The Band

Graham Parsons, a fine songwriter and singer, said that he wanted to create a 'great, cosmic American music.' Well, unfortunately, he died young, but another group did just that. The Band. Ironically, The Band had only one American member, drummer, vocalist and mandolin player, Levon Helm. The rest were Canadian.

When they first came to attention, I had friends who derided them for playing 'country music." They didn't. Their music blended rock, country, folk, pop, gospel and jazz. It was the true, quintessential American music, and it was a joy.

Helm, Richard Manuel (drums, piano), Rick Danko (bass) were all fine instrumentalists and wonderful singers. Each voice was unique and it was a joy to hear them trading lines throughout their songs. The keyboard player, Garth Hudson, did amazing things with the organ and was also a good saxophonist. Robbie Robertson, their guitarist, was a gifted soloist who hated soloing; this led him to limit his playing to short riffs, each of them perfectly effective.

Robertson wrote most of the song and they are a wonderful mix of sad (Whispering Pines, Unfaithful Servant), rollicking (Cripple Creek, Jemima Surrender), socially conscious (King Harvest Has Surely Come), and downright weird (Chest Fever). There are songs with a spiritual edge (To Kingdom Come, The Weight, The Shape I'm In). All can be summed with the title of one of their best, Life Is A Carnival.

I want to mention one of their songs in particular, We Can Talk. Were I running for political office, something that will never, ever happen, I would use this as my theme song.
We can talk about it now
It's the same old riddle, only starting from the middle
I'd fix it but I don't know how
Well, we could try to reason, but you might think it treason
One voice for all, echoing along the hall
Don't give up on Father Clock
We can talk about it now

Unfortunately, reason has left the building. But, it is nice, once in a while, to look back at a time when such hopes seemed possible.