Music And All Things BrookJersey (Moran)

If you enjoyed music from The Band, YouTube has a documentary, Brothers No More, which starts at the beginning and takes you through their time as back-up band for Bob Dylan, their time as Big Pink, the usual creativity, alcohol and drug issues, and ends deftly with their farewell concert, which became another documentary, The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese.
 
Las Vegan said:
If you enjoyed music from The Band, YouTube has a documentary, Brothers No More, which starts at the beginning and takes you through their time as back-up band for Bob Dylan, their time as Big Pink, the usual creativity, alcohol and drug issues, and ends deftly with their farewell concert, which became another documentary, The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese.
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I'll have to watch that one as a devotee of The Band. Levon's voice and drumming was super. Garth on the organ. Robbie and Rick and their vocals. Richard Manuel too. Unique group. Modern day knock-offs also based around the Catskills The Felice Brothers, though not nearly as musically proficient. Garth was an actual music teacher (the Professor), he sold joining the band The Band to his family by saying he was being paid for giving "music lessons". He was the lone remaining living member, but passed away not too long ago. I believe a short time after Robbie Robertson.

The Last Waltz was such a great music pic, capturing the essence of that Farewell, and as a gigantic Van Morrison fan, I got to see and hear my musical hero. Didn't mind hearing another giant of music Bob Dylan. Altogether a great pic. Imagine how lucky for those who got to witness it live!
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
I'll have to watch that one as a devotee of The Band. Levon's voice and drumming was super. Garth on the organ. Robbie and Rick and their vocals. Richard Manuel too. Unique group. Modern day knock-offs also based around the Catskills The Felice Brothers, though not nearly as musically proficient. Garth was an actual music teacher (the Professor), he sold joining the band The Band to his family by saying he was being paid for giving "music lessons". He was the lone remaining living member, but passed away not too long ago. I believe a short time after Robbie Robertson.

The Last Waltz was such a great music pic, capturing the essence of that Farewell, and as a gigantic Van Morrison fan, I got to see and hear my musical hero. Didn't mind hearing another giant of music Bob Dylan. Altogether a great pic. Imagine how lucky for those who got to witness it live!
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Of course the dark story behind The Last Waltz is it was a manifestation of what a giant behind the back prick Robbie Robertson turned out to be as he had maneuvered the contract to be the only member of The Band to receive royalties from the subsequent DVD sales among some other self serving things.

There was certainly animosity within the other members of The Band about it being called a farewell concert, but their hands were tied legally.

Levon Helm made no bones about his hatred of the movie, Scorsese and Robertson. In fact, one of the stories to come out of the concert is that during the actual performance the feeling was that it was running too long and that Scorsese and his people suggested cutting Muddy Waters appearance. The story goes that Helm suggested cutting Neil Diamond, who none of The Band wanted there in the first place. They felt the only reason Robertson invited him is because he had co-wrote with Diamond the song he performed “Dry Your Eyes”.

Anyway as the story goes, Helm made no bones of his intention to walk off the concert if Waters was cut, after threatening to get “his boys” from Arkansas at the concert to beat up the member of Scorsese’s crew who came backstage to suggest the idea.

Finally, Dylan seemed well aware of the Robertson goings on and was the only performer who made sure he owned the rights to his performance and then supposedly sold those back to Robertson for inclusion in the DVD.
 
logen said:
Of course the dark story behind The Last Waltz is it was a manifestation of what a giant behind the back prick Robbie Robertson turned out to be as he had maneuvered the contract to be the only member of The Band to receive royalties from the subsequent DVD sales among some other self serving things.

There was certainly animosity within the other members of The Band about it being called a farewell concert, but their hands were tied legally.

Levon Helm made no bones about his hatred of the movie, Scorsese and Robertson. In fact, one of the stories to come out of the concert is that during the actual performance the feeling was that it was running too long and that Scorsese and his people suggested cutting Muddy Waters appearance. The story goes that Helm suggested cutting Neil Diamond, who none of The Band wanted there in the first place. They felt the only reason Robertson invited him is because he had co-wrote with Diamond the song he performed “Dry Your Eyes”.

Anyway as the story goes, Helm made no bones of his intention to walk off the concert if Waters was cut, after threatening to get “his boys” from Arkansas at the concert to beat up the member of Scorsese’s crew who came backstage to suggest the idea.

Finally, Dylan seemed well aware of the Robertson goings on and was the only performer who made sure he owned the rights to his performance and then supposedly sold those back to Robertson for inclusion in the DVD.
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I absolutely loved the Band but it was clear they were increasingly dysfunctional as a unit towards the end with Robertson more and more treating the other guys as backup band types
 
NCJohnnie said:
I absolutely loved the Band but it was clear they were increasingly dysfunctional as a unit towards the end with Robertson more and more treating the other guys as backup band types
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These stories are distressing, because at their height, the band The Band was so good musically gifted. Robbie Robertson certainly comes across as having no shortage of ego. That's an understatement. His talents while large were by no means the best in the band. Kinda like Don Henley in a way, I always liked Glenn Frey and Randy Meister and Timothy B. Schmidt so much more than Henley. Frankly, I'd take Poco and The Band hands down over the Eagles any day. Like The Dude said in The Big Lebowski.......



Drugs also played a big part in THE BAND'S dysfunction.

Levon probably had the best solo career of the group, though Robbie's song Broken Arrow is an outstanding tune.

Levon's version of Atlantic City makes me forget the Boss's version, it's so good.
 
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