@szeidman2002: I wholeheartedly agree about Rock Of Ages. If you’re not anti-digital there is an expanded 4-CD/1-DVD boxset of the album, entitled Live At The Academy Of Music 1971. Also great is their live album with Dylan, Before The Flood.
I put The Band’s 1st and 2nd albums in my list of 3 albums in the current thread asking for 100 must-have LP’s. If I could have only two albums to listen to for the rest of my life, it would be them.
@nichollsr: I too didn’t initially "get" Music From Big Pink. After unsuccessfully trying to get into it in 1968, it wasn’t until after seeing Buffalo Springfield (or what remained of it, only drummer Dewey Martin remaining from the original line-up) the following year that I was ready for it. So when the s/t brown album came out I was primed & pumped, ready & waiting for it!
I have listened to those first two Band albums more than any others, by far. For a few years I listened to each every day. They are my Gold Standard for Rock ’n’ Roll songwriting, playing, and singing, and set an almost unreachable level of quality for other bands and solo artists to meet. For those who haven’t heard it, give The Houston Kid by Rodney Crowell a listen. Like MFBP and their 2nd, a perfect album. And like the brown album, The Houston Kid is a "theme" album of sorts.
