Product: Classic Albums: The Band - The Band (1997)
Rating: 4.0
A Classy Document of a Classic Band
This is an illuminating glimpse into the music and song craft of The Band. Composed primarily of interviews with individual members of the group and producer John Simon in studio settings discussing the music on their timelessly classic second studio recording "The Band".This one is for music lovers. Many of the interviews take place at a mixing console in a studio, with John Simon, Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm adjusting track levels to bring up and highlight the various components of the mix. Absolutely fascinating stuff. Having listened to this music hundreds of times over the past 30 years, it was revelatory to hear some of the more creative parts of this complex whole isolated, with insightful commentary from the artists who created it.Also fascinating, in more of a train wreck kind of a way, was seeing the interview and solo studio performance asides of Garth Hudson and Rick Danko. Both brilliant artists, but both seemingly still paying the price of the lifestyle that accompanied the height of The Band's fame. Rick's remarks on the loss of his best friend Richard Manuel left me with chills, knowing that not too many more months from this interview and Rick would be gone from this place as well.Well worth the bargain price, this will be one of those rare DVD's that I actually return to again and again.