The Band's "Music From Big Pink"
Early on in my rock music education, some time not long after being introduced to the several styles of Bob Dylan, a certain Band’s greatest hits album landed in front of me. After a brief history lesson from a coworker I sat down and listened to it, then proceeded to track down every song and album by the Band ever released. Music From Big Pink changed rock music, or in the very least shined a bright light on where it was heading.
Blending genres and styles of music with images and characters that seem to be taken out of America’s past, MFBP cleared the way for rock musicians to leave the psychedelics behind, stripping their music down to the fundamental sounds of rhythm and blues fused with rock n roll arrangements. Americana and indie music both owe much to the sound and beauty conveyed on this 11-track record. It features some of the best covers of Dylan songs, as well as the generational classic "The Weight" (though the Last Waltz version with the Staple Singers is the definitive version in my mind).
MFBP opens with the slow, somber "Tears Of Rage" and introduces the listener to the chilling chords of Garth Hudson's organ before the haunting baritone of Richard Manuel cries out tragic lyrics one after another. Opening with such a slow, downbeat song frustrated rock album tropes at the time and did not stop with "Tears of Rage." The lack of consistent lead and harmony singers and the trading of instruments between songs like "To Kingdom Come" and "In A Station" are a much different approach versus that of the big production albums released over the previous year such as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.
Music From Big Pink has the feel of a group of fellas hanging out in their living room or basement, passing instruments, improving lyrics and parts on the spot. This isn't much of a stretch from what actually happened. In the year leading up to the album's released, the various members of the Band and Bob Dylan, whom they had been backing on tour, withdrew to upstate New York while Dylan recovered from a motorcycle accident. What began as impromptu jam sessions of old American and British Isle folk songs evolved into focused songwriting exercises and arrangements at the ranch house now known as Big Pink. These sessions were first made available in some capacity on The Basement Tapes, and in much more depth with The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11. Eventually, the Band hunkered down to record their first album as a solo artist and not backing someone else. John Simon worked as engineer and producer for the record, figuring out how to record the band in the non-studio setting at Big Pink, another relatively unheard of way to record at the time.
The final result is a fresh embrace of American roots and storytelling and possibly one of the first entries in indie rock. "Caledonia Mission" moves the musicians around and puts bassist Rick Danko up front on vocals. Its funky electric guitar riffs intertwine with the piano fills and make the song a hard one to lock down in a given genre. "We Can Talk About It Now" features hilarious dialogue between all three vocalists, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm, reflecting the multiple voices of 1960s America.
The Band's cover of "Long Black Veil," which several critics label the album's weakest link, is actually one of my favorites, due in part to the song's what we were now dub Inceptionesque tuba. It also sets up the next song perfectly by providing the listener one last recognizable piece of America to stand on before the being throne off the cliff into the another melting pot of genres and influences in the incendiary "Chest Fever." Garth Hudson's organ howls out an apocalyptic series of notes, eventually landing on the rhythm chords that are the backbone of the whole song. The steady crack of Levon Helm's snare drum comes in, then the Danko's bass and Robertson's guitar lock in right before Manuel and Helm sing dual vocals. Danko joins in on both choruses. Then the song dives into one of the best highlights from the entire album, a middle-eight, salvation-army-like brass band (producer John Simon lending his lips on saxophone here) tipsy-turvying underneath Manuel's desperate cries that he can't hang on much more, followed immediately by an organ solo by Hudson.
The album rounds out with the softly sung "Lonesome Suzie," featuring one of the best performances by Manuel on the album though I must confess I prefer the alternate version available on the extended rerelease for its horn arrangement and upbeat middle-eight. Next is the Danko-Dylan collaboration "This Wheel's On Fire." It is an explosive look at a man's life spiraling out of control and his glimpse at his own destruction looming ahead. Last but not least is the beautiful, illuminating "I Shall Be Released," a Dylan original which would be embraced by civil rights activists and covered by numerous artists in the decades that followed.
At the time of its release, Music From Big Pink immediately caught the eye of both rock critics and artists alike, despite not having a a hugely successful single ("The Weight" only hit #63 on the US charts but did much better overseas). The Band's influence on their contemporaries can be recognized in numerous albums released after MFBP debuted, including Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Deja Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and Workingman's Dead by the Grateful Dead, just to name a few. The psychedelic 60's were fading and many groups began to strip their sounds down to the blues and country roots of American music. The album has further influenced numerous artists, especially in the post millennium folk rock, indie rock, and Americana genres. Check out Music From Big Pink if you haven't and dive into one of America's most classic rock albums.
