(RockAndMetal.com) (09/29/05)

Edited By Michael Bennett

HOLLYWOOD, CA, USA - Executive-produced by Robbie Robertson, THE BAND's new career-spanning box set, "A Musical History" -- the most comprehensive collection ever created for the group -- has been released.

Packaged within a 108-page hardcover book brimming with previously unseen photos and memorabilia are five CDs and one DVD documenting The Band's entire recording career from 1963 to 1976.

Among the set's 111 audio and video tracks are 37 previously unreleased recordings and filmed clips captured live and in-studio.

Issued by Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing, this definitive collection features a cover painting of The Band by world-renowned artist Ed Ruscha and extensive biographical liner notes by the Grammy-winning writer Rob Bowman.

In-demand producer partners Cheryl Pawelski and Andrew Sandoval, who also teamed for the in-depth restoration of The Band's original Capitol albums in 2000 and 2001, joined Robertson on the project.

"This is by far the most comprehensive, in-depth, and beautifully put together collection of The Band's musical journey," says The Band's Robbie Robertson.

Among "A Musical History"'s previously unreleased audio tracks are live and studio recordings The Band created with Bob Dylan and Ronnie Hawkins, as well as various song sketches, while the DVD's nine film clips include rare and previously unreleased concert performances, a filmed studio jam, and three songs The Band performed on "Saturday Night Live" in 1976, never before issued in their entirety.

"A Musical History"'s release concludes a comprehensive restoration campaign for The Band's entire Capitol Records catalog.

By the late 1960s, The Band was one of the most popular and influential Rock groups in the world, and the group's members shared an extensive collaborative history dating back to the late 1950s and early '60s.

Between 1958 and 1962, the then-teenaged multi-instrumentalists Levon Helm (drums, vocals), Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano, vocals), Rick Danko (bass, vocals), Richard Manuel (keyboards, vocals, drums) and Garth Hudson (keyboards, horns) first performed and recorded together as members of the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins called The Hawks.

In late 1963, The Hawks struck out on their own and became Levon & the Hawks, playing and recording under that name in 1964 and 1965.

In 1965, Robertson met with Bob Dylan in New York, just as Dylan was seeking an electric guitarist for his touring band.

The Band was born, with all of the former members of The Hawks backing Bob Dylan on the road from October 1965 through 1966 as he incensed audiences in the U.S., Australia and Europe, performing electric sets.

Disheartened by the vocally disdainful "folkie purist" audience response to their first plugged-in performances with Dylan, Helm left The Band in November of 1965.

After the 1966 tour concluded, The Band woodshedded for the next year in upstate New York, often in the company of Bob Dylan, forging a highly original sound that in one way or another encompassed the panoply of American Roots music: Country, Blues, R&B, Gospel, Soul, Rockabilly, the honking tenor sax tradition, Anglican hymns, funeral dirges, Brass Band Music, Folk music and modern Rock, all fused and synthesized in ways that no one had ever thought possible before.

Levon Helm rejoined The Band in 1967, as the group prepared to record their first full-length album, "Music From Big Pink."

The Band's line-up remained intact until they disbanded in November 1976, following the live recording and Martin Scorsese's filmed documentation of their final concert for "The Last Waltz."

Released in 1968, "Music From Big Pink" received glowing reviews; a journalist for Life magazine wrote that The Band "dipped into the well of tradition and came up with a bucketful of clear, cool, country soul that washed the ears with a sound never heard before," and icons such as Eric Clapton and George Harrison extolled the virtues of the album in print.

While it only reached the #30 slot on Billboard's album charts when it was initially released, over time it has become recognized as one of the most important and classic albums in the history of Rock.

Between 1968 and 1976, The Band released seven albums, with two additional releases following in 1977 and 1978. The aforementioned "Music From Big Pink" (1968) was adorned with an original Folk art cover painting by Bob Dylan.

The eponymous album "The Band" (1969) sailed into Billboard's Top 10 and is hailed as one of Rock's seminal releases.

