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the band plus horns great show wish i had been thereorginal record plus extra with bob dylan remixed for you
So it's probably a five-star performance, played by a five-star band, playing their five-star songs; but it's a one-star recording and one-star mix, resulting in a three-star CD. But no, it sounds like they took the original 1972 master tapes, probably mixed by some second-rate engineer in 1972 after too many bong-hits, and transferred them to digital. What a shame. This might've been a great concert to experience live, and I have no complaints about the performances, but man, the production, or the mixing, leaves a lot to be desired. A damn shame. It sounds like a very well-recorded audience recording, like some guy was standing in the back of the hall holding a circa 1972 tape-recorder. The sound is just plain muddy. You woulda thought that for this deluxe CD reissue, Capitol Records would have taken the original multi-track recordings and re-mixed them to sound as bright as possible for the CD release.
I don't think Levon Helm is mentioned more than once. This is a great live album. The liner notes are interesting but they are mostly about Robbie Robertson.
CD 1 finishes up with a breathtaking rip through Chuck Willis's "Rock and Roll Shoes," which goes on and on, and never sounded better. Even the most ardent Dylan-disputer or hater will never be able to resist this one. Once or twice the horns intrude on one's memories of what these songs are supposed to sound like from the studio versions, but they leave you wondering which version is better. The fierce beat layed down by Danko and Helms, Manuel's gut busting piano, Robertson's searing guitar, and Hudson's magical organ will tear what is left of your heart out and, by the end, kick the living daylights out of it.
This is a wonderful live album by perhaps the greatest ensemble of artists in the history of rock and roll, right up until the last four tracks on the second disc, "Down In the Flood," "When I Paint My Masterpiece," "Don't Ya Tell Henry," and " Like a Rolling Stone," all with The Band backing their former front man, Bob Dylan. Since I love great, restored, live rock and roll records, I'm tempted to say if you buy this you don't need The Band's first two albums at all, not brown nor Pink. It all works. At that point, the record becomes transcendant.
Rock and roll can never be better than this.The first disc has great live versions of most of the Band standards from the brown cover and Big Pink albums, with the addition of Allen Toussaint's horn arrangements for a marvelous set of brass. But, of course, everyone makes mistakes. This live version of "Rolling Stone" is the one track I want on a my desert island -- it alone is worth the price of the double CD. One earlier review complains about mumbled lyrics or bad sound on RS, which may be true -- But who cares.
My sister who followed in my musical footsteps backed them up with her band at Colby College in Maine in the early 90's. The Band played so well and sounded so good that night that it became one of the bands in the early 70's which inspired me to to become a professional musician and not go to college. After listening to them that night, I felt that this recording was and is their best live recording to date. I was about 16 years old when I first heard this recording. A friend had an awesome sound system and it reproduced their live performance so well that I felt I could have been there.
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