Classic Albums: The Band - The Band (1997)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson are all interviewed about the making of their album 'The Band,' which was the followup to their first album 'Music from Big Pink.' The 58-minute documentary covers where the group was during this point of their career and then we hear about how the songs were written both lyrically and musically. Fans of the group, the album or just music in general should really enjoy this documentary because it simply goes into so much detail that by the time it's over you really do feel as if you were in the recording studios when they laid the tracks down. The four (at the time) surviving members of The Band pretty much go song by song as they discuss what went into making it and we even get a few examples where the members play the music today just to explain what they were doing on the record. They play around with the sound mix to show off the various vocals, music instruments used and so on. George Harrison, Eric Clapton and others are also interviewed and talk about their opinions on the music. We also get a nice and touching tribute to Richard Manuel who of course committed suicide but the documentary shines a light on his work from the album.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson are all interviewed about the making of their album 'The Band,' which was the followup to their first album 'Music from Big Pink.' The 58-minute documentary covers where the group was during this point of their career and then we hear about how the songs were written both lyrically and musically. Fans of the group, the album or just music in general should really enjoy this documentary because it simply goes into so much detail that by the time it's over you really do feel as if you were in the recording studios when they laid the tracks down. The four (at the time) surviving members of The Band pretty much go song by song as they discuss what went into making it and we even get a few examples where the members play the music today just to explain what they were doing on the record. They play around with the sound mix to show off the various vocals, music instruments used and so on. George Harrison, Eric Clapton and others are also interviewed and talk about their opinions on the music. We also get a nice and touching tribute to Richard Manuel who of course committed suicide but the documentary shines a light on his work from the album.