"Stage Fright" (1970) was recorded at the Woodstock Playhouse without an audience (due to local government's worries about a potential fan rush on the town from the greater Northeast), and climbed to #5 on the album charts, the highest position any album by The Band would ever attain.

"Cahoots" (1971) peaked at #21 on the chart, while the double live album "Rock Of Ages" (1972) peaked at #6 on Billboard's album charts.

"Moondog Matinee" (1973) was a collection of covers recorded in Bearsville and Hollywood which reached #28 on the chart, followed by "Northern Lights-Southern Cross" (1975), which peaked at #26, and was The Band's first studio recording of original material since 1971 (1974 had seen a studio album collaboration with Bob Dylan, "Planet Waves," and a live album from their subsequent tour, "Before The Flood").

"Islands" (recorded in 1975 and released in 1977) was The Band's final studio album, a collection of odds and ends they had not intended for a specific album.

"The Last Waltz," filmed in 1976 by Martin Scorsese and recorded live with all-star ensemble of guest performers, was theatrically released with an accompanying 3-album soundtrack in 1978, capping The Band's original recorded legacy.

Although Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Levon Helm got back together and went back on the road in 1983 under the name The Band, without all five original members it was never the same.

Wracked by demons for far too long, Richard Manuel committed suicide in a Florida motel in March of 1986.

In 1989, The Band were inducted into the Canadian Juno Hall Of Fame, and five years later they were accorded the same honor by The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

With the exception of Manuel, all of the former members of The Band have issued a variety of solo recordings over the years, enjoying successful careers as individuals.

Sadly, Rick Danko passed away in his sleep on December 10th, 1999.

The Band's legacy lives on, both in their own recordings and in their tangible influence on popular music since they first hit the scene, wowing not only Bob Dylan, but many other major players of the day, including Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Miles Davis.

Making Americana music before the term even existed, Danko, Helm, members, Manuel and Robertson collectively constituted the only ensemble to rightfully earn the sobriquet "The Band."

"A Musical History" Track Listing:

Disc One:
1. Who Do You Love? - Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks
2. You Know I Love You - Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks (stereo)
3. Further On Up The Road - Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks (stereo)
4. Nineteen Years Old - Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks (stereo)
5. Honky Tonk - Levon & The Hawks (previously unissued)
6. Bacon Fat - Levon & The Hawks (previously unissued)
7. Robbie's Blues - Levon & The Hawks (previously unissued)
8. Leave Me Alone - Levon & The Hawks (previously unissued on CD)
9. Uh Uh Uh - Levon & The Hawks (previously unissued on CD)
10. He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart) - Levon & The Hawks
11. (I Want To Be) The Rainmaker (song sketch, previously unissued)
12. The Stones I Throw (song sketch, previously unissued)
13. The Stones I Throw (Will Free All Men) - Levon & The Hawks
14. Go Go Liza Jane - Levon & The Hawks
15. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (single version) - Bob Dylan
16. Tell Me, Momma (live 5/14/66 - The Odeon, Liverpool) - Bob Dylan (previously unissued)
17. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (live 5/14/66 - The Odeon, Liverpool) - Bob Dylan (previously unissued on LP in the U.S. or on CD)
18. Words And Numbers (song sketch) (previously unissued)
19. You Don't Come Through (song sketch, previously unissued)
20. Beautiful Thing (song sketch, previously unissued)
21. Caledonia Mission (song sketch, previously unissued)
22. Odds And Ends - Bob Dylan & The Band (stereo)
23. Ferdinand The Impostor
24. Ruben Remus (stereo)
25. Will The Circle Be Unbroken (previously unissued)

Disc Two:
1. Katie's Been Gone
2. Ain't No More Cane On The Brazos
3. Don't Ya Tell Henry - Bob Dylan & The Band
4. Tears Of Rage
5. To Kingdom Come (full-length version, previously unissued)
6. In A Station
7. The Weight
8. We Can Talk
9. Long Black Veil
10. Chest Fever
11. This Wheel's On Fire
12. I Shall Be Released
13. Yazoo Street Scandal (previously unissued)
14. I Ain't Got No Home (live 1/20/68 - Carnegie Hall, NYC - Bob Dylan with The Band)
15. Orange Juice Blues (Blues For Breakfast)
16. Baby Lou 3:38 (previously unissued)
17. Long Distance Operator (previously unissued)
18. Key To The Highway (previously unissued)
19. Bessie Smith

