22 September 2019

50 years ago today, on 22 September 1969, legendary Canadian-American roots rock
and country artists THE BAND released their self-titled second LP, also known as the
‘Brown Album‘. Although guitarist Robbie Roberston wrote or co-wrote all 12 songs
the grand final result was certainly a group achievement. Great musicians, several great singers, great composers performing great Americana songs about the past. The critics lauded the multifaceted longplayer and it peaked at #9 on the Billboard’s Pop Albums Chart.

ROLLING STONE wrote: “The Band were four-fifths Canadian – drummer Levon Helm was from Arkansas – but their second album is all American. Guitarist Robbie Robertson’s songs vividly evoke the country’s pioneer age (“Across the Great Divide”) and the Civil War (“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”), while reflecting the fractured state of the nation in the 1960s. The Band’s long life on the road resonates in the brawn of Garth Hudson’s keyboards and Helm’s juke-joint attack. But Robertson’s stories truly live in Helm’s growl, Rick Danko’s high tenor and Richard Manuel’s spectral croon. “Somebody once said he had a tear in his voice,” Helm said
of Manuel: “Richard had one of the richest-textured voices I’d ever heard.”

Here are two all time highlights (live versions taken from their famous final The Last Waltz concert – with the original line-up – in 1976 in San Francisco filmed by top director Martin Scorsese) …

– THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN –

– UP ON CRIPPLE CREEK –

Album – expanded version – in full here…
(Original tracklist #1 – #12)

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THE BAND: Biography

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