1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die #156. The Band - The Band (1969)

156. The Band - The Band (1969)

Label – Capitol
Producer – The Band and John Simon
Art Direction – Bob Cato
Nationality – Canada / USA
Running Time – 43:54

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Across The Great Divide
2. Rag Mama Rag
3. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
4. When You Awake
5. Up On Cripple Creek
6. Whispering Pines
7. Jemima Surrender
8. Rockin' Chair
9. Lookout Cleveland
10. Jawbone
11. Unfaithful Servant
12. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

“The Band” is the second record by the group The Band, and was released in late September of 1969. It is also known as the “The Brown Album”, in the spirit of the Beatles' The White Album. Like their debut record, this is a fine record. This one however reveals how the group were gelling as a musical unit, and with writing – or co-writing all 12 songs, Robbie Robertson established himself as a song writing force to be dealt with. His songs tell the stories based on a variety of different types of people. On "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" it’s the story of a union worker, on "Rockin' Chair" it’s a retired sailor, and of course, Virgil Cane – a Confederate civil war observer in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
Like it’s predecessor, the musical arrangements here are delivered in a loose yet structured, confident style, which lends to a appeal of the music. It makes you believe that The Band lived the life that their music canvas paints, and that they are from 19th century rural Southern life, although the members are Canadian..
When released, “The Band” peaked at #9 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. The album includes many of The Band's best-known and critically acclaimed songs. The singles released from the lp - "Rag Mama Rag" and "Up on Cripple Creek" - peaked on the Pop Singles chart at #57 and #25 respectively. Although not picked as a single, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", has become a classic. Rolling Stone named it the 245th 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. 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."
It is highly recommended.