"The Band" a forty some year template for EC

[Jack of All Parades]

It has been suggested by Poor Deportee, in another thread, that he would like to see EC pull out the stops and produce a solid record with a focus on place and themes, in this case Victorian England and the beginning of the Empire's decline. I offer a supreme record as a template:one that has given me emotional and musical sustenance for over forty years- The Band's "The Band". This album has consistently been in my top 10 list of desert island discs since my first acquaintance with it in 1969.

I do not know if it is the judicious usage of the pentatonic scale with its five notes mirroring the black keys on the piano in the songs, but the sound on this album is distinctive and rarely replicated in modern pop music. There is wonderful virtuosity as the musicians move from instrument to instrument and meld their voices in call and response or harmony vocals within the set pieces created in each song. No one tries to outshine the other player; they work as an ensemble and use each musician's strengths to enhance all the songs. No one does flashy solos; the music flows from its ensemble structure.

There is not a single weak song on this record. Each song evokes a musical past that is filled with longing, sexuality, fun, work, pain and a sense of place. Characters abound: Rag time Willie, the grandfather in "When You Awake", the individual southerners dealing with the end of the great war and their defeat. The musicianship is extra-ordinary- you have Levon's sinuous and evocative southern drawl and his distinctive slap drumming, Richard's mournful tenor[ I'm a thief and I dig it"] and barrel house piano styling, Garth's creative horn and organ fills that add such texture to individual songs, Rick's driving bass lines that propel the material along with Levon and Robbie's 'chop' guitar lines that I have never heard equaled by another player[listen to his two guitar parts on "The Unfaithful Servant" and "King Harvest"- the subtlety and economy is awesome.

This is an album of restraint and understatement which catches a feeling and a texture for a past America that I never tire of hearing and hanging out in. This is why I suggest it as a template for EC if he were to act upon Poor Deportee's suggestions. These are concrete songs built honestly and peopled with 'real' situations, feelings, emotions and characters. There is no 'purple' disingenuous excess to clutter up the songs. Most importantly, this is 'real' music that has been 'lived'[that is felt, digested and transformed] by musicians who are taking great joy in playing it. As Rick sings 'this ain't no joke, last June my whole barn went up in smoke". That is how I feel about this record; it is incendiary in the best sense as subsequent playings have 'burned' it into my conscience.