A Musical History

by

The Band

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Of course, the material on "A Musical History" is excellent, The Band being one of the finest rock groups ever. Moreover, this box really does chart the musical history of The Band in chronological order, including material with Ronnie Hawkins and Dylan as well as material as Levon and the Hawks. Although it is comprehensive, the greatest flaw of "A Musical History" is that it has too much material for the casual fan and too little for the hard-core fan of The Band.

The biggest problem is that "A Musical History" does not present the full musical picture of The Band. There are a lot of gaps in the story: nothing form the two albums with John Hammond, none of the songs with Tiny Tim, and not enough songs from their later studio albums (no "Hobo Jungle", no "Knockin' Lost John," no "A Change is Gonna Come"). This set selects the same songs from the albums as other anthologies. Moreover, it would have been nice to include songs from side projects and maybe even solo albums as well as material from the post-Last Waltz edition of The Band, but I can see why they wouldn't do so.

Moreover, I have a problem with the selection of material. They include two versions of "Don't Do It," both previously released, but exclude only one song from "Stage Fright" - "Sleeping," one of the highlights of the album. The set also includes vastly inferior versions of album songs like the jazzy version of "Lonesome Suzie" which John Simon himself describes as "inappropriate." These kind of inclusions and omissions show that this set cannot be regarded as the full musical portrait of The Band.

The unreleased live material that is included is excellent (esp. "Smoke Signal" and the version of "Forbidden Fruit" with horns) and a real treasure, but it would be nice to hear the entire Royal Albert Hall concert. For some reason, they remixed the songs from "Rock of Ages," and I don't think it's an improvement. In addition, I would have loved to hear a live version of "Saved" from the 1973 shows at Watkins Glen or Roosevelt Stadium, which are some of the best among The Band's live gigs.

Another big problem is that the set relies on material already released on the remastered albums. Also, it seems like much of the unreleased material is just leftovers. Though it is no leftover, I doubt that the live "Smoke Signal" was just discovered, but rather I think they purposely held it back for this box set, as they probably did with other cuts. I think that there is probably more material in the vaults.

A lot of the so-called unreleased material is often barely so: the original mix of the disappointing "Key to the Highway," from the "Big Pink" remaster. The live "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is only a rarity, as it is available on the Bob Dylan "Masterpieces" three-CD set. Yet, there are a few gems: the unreleased Richard Manuel composition "Words and Numbers." Another great performance is The Band's cover of "Baby Lou," a little known song by Jimmy Drew.

One of the Rick Danko compositions was really great - "Home Cookin" - the lyrics are pure Rick and among his best songs. Great guitar solo from Robbie too. Indeed, "Home Cookin" should have made the cut for "Islands," as it's better than many of those songs. On the other hand, the "Two Piano Song" from Robertson's aborted "Works" project is forgettable, better than the horrific elevator muzak of "Islands" but not as good as the "Theme from the Last Waltz."

It would have been nice to hear more material with Bob, especially more Basement Tapes material, different selections from "Planet Waves," more unreleased songs from TOur '74, like "Hero Blues" or somehting.

The DVD should have included more footage as well. I know there is more video footage: "Up on Cripple Creek" on Ed Sullivan and their Woodstock performance, at least.

Though the package is handsome (the nicest I've ever seen), the housing for the CD's is annoying. Moreover, Bowman simply reused the bulk of the liner notes from those for the remastered series, and his notes are unsatisfactory and frequently just fluff.

I know that most of these complaints are relatively minor, but they add up to an incomplete picture of The Band's legacy. Again the biggest problems are the dearth of unreleased material and the gaps in the musical history. If Levon and The Hawks are going to be getting eight CD's in the forthcoming Other People's Music set, shouldn't The Band have gotten more than five or six? In the end, this set does not complete the story of The Band - you still need the studio albums, of course. Thus, "A Musical History" is not complementary but supplementary, but it is still a welcome supplement to any true fan of The Band; it seems that Capitol is finally showing The Band the respect they deserve.

There's not much to add above and beyond what's been posted here. The music speaks for itself, and The Band has earned a well-deserved place in history. I can't stop listening to this, although "Rock Of Ages" still gets played more often.

My issue with this set is the physical packaging. It's an abomination. First off, it requires real brute strength to read the book. The binding should have been lay-flat, but instead it's a constant battle to keep the pages open so you can read them. The inner margins are too narrow, adding to the overall difficulty of enjoying the text and pictures.

The disc holders are crap - poorly designed, making it easy to damage a disc when trying to remove it.

The music is outstanding, the DVD has some great stuff. The written text is very good, and there are some great pictures. But for this amount of money, they really should have spent more time on the physical package design. It SUCKS.

The music is 5 stars. The DVD 5 stars. The packaging is ZERO stars.