The Band - Ultrasonic Studios
Hempstead, NY late December, 1971
This appears to be the same rehearsal recordings that are on the second disk of Academy of Outtakes - The Genuine Rock of Ages.
- The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
- Across the Great Divide [take 1]
- WS Walcott Medicine Show [take 1]
- WS Walcott Medicine Show [take 2]
- Life is a Carnival [take 1]
- Life is a Carnival [take 2]
- Across the Great Divide [take 2]
- Unfaithful Servant
- Chest Fever
- Rag Mama Rag [take 1]
- Rag Mama Rag [take 2]
From BigO magazine's website:
THE BAND
Ultrasonic Studios, Hempstead, NY 1971 [no label, 1CD]
Rehearsals live in New York, December 1971. Ex- SBD stereo. Speed-pitch
corrected version.
To give their music an added dimension, The Band recruited Allen Toussaint and a five-man horn section to spice up their sound for the Cahoots album. When they rehearsed for a four-night stand at the Academy of Music in New York City back in the winter of ‘71, Toussaint and the horns were invited.
On the introduction to this brief 40-minute excerpt of a rehearsal, the signature horns blow nicely that toot-toot New Orleans sound as the Band come together for The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. That’s what you’ll hear throughout the rehearsal, how the horns swooped, swished and skittered around, above and below the songs. Injecting freshness and excitement to the Band’s repertoire.
Just on the horizon other bands were preparing louder, angrier albums, hamming up with makeup and marketing, posing for hours in front of mirrors as they vied to be the next big thing.
But The Band were digging the older vibe with accordians, horns, a carnival sound, vaudeville, a hoedown that invented Americana before the term was coined. Levon Helm handles much of the vocal chores on the songs here leaving Rick Danko with Unfaithful Servant. Richard Manuel gets to be heard on two takes of Across The Great Divide.
The sound is thick and chunky with nice turns from Garth Hudson’s organ and Robertson’s sterling solos. But really, the horns take up centerstage much of the time. By now, success with Dylan and as a working unit had changed their lifestyle and Cahoots, the album preceding the concerts, had a bittersweet taste.
“I can’t emphasize how much success had changed everything,” Rick Danko said of this period. “We were outrageous in our behavior, and it was impossible to get people in one place at one time. And when we did, it was hard to work because when we looked at one another and saw how wrecked we were, it was hard not to crack up.”
This fly-on-the-wall moment with The Band and Toussaint disputes this. They sound energised and refreshed. But this was before they lurched forward into a downward spiral, eventually disbanding in 1978 with the prophetic Last Waltz.
This was originally shared by “DynacoST70″ in 2005 and recently uploaded on
DIME by JTT. This is the fixed version using Prof Goody’s recommendation on how
to correct the pitch. Thanks to lolita for sharing the fixed version. Thanks to
everyone who shared this. Sound quality is great.
- Professor Red
[This is an MP3 from BigO Magazine at 192 kbps decoded to WAV]