The Band: Music from Big Pink (2LP, 50th anniversary edition) [CAPITOL]

Why you'll love it

This 50th anniversary edition spreads the album over two LPs cut at 45 RPM, remastered for extra room and detail. "The Weight" became one of the best-loved songs of its era, and the album reached No. 18 in Canada.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 50th anniversary edition
• Cut at 45 RPM
• Remastered
• Stereo mix

About the album

Ask a producer how a band wants to sound and you usually get a list of other records. When John Simon asked these five, Robbie Robertson said they replied, "Just like it did in the basement," meaning the cellar of a rented pink house in West Saugerties, New York, where Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson lived and the songs took shape. Levon Helm came back from working the oil rigs to take the drum stool, and in early 1968 they went to A&R Studios in Manhattan, then on to Capitol Studios in Los Angeles to finish.

Three lead singers pass the songs between them like a family at the dinner table. "The Weight" has Helm and Danko trading verses, "Chest Fever" bursts out of Hudson's organ prelude, and Manuel's aching voice carries "In a Station" and "Lonesome Suzie." "Caledonia Mission" and "We Can Talk" show how loose and funny they could be, and their reading of the country standard "Long Black Veil" sounds a hundred years old in the best way.

Al Kooper's rave in Rolling Stone noted the album took about two weeks to make, and for a while the magazine simply called them the band from Big Pink. Four of the five were Canadian, so we've always filed it under local interest, with a slightly smug look on our faces.

Also at Kops: more The Band on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Capitol / UMe, a reissue of the 1968 album.