Disc Three:
1. Across The Great Divide
2. Rag Mama Rag
3. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
4. When You Awake
5. Up On Cripple Creek
6. Whispering Pines
7. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
8. Get Up Jake
9. Jemima Surrender (early version, previously unissued)
10. Daniel And The Sacred Harp (alternate take)
11. Time To Kill
12. All La Glory (early version, previously unissued)
13. The Shape I'm In
14. Stage Fright
15. The Rumor
16. Slippin' & Slidin' (live 7/5/70 - Festival Express Train Tour, Calgary, Canada, previously unissued)
17. Don't Do It
18. Strawberry Wine (live 6/2/71 - Royal Albert Hall, London, previously unissued)
19. Rockin' Chair (live 6/2/71 - Royal Albert Hall, London, previously unissued)
20. Look Out Cleveland (live 6/2/71 - Royal Albert Hall, London, previously unissued)
21. 4% Pantomime (previously unissued)

Disc Four:
1. Life Is A Carnival
2. When I Paint My Masterpiece
3. The Moon Struck One
4. The River Hymn (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
5. Don't Do It (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
6. Caledonia Mission (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
7. Smoke Signal (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC, previously unissued)
8. Unfaithful Servant (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
9. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
10. The Genetic Method (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
11. Chest Fever (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
12. (I Don't Want To Hang Up My) Rock 'N' Roll Shoes (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
13. Loving You (Is Sweeter Than Ever) (live at Rock Of Ages, 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC)
14. Endless Highway
15. Move Me (song sketch, previously unissued)
16. Two Piano Song (previously unissued)
17. Mystery Train

Disc Five:
1. Ain't Got No Home
2. Share Your Love With Me
3. Didn't It Rain
4. Forever Young - Bob Dylan
5. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (live 2/13/74 - The Forum, Inglewood, CA - Bob Dylan & The Band)
6. Highway 61 Revisited (live 1/31/74 - Madison Square Garden, NYC - Bob Dylan, previously unissued)
7. Ophelia
8. Acadian Driftwood
9. It Makes No Difference
10. Twilight (song sketch, previously unissued)
11. Christmas Must Be Tonight
12. The Saga Of Pepote Rouge
13. Livin' In A Dream
14. Forbidden Fruit (live 9/18/76 - The Palladium, NYC, previously unissued)
15. Home Cookin' (previously unissued)
16. Out Of The Blue
17. Evangeline - with Emmylou Harris
18. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (from The Last Waltz, live 11/25/76 - Winterland Palace, San Francisco, CA)
19. The Weight - with The Staples

Disc Six (DVD):
1. Jam/King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (recorded 1970, Robbie Robertson's Studio, Woodstock, NY, previously unissued in its entirety)
2. Long Black Veil (live 7/5/70 - Festival Express Train Tour, Calgary, Canada, previously unissued)
3. Rockin' Chair (live 7/5/70 - Festival Express Train Tour, Calgary, Canada, previously unissued)
4. Don't Do It (live 12/28-12/31/71 - The Academy Of Music, NYC, previously unissued)
5. Hard Times (The Slop)/Just Another Whistle Stop (live 9/14/74 - Wembley Stadium, London, previously unissued)
6. The Genetic Method/Chest Fever (live 9/14/74 - Wembley Stadium, London, previously unissued)
7. Life Is A Carnival (live 10/30/76 - Saturday Night Live, NYC, previously unissued in its entirety)
8. Stage Fright (live 10/30/76 - Saturday Night Live, NYC, previously unissued in its entirety)
9. Georgia On My Mind (live 10/30/76 - Saturday Night Live, NYC, previously unissued)

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