Considering the excellence of Stage Fright, it's incredible to recall that the album was looked upon as a disappointment in some critical quarters upon its release by Capitol in 1970. That opinion, which has certainly blown away in the winds of time, was likely more a response to what had gone before in the career of The Band than to any (unapparent) deficiencies in the album itself.The Band began its existence with a one-two punch of surpassing artistic authority. The group's 1968 debut, Music From Big Pink, stands today as one of the most acclaimed bows of any rock 'n' roll era an album of overwhelming mystery and soulfulness. That record's 1969 successor, simply entitled The Band, enthralled critics and listeners alike with its uncanny contemporary conjuring of a deep American past, and yielded such classic songs as "Up On Cripple Creek" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." The Band's subsequent first American tour was one of the most anticipated concert events of its time.
By the time Stage Fright was released, the Band was less a rock band than a cultural institution: The group became one of the few acts of the era to be profiled in a cover story in Time magazine. So The Band was probably the victim of its own astonishing reputation when Stage Fright saw the light in 1970. Some writers muttered darkly at the time, and even later, that the group had lost its edge. But, as this compact disc reissue makes abundantly clear, The Band continued to work deep in the American grain on its third album.
One may argue whether the record attains the pinnacles heard on its two predecessors, but it never betrays a lack of vision, a poverty of lyrical accomplishment, or an absence of the gritty, barbred funk that was The Band's stock in trade. It also contains a couple of numbers that became keystones of the group's live repertoire. Stage Fright was written and recorded in the aftermath of The Band's premiere American tour (in its post/Hawks/post- Dylan incarnation), and that road trip served to bolster principal songwriter Robbie Robertson's abiding interest in the historic and folkloric undercurrents that came to the fore on The Band.
The songs seem to spring from the American subconscious like a reed from the Mississippi mud. The most notable additions to Robertson's canon of Americana are "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," a tintype depiction of a 19th- century touring show that seems to prefigure Robertson's involvement in the 1981 film Carny (which he co-wrote and starred in, making his acting debut as a carnival boss); "Daniel and the Sacred Harp," a dark folk tale so authentic in its detail and moral that it feels like it was passed hand-tohand on a porch in the Appalachians; and "The Rumor," a gripping excoriation of a small-town gossip-mongering.
Two other songs, "Strawberry Wine" (co-authored by Levon Helm) and the nursery rhyme like "All La Glory," both tailored to Helm's Arkansas twang of a voice, likewise call up a sense of the ribald backwaters and cozy hearths of the rural U.S., while "Just Another Whistle Stop," penned by Robertson and Richard Manuel, hangs on the central image of a locomotive puffing into a sleepy village. Not that Stage Fright hung its whole weight on the 19th'Century ethos that so predominated on The Band.
The album's title cut, which remained in the group's set list until its dissolution, is among the most personal ever written by Robertson. Its chilling view of the terror of performing was quite apparently inspired by The Band's 1969 debut engagement at Winterland in San Francisco; a report in Rolling Stone at the time said that Robertson had to be hypnotized in order to overcome his fear of setting foot on stage. As usual, Robertson left the delivery of his vision to the voices of bandmates Helm, Manuel, and Rick Danko.
The first two occupy the majority of the singing time on Stage Fright, and respond with some of their best performances: Helm on "Strawberry Wine," "All La Glory," and "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" (the latter of which he shares in calLand response fashion with Manuel), Manuel on "Just Another Whistle Stop," the wistful waltz "Sleeping," and, most powerfully of all, on the rocker "The Shape I'm In." This last song, one of the toughest originals The Band ever performed, was a perennial concert favorite, and one of Manuel's rawest and most devastating numbers Danko, who usually contributes to ensemble vocals here, turns in a potent performance on "Stage Fright."
The Band's instrumental work on Stage Fright is at its leanest and most convincing. Kicked along by the redoubtable rhythm section and underpinned by Manuel's keyboards, the songs are propelled by Robertson's stinging yet economical guitar work and, most particularly here, by Garth Hudson's keyboards. In Hudson's work here one finds none of the showiness that made his introduction to "Chest Fever" on Music From Big Pink such a revelation—one hears a musician adept at accompaniment on "Strawberry Wine," the churchy introduction to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp," and the propulsive solo fills on 'The Shape I'm In" rank with his best recorded work, (he presumably also had a hand in the subtle old-time horn charts on "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show.")
Forty years later, Stage Fright is a durable, exciting, and often profoundly affecting record that can be counted among the most distinguished in the Band's very noteworthy catalog, with "Stage Fright" and "The Shape I'm In" standing out as especially memorable songs from an unforgettable career. Forget about what those long-ago detractors may have said—this is The Band near the peak of its considerable abilities.
by Chris Morris (Billboard Magazine)
Tracks1. Strawberry Wine (Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson) - 2:34
2. Sleeping (Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel) - 3:10
3. Time to Kill (Robbie Robertson) - 3:24
4. Just Another Whistle Stop (Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson) - 3:48
5. All La Glory (Robbie Robertson) - 3:31
6. The Shape I'm In (Robbie Robertson) - 3:58
7. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show (Robbie Robertson) - 2:58
8. Daniel and the Sacred Harp (Robbie Robertson) - 4:06
9. Stage Fright (Robbie Robertson) - 3:40
10.The Rumor (Robbie Robertson) - 4:13
The Band
Robbie Robertson - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Rick Danko - Bass, Violin, Vocals
Levon Helm - Guitar, Drums, Vocals
Garth Hudson - Keyboards, Saxophone
Richard Manuel - Drums, Keyboards, Vocals
[ Rip and Scans by MARIOS ]
CODE: 50286
Where is the link?
ReplyDelete