@sgreg1: Can’t disagree with ya, mate! I had tuned out contemporary Rock ’n’ Roll by the time Born To Run was released, but all the noise about that album sparked my curiosity. I got the LP, and found it to echo (no pun intended ;-) Shakespeare: All sound and fury, signifying nothing. Bruce said his idea for the BTR album was Roy Orbison produced by Phil Spector. Speaking of Roy: have you seen the film A Black & White Night? Bruce’s performance is unintentionally funny; I was actually embarrassed for him.
Bruce’s singing on BTR (and many other albums) exhibits far too much "bluster", Bruce trying waaay too hard. Reminds me of seeing Albert King at The Fillmore; he didn’t have to "try" to sound soulful, it just came out that way. I borrowed Bruce’s previous two albums from a friend, and had to at least give Bruce props for firing his drummer on those albums. Terr-i-ble. What a sloppy, disjointed, awkward mess, the drummer waaay over-playing. He obviously never studied Roger Hawkins (The Swampers), Al Jackson (Booker T & The MG’s), and Earl Palmer (Little Richard), and did not understand the role drums play in Rock ’n’ Roll. It’s great that Bruce finally fired him, but why did he hire him in the first place? His playing ruins those two albums, butchering the songs.
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is everything people say about it, but "The Weight" is the one that still chokes me up. It is---along with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", " God Only Knows", and "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted", all masterpieces of songwriting---the most "majestic" song I’ve ever heard. Makes one thrilled to be alive.
@onhwy61: I love the debut by The Electric Flag, and was fortunate in being able to see and hear them live in the Summer of ’68. They were fantastic, one of the best bands I’ve ever seen. The commencement of their set was delayed, Mike Bloomfield nowhere to be found (probably scoring ;-). He finally showed up, jumped on stage, and the band (which included four sax players: two baritone, two bass!) kicked into "Killing Floor", the Howlin’ Wolf song which opens the album. OMG, they were on fire! Unfortunate for the doors, who had to follow them on stage. To characterize them as sounding underwhelming is to be generous.
The only band which comes close to The Band for me are NRBQ, very under-appreciated and acknowledged imo. Their fans include Bonnie Raitt, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, and Elvis Costello, all also huge Band fans. But in saying that, I'm ignoring for the sake of this discussion the great studio bands: The Swampers, The Wrecking Crew, The Motown house band, the Nashville A-list players, Booker T & The MG's (the house band at Stax Records, heard on many recordings). That's another thing that made The Band so unique: a self-contained unit whose musicianship was as good as that of studio players.
