Capitol
1968
Music From Big Pink (Bonus Tracks)
About This Album
Although the five musicians who came together in the late '50s and early '60s to back up Canadian rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins probably had played thousands of shows and had made numerous recordings, none of these public appearances gave much of a clue about how they would sound when they released their first album as the Band in July 1968. If people at that time had heard the 1967 sessions later dubbed The Basement Tapes that the musicians had made with Bob Dylan, they would have been better prepared. As it was, Music from Big Pink came as a surprise. At first blush, the group seemed to affect the sound of a loose jam session, the arrangements giving alternating emphases to different instruments, while the lead and harmony vocals passed back and forth as if the singers were making up their blend on the spot. In retrospect, especially as the lyrics sank in, the arrangements seemed far more considered and crafted to support a group of songs that took family, faith, and rural life as their subjects and proceeded to imbue their values with uncertainty. "Tears of Rage," the leadoff track, was a lament by parents about a rebellious child; "The Weight" considered various acts of kindness that went wrong; and "I Shall Be Released," the closing track, expressed the hopeless hope of a prisoner who determined his salvation by viewing the world in reverse ("I see my light coming shining from the west unto the east," he sang, as if the earth were spinning in the opposite direction from its usual course).
Track List (try tracks 12,14,15,16,18 and 19)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

 
report abuse