100. The Band, "Music From Big Pink"

 


Let's get this out of the way right off the top: this cover art for this album is so hilariously godawful that I think it's part of the reason why I instinctively disliked the record for a long time.  I mean, look at it.  Just horrible.  OK.

Remember The Big Chill?  It was an 80s thing, a movie about people who had gone to college together in the 60s and then had a reunion of sorts when one of the group killed himself.  (The suicide victim was played by Kevin Costner but his scenes were cut from the final version.)  So it came out in 1983, meaning that if it came out today, the characters would have all been in college together around, say, 2007.  Which means that instead of "The Weight" from this album appearing on the soundtrack, it would be something like "Buy U a Drank" by T-Pain or "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne.


Anyway, this super important album was born out of lengthy songwriting and jam sessions with the members of the Band and Dylan at the house called Big Pink in West Saugerties.  At that point, they didn't have a name and I guess once they were signed everybody panicked and the best they could come up with was The Band, which is to band names as the Buick Regal is to cars.  

I don't think it's a huge stretch to say that the musical genre now called Americana probably got its start with this record, which is ironic since everyone in the Band (except for Levon Helm) was from Canada.  All the elements we now associate with Americana are here - the folk/country/rock mashup, traditional instruments, raggedy-ass vocals, and that earnest feel.  

Because it's very much of a piece, a lot of the songs sound alike, and it's kind of a slog to me.  Look, I appreciate it and its importance, but I just don't derive a ton of pleasure listening to it.  Other than "The Weight," which is absoltely a stone cold classic and just a wonderful song, I guess the other highlights for me are "Tears of Rage," the album opener (co-written with Dylan) and "We Can Talk," which has the great lyric "I'd rather be burned in Canada than to freeze here in the South," and the classic "Long Black Veil," given a lovely read here.

It's a good brunch album.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? Yes, I like brunch.

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