No Home" (the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song) which opens the set, to the soaring Richard Manuel vocal on Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," everything and everybody shines here. Robbie Robertson's sassy riffing on "Mystery Train," Garth Hudson's oozing and undulating organ beds, and that always- perfect rhythm section–this is a brilliant display of great interpretive skills wedded to great songs. This album of covers set a standard to which other similar projects are always compared.

6 Bonus Tracks

Liner Note Author: Rob Bowman.

Recording information: Dreamland Studios, Bearsville, New York; Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California; Bearsville Sound Studio, Bearsville, New York.

The Band:

Robbie Robertson (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
Levon Helm (vocals, guitar, drums)
Rick Danko (vocals, violin, bass instrument)
Richard Manuel (vocals, keyboards, drums)
Garth Hudson (saxophone, keyboards)

Additional personnel: Ben Keith (steel guitar)

Entertainment Weekly (5/25/01, p.81) - "…Their sweet homage to vintage soul…" - Rating: B+
Down Beat (10/01, p.66) - 3 stars out of 5 - "A labor of love with the usual suspects revising r&b songs from the 50s and 60s…"
Mojo (Publisher) (6/01, p.123) - "…Audibly a classic, it is the last true romantic gasp of Richard Manuel's soulful emotive wail…"

Richard Manuel's glory days!

As I listen more closely to the Band's music on this and their other albums, a sense of tragedy and missed opportunity shadows the experience. In the mid-1980s, we lost one of America's greatest singers when Richard Manuel died. As wonderful as Danko and Helm are, Manuel was described by Levon Helm as "the lead singer" of The Band, and by all rights should have had a brilliant solo career either during or after his service with what had become a somewhat dysfunctional unit beset by problems of money, ego and substance abuse. This album serves to make the point by allowing his incredible voice and unique, soul-based style an opportunity to fully entertain us with his stunningly beautiful renditions of "The Great Pretender" and "Share Your Love" and his vivid, comic take on "Saved."

Like the other Band singers, Manuel had the ability to fully inhabit the character "narrating" the song. But with Manuel, the stakes always seem a little higher. He was the most personal singer, the one who could make you cry as well as laugh. In the Band's earlier days, he offered songs like "Katie's Been Gone" and "Orange Juice Blues" (on The Basement Tapes w/Dylan), and of course on those first three, classic disks, he gave us the timeless "Tears of Rage," "In A Station," "King Harvest," "I Shall Be Released," "Lonesome Suzie," "Across the Great Divide," "Whispering Pines," "Sleeping" and "The Shape I'm In."

In my mind, I've been putting together a "Best of Richard Manuel" album – it would also include songs like "She Knows," a stunning 1980s performance that is on the "Across the Great Divide" compilation, "Country Boy," which the reformed Band put on Jericho, and of course some of his later, great Band performances like "Right as Rain" "Rags and Bones" "Hobo Jungle" and his version of "Georgia on My Mind."

The Richard Manuel cuts on this album would have an honored place, and are one major reason why one might consider this album an essential purchase. And what will occur to you, perhaps, is that maybe it wasn't the best thing that Richard Manuel was a part of this outfit – as great as they were, there was something destructive about membership in this Band, and Manuel was its first and most tragic victim. When I see Rod Stewart, a great singer but surely not the equal of Richard Manuel, prancing around on David Letterman singing a Sinatra standard, it's hard not to think of the rich American music, whether written by Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan or any other songwriter in America, that will never be performed to its fullest glory because Richard Manuel is now silent.

[Amazon user review]

The Band Official Homepage

The Band at Wikipedia

Tracks:

01. Ain't Got No Home (3:25)
02. Holy Cow (3:22)
03. Share Your Love (2:55)
04. Mystery Train (5:40)
05. Third Man Theme (2:47)
06. Promised Land (3:01)
07. The Great Pretender (3:11)
08. I'm Ready (3:29)
09. Saved (3:50)
10. A Change Is Gonna Come (4:19)

Bonus Tracks:

11. Didn't It Rain (Outtake) (3:16)
12. Crying Heart Blues (Outtake) (3:29)
13. Shakin' (Outtake) (3:31)
14. What Am I Living For (Outtake) (5:04)
15. Going Back to Memphis (Outtake) (5:02)
16. Endless Highway (Studio Version) (5:09)

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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

MP3 @320 CBR
Part 1
Part 2

Complete scanned artwork (600dpi)
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Enjoy ;-)

Still more Remastered and Expanded CDs with The Band to come!

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