As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Friday, August 11, 2023

Robbie Robertson

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/robbie-robertson-dead-the-band-1235692172/

 

I love this quote from Robertson describing The Band’s sound: “I always thought, from the very beginning, that this music was born of the blues and country music, Southern stuff. The Mississippi Delta area, and the music came down from the river and from up the river and met, and it made something new. I always looked at that as kind of the source of the whole thing.”

 

Aside from The Band, Robertson is best known for his soundtrack work with Martin Scorsese. However, he also released a handful of solo albums. I picked up the first of these (which is self-titled); the critics loved it more than I did, but “Somewhere Down The Crazy River” is certainly worth hearing.

 

A couple of gems from the excellent Variety obituary: The Band’s second album was recorded “in the pool house of Sammy Davis Jr.’s Hollywood Hills home,” and the group “became the first American rock act to be featured on the cover of Time magazine”.

 

Favorite songs written by Robertson, performed by The Band:

It Makes No Difference

The Weight

Up On Cripple Creek

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Rag Mama Rag

The Shape I’m In

Ophelia

Acadian Driftwood

King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Chest Fever

 

Bonus holiday track: Christmas Must Be Tonight

5 comments:

  1. Saw The Band at Sugarbush back in about 1991 or 92. Attended a Levon Helm concert in 2008 in Asbury Park. He looked like he was having such a good time. Special guest was Phoebe Snow. What a set of pipes!

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    1. I never saw The Band or any of its members in person - did see The Last Waltz on video.
      Phoebe did have a great voice; it's too bad she only had the one big hit.

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  2. Listening to this week's top 40 in 1969, the host introduced an extra song "that didn't make the top 40 but should have." He then played "Can't Find the Time" by Orpheus.
    On that we can all agree.

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    1. Yes, we can. Just looked it up -- 7 weeks in the Hot 100, peaking at #80.

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    2. Ergo, a classic example of an "obscure classic."

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