And Clapton Didn't Even Know

I'll have to listen to Change of the Century again to fully appreciate this. I know Cream's live playing pretty well and I think they had few equals--probably none in their time. A few years later the Mahavishnu Orchestra kicked up a similar amount of dust, but there were five of them and the bass player stuck to the bassics.

Rock could use some saving these days but not back then when it was firing on all burners.

Cream was a different breed than holly and the crickets. No need to compare.

I'll make an analogy: The Linn LP12 (The Band) rescued the turntable from the completely wrong path it's design was heading in. Yes, the AR table (Sweethearts of the Rodeo?) was already around, as was the Thorens TD-125 (The White Album) and TD-150 (Beggars Banquet). But the LP12 made a bold statement, much stronger than either the AR or Thorens'. Mapman, you list Wheels Of Fire by Cream as an example of Rock not needing to be saved in '68, yet it was Clapton himself who said (in The Last Waltz) that upon hearing MFBP he realized Rock, including his own musical journey, had taken a wrong turn (empty virtuosity), and that The Band was the beacon showing the way back. I'm paraphrasing, but that's Clapton talking, not me.

I actually didn't "get" The Band for about a year after I first heard them, not understanding what all the fuss was about (and if you weren't around, it was a big fuss. They were on the cover of Rolling Stone and Time magazines). I was still loving Cream, Hendrix, The Who (having seen all three twice, in '67 and '68), and all the other Groups big at the time (living close to San Francisco was great!). Then my little teen combo got a gig opening for The New Buffalo Springfield (drummer Dewey Martin being the only remaining original member, but with Randy Fuller---Bobby's brother---on bass) at a local High School. And as I watched and heard that excellent band, I suddenly "got it". An epiphany, truly. Just like that (finger snap), everything I had read and heard about MFBP and The Band came rushing into my brain. And everything changed. Not just for me, but for every aspiring young musician I knew.

Why are The Band singled out, above all others? Because though there were already real good Groups making fine music---as contained in your above list above---some
that may appear to be not that much different from that of The Band---The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Flying Burrito Brothers---what The Band did was at a level far, far above everyone else, and has still not been equaled, even after all this time. Those first two Band albums are a Masters Class in how to play Rock 'n' Roll, how to be a Band. The Bands roots are so very deep, going all the way back into Blues before it went electric, Hillbilly when it was still way back in the hills.

But it's much more than that. Groups like The Who and The Yardbirds (first guitarist one Eric Clapton, second Jeff Beck, third Jimmy Page) were the ones who took R & R down that "wrong" (in Claptons estimation) path. And that path is the one of, to employ another metaphor, the manner in which the game of basketball is now played. Huh? If you look at footage of old basketball games, you see amazing set-ups and teamwork, the guy actually making the basket just the final link in a chain. The credit for the 2 points goes to the whole team, not just the guy who made the dunk. In fact the dunk was possible only because of the teamwork that allowed it to be made. You may know how it is played now; gimme the ball, I'm gonna make a basket all by myself. Sounds like a lot of guitarists I hear. The analogy holds up---Rock music became like sports. Who runs (sports)/plays (music) the fastest? Who plays the most "difficult" music, like how the judging in the Olympics includes the consideration of the degree of difficulty in performing any given athletic endeavor.

Do you see what I'm getting at? Musicianship. What each musician in The Band is playing is related to and dependent upon what the other musicians are playing. They all play supportive roles, both to each other, but more importantly, to the song. It's all in service to the song. It's takes a selflessness, and maturity, to play music that way. Amongst good musicians, The Band are considered to have no peers, they are that much better than everyone else. George Harrison heard The Band and thought so, as did Clapton when George played MFBP for him. It took me a year, but I eventually heard it. I sympathize with those who don't, and perhaps never will.

Martykl---Johnny Kidd! He did a pretty good version of "Shakin' All Over", the inspiration for the Who's Live At Leeds recording. But if you haven't heard Link Wray, you'll want to. Whereas Johnny had the clean, non-overdriven tube amp guitar sound, Link was already into distortion in the late 50's (it is said he ripped holes in his speaker cones to achieve his tone), and was an inspiration to not only Johnny, but Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and lots of other British guitarists (though Jeff--- the best of his generation?---has lots of non-R & R influences (Merle Travis and Les Paul the two biggest). Of course the original Rock & Roll Trio was Scotty, Bill, and D.J. Ya'll better know who they were! There was also a great band who actually called themselves The Rock 'n' Roll Trio (later The Johnny Burnette Trio), with the great Paul Burlinson on guitar. Their smokin' version of "Train Kept A Rollin'" (an old Blues) just screams, making Aerosmith and even The Yardbirds sound like a buncha pussies.