The Band

Jamais écouté.

Top : King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
Flop : Rag Mama Rag

The Band just… doesn’t hold up for me. Maybe it was because it was Women’s Day or maybe it was just the Canadian of it all. Also, I’ve heard some of these songs before but they somehow sound worse all together like this.

Season: Late Summer
Favorite Song: Rockin’ Chair

The songs are all individually pretty good, although variant in importance and enduring sound. A lot of it is pretty interchangeable with other bands of the time, save for a few outlying classics- "Dixie" and "Cripple"

I love this record a lot, and The Band's music always makes me feel good. They're one of the most purely talented ensembles in rock history for sure. I think that every album they put out before 1976 is a solid four stars (including this one, of course, which is maybe their best). But - and I feel bad about saying this - there's always something that doesn't quite cohere into the kind of perfection that some of the other artists on this list are able to achieve. tldr: one of my favorite bands, every record is great (high batting average!), I like every song, sorry it's "only" four stars.

I was looking forward to this because of Bob Dylan and they were great! Nice old songs and fun to listen to

conforme dito por meu amigo paulista é isso aí memo. não é ruim, só num eh pra mim. doideira como essa lista tem umas SEMANAS que fica estagnado nesses album "bom pra quem gosta"

enfim, whispering pines eh bem legal, até.

I'm gonna have to file a restraining order against blues rock at this point.
Not that this is bad, I just don't have the patience for it anymore.

Plus, I'm not enjoying the singing on this.

Will say, best song is probably The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Its fine. I just don't want to listen to this type of music anymore.

You know what? For country music, this ain't half bad.

I always thought I liked The Band based on the handful of tracks I knew, then I got Music From Big Pink and started to wonder if I only really liked The Weight – something about their vocals on a few of the songs set my teeth on edge. I don’t know if they got better at singing or I just prefer the overall sound on this album, but this reassured me that yes, I do like The Band.

I've always struggled with The Band. I should like this. I love Dylan, I love George Harrison, I love weird old American music. But The Band have never interested me. I think it's a combination of the singing voices and the earnest songwriting.

Top redneck sounding for my taste

People love The Band, and I’ve never really understood why. I think they’re FINE, but I’ve never been wowed by them. I’ve seen people say that they’re better if you really listen closely, or listen many times, or that they play so well you can’t tell they’re playing well. And maybe all that is true, but does that mean that they’re GREAT? I don’t know.

So though many people think this album is GREAT, I think it’s FINE.

Nice!

Not a fan.

bookends are great, but the slower songs are not doing it for me. 3.5

The Band is often held up as a classic, but for me it lands firmly in the “perfectly OK” category. There are moments of quality throughout, but they’re offset by stretches that feel dull and unremarkable. Nothing here really grabbed me or made me want to return for another listen.

The musicianship is good but the album never truly lifts itself beyond competent Americana. It’s pleasant enough while it’s on, yet it fades quickly once it’s finished, leaving little behind that lingers or demands revisiting.

Favourite tracks: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is a genuinely nice song, and Jawbone was another highlight.
Least favourite track: When You Awake was dull, to say the least.
Album artwork: A standard, no-frills band album cover.

They get points for The Band name. Otherwise, I was sad that the one song I know by them wasn't on here - 'A Horse with No Name' - until I learned that's actually a different Band, named "America". Not sure how I screwed that one up.

I got very garden-pathed by the title 'When You Awake'. 'The Unfaithful Servant' is kind of giving Counting Crows vibes.

These guys might be Canadian, but it's not enough to save them from the terrible 2s. Canadian country-folk-oldies, right in the bin.

Highlight: 'Up on Cripple Creek'

The Band is yet another band where I am incredibly familiar with their more well known songs, but not terribly familiar with their back catalogue. This is clearly because I've watched the Last Waltz several times, but never stopped to listen to any of their studio albums.

This album does have several of the well known Band tracks like Rag Mama Rag, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek, and King Harvest (Has Surely Come) and honestly, those songs alone are going to drive a pretty high rating for me.

I don't know what is more bland and boring, the band name, the album name or the band itself. I just don't get so many of the picks on this list.

The review.