If I could have the music of only one music creator (thankfully, such is not the case), it would be that of JSB. If I could have the music of only one Rock ’n’ Roll band, it would be that of The Band (for a solo Rock & Roller, it would be Dave Edmunds). But those are two very different things, and cannot be appraised by the same metric. The opinion about ANY Rock ’n’ Roll by one who considers ALL of it beneath him is irrelevant, just as is my opinion about anything in the Rap genre.
But The Band wasn’t just a Rock ’n’ Roll band. They started out playing R & B in the clubs in Toronto, though individually they had very deep roots, which I won’t go into here (you can read about it in the books by Robertson, Levon Helm, and Harvey Kubernik). Dylan spent all of 1967 in the basement of Big Pink tutoring them on the entire history of American Popular music, back to the music brought over from England and Ireland (Folk to you, schubert). In The Last Waltz, they perform music in all Pop genres: Blues (Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton; Paul Butterfield blows harp with a couple of performers as well), R & B (Dr. John and Van Morrison), Gospel (The Staples), Folk (Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young), Country (Emmylou Harris), Rockabilly (Ronnie Hawkins), Pop (a dreadful dirge by Neil Diamond). And Garth performs his Classically-infused Organ intro on "Chest Fever."
When The Band were booked into The Hollywood Bowl in 1970, they were given carte blanche for the opening act of their choice. They chose The Miles Davis Group, pianist Keith Jarrett being a favorite musician of both Robertson and Garth Hudson. Miles’ drummer Jack DeJohnette and Levon Helm became lifelong friends and admirers. Here’s what Jack had to say about The Band: "I knew The Band---Music From Big Pink---and thought they were terrific, not flashy but real soulful, with great lyrics and great singing. We got to jam briefly with The Band, and really dug their musicianship." When Jack himself headlined the Playboy Jazz Festival at The Bowl in 2017, he included "Up On Cripple Creek" from the second Band album in his set. Ironically, though Levon sings the song, it was pianist Richard Manuel who plays the drums heard on the studio recording.
"The Weight" is hardly the only song of note (sorry ;-) from The Band. But even if it were, that song alone is worth more to me than the entire recorded output of The Beatles. I realize that is a minority opinion, one I can offer no explanation or rationale for. The song fills me with a feeling so glorious, the physical world evaporates, my consciousness elevated. The same when I listen to J.S. Bach’s Concerto For 4 Harpsichords And Orchestra. Good music is good music.
