CD Review

by Steve Cooper

The Band's third album, Stage Fright, was, at the time of its release, a much misunderstood and underrated masterpiece. Robbie Robertson is at the top of his mystical rustic game with such haunting songs as "The Rumor," "Stage Fright," "All La Glory," and the chilling morality play "Daniel and the Sacred Harp." Add such in-the-pocket rockers as "Strawberry Wine," "Time to Kill," "Just Another Whistle Stop," and "The Shape I'm In," and what you have is, arguably, The Band's second-best album, just a slight notch below their second, self-titled album. Rick Danko's fine, sad-yet-dancing lead vocal on the title track alone is worth the price of admission.

The sound of the ten "non-bonus" cuts, the original ten, has never sounded cleaner than on these remasters. The hiss of the first-issue analog-to-digital conversion is mostly gone. And, the somewhat muddy mix that many critics complained about at the time of Stage Fright's release on vinyl has been greatly helped by digitization's wider spectrum. Especially noticeable in its cleaning up is Richard Manuel's sad ballad, "Sleeping." Manuel's expressive, now-quiet, now-shouting voice is captured in all its anguished glory. Of course, digital giveth and digital taketh away--"Time to Kill" loses some immediacy and cohesion due to the same wider spectrum.

There are only three bonus cuts on this remaster, the least of any of the reissues (Music From Big Pink, for example, has eight bonus cuts). And, all three bonus cuts are alternate takes of songs already on the original album. Of these three alt mixes, "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" is the find. The vocals are mixed further up front, and the instrumentation is remarkably sparse, with less keyboards, less electric guitar, and more acoustic guitar. It is, overall, more than slightly inferior to the released take, but does point out the strength of this great song, no matter how unrefined the setting. On the downside, Levon Helm provides vocal fill-ins where there would later be Garth Hudson pump organ fills. On the upside, Levon Helms' and Richard Manuel's vocal harmonizing is crisper and less separated on the alternate take.

The other two alternate mixes included here, "Time to Kill" and "W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," are gratifying, but not essential, because they sound much like the released takes. Of the two, the latter is the more focused, though an uneven horn mix is probably the reason it was not used.

If Stage Fright was under-appreciated by rock critics, then Cahoots was practically escorted out of town on a rail. These songs, however, have stood the test of time and many of the critics who once dismissed Cahoots loudly are now singing its praises. After all, any album that contains such songs as the timeless "Life Is A Carnival," with its syncopated, New Orleans horn chart (courtesy of Allen Toussaint), can't be all that bad: "Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap/Here on the street/I got six on each arm/And two more 'round my feet."

In fact, there isn't a bad cut on Cahoots. From Richard Manuel's remarkable duet with Van Morrison on "4% Pantomime," to Levon Helm's masterful lead vocal on Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece," to the fiery rocking of "Smoke Signal" and "Volcano," to the quiet desperation of "Last of the Blacksmiths" and "The Moon Struck One," it all succeeds. And, I haven't even mentioned the best song on the album--"The River Hymn." Here's just a taste of the this song's haunting lyrics: "You can ride on it or drink it/Poison it or dam it/Fish in it and wash in it/Swim in it and you can die in it/Run, you river, run." Perhaps we had just been spoiled by The Band's first three incredible albums. Cahoots is not incredible; it's merely excellent.

The bonus tracks on this expanded release of Cahoots are two worthy choices and two so-so choices. "Bessie Smith" appeared on The Band's 1994 boxed set, Across the Great Divide, but this is a different, more-complete take. According to Robbie Robertson (and he should know), it was recorded between Stage Fright and Cahoots. Why it was left off of Cahoots is a mystery because it is an impressive, soulful tribute to the "Empress of the Blues."

Another bonus cut that only appeared previously on the boxed set is "Endless Highway." This take is more unpolished than the take on the boxed set, but, in its scruffiness, emphasizes Richard Manuel's piano and vocal more (not a bad thing).

The other two (so-so) bonus songs are an alternate rendering of "When I Paint My Masterpiece" that is only slightly more ragged than the released version, and yet another take of the Marvin Gaye song "Don't Do It," this time a studio version. The latter, sans horns, lacks the fire of the live version from Rock of Ages, with Levon Helms' lead vocal, for some reason, mixed too far back.

In summation, these first four Band re-releases are well worth the extra, "remastered" expense. The sound is much cleaner, there are enough interesting bonus cuts to make things, well, interesting, and the music is, as ever, prime. Buy 'em, try 'em, and look for The Band's other remastered releases of Rock of Ages, Northern Lights Southern Cross, and Islands due to be released sometime this year.

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