Music from Big Pink

I discovered The Band in undergraduate school in the early 1980s. My trombone professor turned me on to The Last Waltz and that led to the Greatest Hits and from there I was hooked. The first two songs that spoke to me were The Weight and It Makes No Difference. The former from the first album by the group and the latter from the last real album (I don't count Islands) that The Band recorded. I didn't know the back catalogue. I didn't know what I was missing. Little by little I got there. I bought Big Pink and The Band on CD. I discovered Planet Waves as well. I was on my way. I went off to graduate school at Northwestern and dug deeper. At that point (1986) there was precious little to read about the group, but what there was was terrific. I fell in love with Mystery Train by Greil Marcus. His writing made me think about music in a different way. His chapter on The Band seemed to explain all of the deep feelings I had for the music. Music from Big Pink may not be the best Band album. Most will say that the brown album is better, but Big Pink has something about it that I cannot define to anyone but myself. I was going through a divorce when I discovered this one and my life was a mess. The Band helped me through it. The Weight made it bearable.

Catch a Cannonball, now, to take me down the line

My bag is sinkin' low and I do believe it's time.

To get back to Miss Fannie, you know she's the only one.

Who sent me here with her regards for everyone

I didn't know what that verse meant, but I knew what it meant to me and how it made me feel. The harmonies are part of it, Levon's beat is part of it, Garth's piano is part of it. The Band was really good at making the parts count and mean something. Richard was still a strong and functioning songwriter on Big Pink. We Can Talk is such as wonderful song that's not about camaraderie but rather demonstrates it. Friends finishing each others sentences. Lonesome Suzie, I Shall be Released...Richard was at the top of his game. I have to remind myself that this album was the middle and not the beginning. The Hawks had already had a career before moving to West Saugerties and renting Big Pink. I have read interviews where the guys in the group were taken by surprise by what they heard coming from the monitors in playback. So were we. If you listen to everything that preceded Big Pink you have no idea that work this strong is coming. There are hints and glimpses, but that's it. Emmylou Harris said that the three main voices in The Band sounded like they were related. The picture inside the album was called Next of Kin. These were brothers working together in friendship and the result is the sound you hear throughout Music from Big Pink. Al Kooper reviewed the album for Rolling Stone. He said "This album was recorded in approximately two weeks. There are people who will work their lives away in vain and not touch it". Not many have.