THE BAND PART ONE: BIG PINK

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of their self titled album and I know I should have written about Music From Big Pink last year, but I didn't.  It takes a lot of time to soak in any music The Band put out.  I have had their music in my rotation for many years and the other day while making dinner I came across The Band with The Staple Singers doing "The Weight" and I realized that what a powerful song it was and I needed to write about how powerful The Band was.  How important The Band was. I put my copy of Music From Big Pink in my car the other day and was still in awe how this album has so many great moments.  I will get to another post in the future about another The Band album, but for now I just remember hearing this for the first time and reflecting how fresh it was.  It was parent approved at 16 years old and now it's world know as a masterpiece.   

There are many things I don't get and when your a younger teenager you are bound to just mess things up. One thing growing I never got was to listen to what the older people say. It never came as a surprise that when a older adult said do it you did it. That being said I had an uncle that I respected and also looked up too. He knew a lot more then I, he also knew a few things about music so why on earth did I not listen to him when he told me about The Band. Sure we all heard "Up On Cripple Creek" and "The Weight." But have we actually listen to it as a song. The first two years of High School that is all I knew about them.

I bought Music From Big Pink at 16 and boy it went over my head like any 16 year old would listening to it. I said to myself why is this great. I mean it even had a corny feel when I heard "The Weight" in Easy Rider. I mean I loved Dylan so why did I not like The Band. So when I was told that Dylan's back up band in the Mid Sixties tour was none other then The Band. Okay maybe I just need a little more convincing. My parents had my Aunt and Uncle over and I ran up to him and showed him my copy of Music From Big Pink. His first response was, "yea and did you like it?" I said, "I need help, I don't get it." I told him that while the musicians are great and the songs are good I need to know what else I should expect.

He told me what I should be listening for. Two years later I got it. The mix of roots music, soul, classical, jazz, blues and country mixed together with the lyrics about life, faith and family and the uncertainty. It all worked. The Band was awesome in every sense of the word.

Forefather pointed to kingdom come
Sadly told his only son
Just be careful what you do
It all comes back on you

False witness spread the news
Somebody's gonna lose
Either she or me or you
Nothing we can do

So don't you say a word
Or reveal a thing you've learned
Time will tell you well
If you truly, truly fell

Tarred and feathered, yea!
Thistles and thorns
One or the other
He kindly warned

Now you look out the window tell me
What do you see?
I see a golden calf pointing
Back at me

I been sitting in here for so darn long
Waitin' for the end to come along
Holy roaster on the brink
Take a choice, swim or sink

Each musician in the group was talented more then anything coming out at the time. You had Levon Helm who could sing, play the drums and maybe a little mandolin and maybe a guitar. Another was Garth Hudson he told his parents in the mid sixties that he was teaching music to his parents. On this album he was playing keyboards and his Organ is the best gem of this album, He also is playing the sax. Each person is so talented that they basically everything. Rick Danko's bass is amazing.

The album alone was not full of the Psychedelic Music of the time, but of good old fashion roots music. This album came out of nowhere. Stories have been told about how much this album is an influence on so many people. Eric Clapton said he quit Cream just to join The Band. He was afraid to ask them though. George Harrison loved the earthy roots feel that he had problems with the rest of the Beatles because he wanted to make music like them.

What I like about this album is it sneaks up on you in the most unusual way. You could be listening to the classic rock of the sixties and its full of Jefferson Airplane, Traffic, Santana, Ten Years After or whatever it maybe, but once this is played all that stuff you just heard stops for that time it's in whatever you are listening to. Over time, Music from Big Pink came to be regarded as a watershed work in the history of rock, one that introduced new tones and approaches to the constantly evolving genre. (allmusic)

I am not sure how to explain to you why you need this album, but it is a great one. It's one that will make you explore other genres of music and quite possibly teach you a few things about the decade of the 1960's. Enjoy the album that took me two years to get, and I am sure if I was handed it today I would listen to it with better ears.