April 19, 2002
MUSIC
One Last Waltz
By JIM FUSILLI
Robbie Robertson has his eye, and ear, on history.
The guitarist, songwriter and leader of The Band recently spent more than
five months in recording studios where he supervised the remixing and
remastering of tapes from the group's Thanksgiving 1976 farewell concert,
which featured a bevy of rock's elite as guest performers. The new audio
version of "The Last Waltz," as the event came to be known, graces a four-CD
box set by Rhino (in stores Tuesday). It includes not only the original 30
tracks by The Band with artists such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Van
Morrison, but also 24 previously unreleased performances, by Muddy Waters,
Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and others, that didn't appear on the original
albums, issued in 1978, or in the Martin Scorsese film of the concert. (The
restored film of "The Last Waltz" is now in a limited theatrical run; the
DVD will be available May 7.)
In an era when rock favored big stars, guitar gods and politicized
singer-songwriters, The Band played music, as a unit, that was indisputably
American, built on traditional country, blues, R&B and rock 'n' roll rather
than on fashionable trends. That four of the five members were Canadian gave
their lyrics an outsider's fresh perspective, and that they seemed to have
maturity, no doubt from years of struggle, gave their songs a genuine
gravitas. There was no one like them back then, and there hasn't been since.
Once in a Lifetime
"The objective is to pass this on to younger generations and say this was a
special time and place where special talents came together," Mr. Robertson
said during a recent conversation. "I wanted to be able to present this
music with the quality of sound people now relate to. It won't be looked on
like it's tired or with the attitude that it's an antique."
Twenty-five years ago, Mr. Robertson was lost in the moment, he said. While
working on the film, his first, with Mr. Scorsese and cutting the album, he
had little time to focus on the music's sound. "But I realized after we had
done it, it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he said. "There was only going
to be one farewell concert by The Band, but also this crop of talent --
meaning the musicians, Scorsese, the recording engineers -- there was a good
chance we'll never see that again."
This time around, Mr. Robertson got it right. The sound quality on the CDs
is superb, and not only audiophiles will benefit. For example, Mr.
Robertson's diligence unearthed the glories of the arrangers and
seven-member horn section, who emerge as unsung heroes of the concert.
Howard Johnson's arrangement of the previously unreleased version of "This
Wheel's on Fire" is nothing less than thrilling, and the horns play it with
delightful abandon. Allen Toussaint's baleful charts for "The Night They
Drove Old Dixie Down" support the song's tragic lyrics, while Henry Glover's
soulful arrangement of "Tura Lura Lural" lets Mr. Morrison and The Band's
Richard Manuel do a Ray Charles turn on the old Irish ballad.
The new set's aural separation -- or "air," as Mr. Robertson called it --
permits listeners easy access to every instrument and every musician. Most
notably, Garth Hudson's performance on keyboards shines through. Considering
that he and the group's other members rehearsed only briefly with their
guests, it's a remarkable night of work. "He's a master musician," Mr.
Robertson said of Mr. Hudson. "When The Band was together, people who really
knew the difference knew there was no keyboard player that was in his
league. Imaginative, experimental, with no clichés, he could just as easily
have been playing with the philharmonic. Or Miles Davis."
Mr. Robertson, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Manuel, Rick Danko and The Band's best-known
voice, drummer Levon Helm, show their capabilities time and again on "The
Last Waltz," and it's refreshing to hear them presented so lovingly. They
rip through their superb repertoire with the fire they demonstrated for most
of their 16 years together. In concert, The Band was a looser, more
aggressive unit than on its studio recordings, which were generally sedate
and cerebral, though at times brilliant. They were creatures of the road:
Backing Ronnie Hawkins and Mr. Dylan before they set out under their own
flag as The Band, the quintet burnished their skills in dives and roadhouses
more often than they played velvet-curtained concert halls. David Fricke's
terrific liner notes reveal that The Band once performed for four people at
a Fort Worth, Texas, club owned by Jack Ruby. The November 1976 show in San
Francisco at Bill Graham's Winterland, before some 5,400 fans, gave them a
chance to flash all their colors, as rock icons and as musicians.
Broadening the View
Among the highlights of that night are "Up on Cripple Creek," "Life Is a
Carnival" and "Ophelia," the latter enriched by Mr. Hudson's charts and,
again, that lively group of horns. "It Makes No Difference" features a
bittersweet vocal by Danko and a biting guitar solo by Mr. Robertson. If the
'78 albums gave the impression that by sharing the spotlight, The Band had
failed to play many of the tunes for which it was best known, the new
version broadens the view of what a customary night with The Band was like
by including for the first time favorites like "The Weight," "Acadian
Driftwood," "Rag Mama Rag," "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show" and "Chest
Fever."
The performances by the guests are a mixed bag, as Mr. Robertson concedes.
It's unavoidable, he says, in a proper documentary. "It's not all about the
highlights. You need the hills and valleys." But some of the previously
unreleased cuts are first rate: Muddy Waters and Pinetop Perkins toss off a
bouncing version of "Caldonia," while Joni Mitchell plays a brooding "Furry
Sings the Blues," with Mr. Young joining in on harmonica. Mr. Dylan's set is
restored, with the addition of "Hazel," from "Planet Waves," an album he cut
with The Band in 1974. His appearance is the highlight of the set, revealing
The Band's adaptability -- apparently, Mr. Dylan hadn't told them exactly
what he intended to play -- and its legacy.
"I don't go into nostalgia. I go into what needs to be done," Mr. Robertson
said. "In the studio, I could jump between what the sound was and what it is
now. It was like night and day. What we've got now lets you get inside the
music. You can hear the fingers on the strings. This new audio gives you the
best seat in the house."
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Updated April 19, 2002 1:07 p.m. EDT
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