The Band (album)

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Robert Christgau	A+
MusicHound	5/5
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

The Band is the eponymous second studio album by the Band, released on September 22, 1969. It is also known as The Brown Album. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes for the 2000 reissue, The Band has been viewed as a concept album, with the songs focusing on people, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana. Thus, the songs on this album draw from historic themes for "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" and Richard Manuel's "Jawbone" (which was composed in the unusual 6/4 time signature.)

Recording

After unsuccessfully attempting sessions at a studio in New York, the band set up shop in the pool house of a home the group rented in West Hollywood. The home, located at 8850 Evanview Drive, was once owned by Judy Garland, Wally Cox and, at the time the group worked there, Sammy Davis, Jr. According to Robbie Robertson, the location was chosen to give the songs a more Basement Tapes–like feel in what was termed "a clubhouse concept."

Release

The album was originally released as an LP on September 22, 1969. After a number of reissues on vinyl, cassette tape, and compact disc, it was remastered and rereleased, with bonus tracks, in 2000, in a process overseen by Robbie Robertson. (The 2000 re-release has also been packaged as a double CD with the Band's debut album, Music from Big Pink.)

The album was also reissued in 2009 by Audio Fidelity as a limited-edition gold CD. Remastered from a 1980s CD pressing, the album also included a single b-side "Get Up Jake" as a bonus track. "Get Up Jake", which also appears on the 2000 reissue, was slated for inclusion in the original album but was dropped from the lineup at the last minute, either because the band felt it was too similar to another track on the album or because there physically was not enough room on the album.

A 1980 "Capitol 16000 Series" budget vinyl reissue of the album omitted "When You Awake" and "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)."

The original LP back cover quotes the opening lines from Shelton Brooks's 1917 composition "Darktown Strutters' Ball".

Reception

The album includes many of the Band's best-known and critically acclaimed songs, including "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", which Rolling Stone named the 245th greatest song of all time (in the updated version, it was the 249th greatest song of all time). In 2003, the album was ranked number 45 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted The Band the 76th greatest album of all time. Time magazine included it in their unranked 2006 list of the 100 greatest albums. Robert Christgau, having been disappointed with the Band's debut, had expected to dislike the record and even planned a column for the Village Voice to castigate their follow-up. Upon hearing the record, however, he declared it better than Abbey Road, which had been released four days following, writing that the Band's LP is an "A-plus record if I've ever rated one." He ranked it as the fourth best album of the year in his ballot for Jazz & Pop magazine's annual critics poll.

The Band peaked at #9 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. In 2000, it recharted on Billboard's Internet Albums chart, peaking at #10. The singles "Rag Mama Rag" and "Up on Cripple Creek" peaked on the Pop Singles chart at #57 and #25 respectively. The "Rag Mama Rag" single performed better in the UK, where it reached #16.

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1970	Pop Albums	9
2000	Top Internet Albums	10

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1970	"Rag Mama Rag"	Pop Singles	57
1970	"Up on Cripple Creek"	Pop Singles	25

In 2009, the album was preserved into the National Recording Registry because the album was "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or informs or reflects life in the United States."

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Across the Great Divide"	Robbie Robertson	Richard Manuel	2:53
2.	"Rag Mama Rag"	Robertson	Levon Helm	3:04
3.	"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"	Robertson	Helm	3:33
4.	"When You Awake"	Manuel, Robertson	Rick Danko	3:13
5.	"Up on Cripple Creek"	Robertson	Helm	4:34
6.	"Whispering Pines"	Manuel, Robertson	Manuel	3:58

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Jemima Surrender"	Helm, Robertson	Helm	3:31
2.	"Rockin' Chair"	Robertson	Manuel, Danko	3:43
3.	"Look Out Cleveland"	Robertson	Danko	3:09
4.	"Jawbone"	Manuel, Robertson	Manuel	4:20
5.	"The Unfaithful Servant"	Robertson	Danko	4:17
6.	"King Harvest (Has Surely Come)"	Robertson	Manuel, Helm	3:39

2000 reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
13.	"Get Up Jake (outtake, stereo mix)"	Robertson	Helm, Danko	2:17
14.	"Rag Mama Rag (alternate vocal take, rough mix)"	Robertson	Helm	3:05
15.	"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (alternate mix)"	Robertson	Helm	4:16
16.	"Up on Cripple Creek (alternate take)"	Robertson	Helm	4:51
17.	"Whispering Pines (alternate take)"	Manuel, Robertson	Manuel	5:09
18.	"Jemima Surrender (alternate take)"	Helm, Robertson	Helm	3:49
19.	"King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (alternate performance)"	Robertson	Manuel, Helm	4:28

Personnel

• Rick Danko – bass guitar, fiddle, trombone, vocals
• Levon Helm – drums, mandolin, rhythm guitar, vocals
• Garth Hudson – electronic organ; clavinet; acoustic piano; accordion; melodica; soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones; slide trumpet; bass pedals
• Richard Manuel – acoustic piano, drums, baritone saxophone, harmonica, vocals
• Robbie Robertson – electric and acoustic guitars, engineer

Additional personnel

• John Simon – producer, tuba, electric piano, baritone horn, tenor saxophone, "high school and peck horns", engineer
• Tony May – engineer
• Joe Zagarino – engineer
• Elliot Landy – photography
• Bob Cato – album design

See also

• Classic Albums