This week's Soundbite is another Flashback Edition. I promise next week we'll be back to the new stuff, I just had to do my musical-evangelical duty and share The Band with anyone out there who may not have been blessed to receive the good word just yet. So sue me. Actually, please don't, I really can't swing legal fees at this juncture.I digress.
I think, if memory serves, that I can blame my genetic predisposition for digging these guys on my mother. I can remember singing "Up On Cripple Creek" when I was around 9 or 10 -- in fact I even have an oddly vivid memory of singing it in both the grocery store (Kroger in Bartlett, Tennessee) and the upstairs bathroom of my parent's house, go figure -- but I didn't start really getting into The Band until I was in high school. And really, I don't think I started truly appreciating them until I was in college. (Fun tidbit: I sang "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" in my final performance exam for my master's.)
I think The Band tends to be a little under-appreciated in comparison with some of their noteworthy peers, like Bob Dylan, for example. I love a lot of things about this music, but chief among them is Levon Helm's voice (and Robbie Robertson's, and Richard Manuel's), and the fact that my hips get to twitchin' at just about every song of theirs I've ever heard. Even the slower, mellower jams just have some little hint of soul in them that makes me want to move. A hearty sway at the very least.
I've got one of my absolute favorites for you below. If all this is news to you, I'd also recommend you take a listen to "Don't Do It," "Stage Fright," "The Weight" and "Tears of Rage."
The Band - "Ophelia"
cheers,
elizabeth
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