Malcolm Gauld
(Before reading this post, tune into Spotify and click on my public playlist titled “16-by-3 The Band Vocals.”)
Not only have I been obsessed with The Band since sophomore year of high school, the safe money would say I’m the only boarding school student in history who actually snuck back into his dormitory room during school vacations so that I could listen to their LPs (Anyone remember LPs?) on my record player. (Anyone remember record players?) Continuing in true confessional mode, I recall imagining the five of them in their recording studio with Levon saying to Robbie, “Boy, Mal is really going to like them horns we’ve layered on to ‘W.S. Walcott Medicine Show!'” Mal definitely did/does love “them horns.”
There’s was a team effort where, as has been said, the rhythm section was the lead. There was:
– the amazing guitar virtuosity of Robbie Robertson;
– the classically trained musicianship of Garth Hudson (the sole surviving member of the quintet);
– the ironic fascination of four Canadians joining in song with an Arkansan about the U.S. Civil War.
But beyond those qualities, they boasted three top vocalists, each of whom possessed the chops worthy of front man status for any other band of their era. To illustrate that point, I have assembled the aforementioned 16-song Spotify playlist to highlight the unique qualities of each of these three both as individual soloists – 4 songs each – and 4 more as a harmonic trio worthy of a blues/folk/country answer to the Beach Boys or CSNY.
Here’s the run-down:
Rick Danko (1943-99): “Crying Heart Blues” (gut-wrenching!)… “Stage Fright” (“See the man with the stage fright, just standin’ up there, givin’ all his might.”)… “Unfaithful Servant”… “It Makes No Difference” (His signature song: “These old love letters, well, I just can’t keep. ‘Cause, like the gambler says, ‘Read ’em and weep.'”) Will always remember the early 90s night at Portland’s Raoul’s Roadside Attractions (RIP) when Mr. Danko brought the house down with a free-styled made-up-on-the-spot song about Raoul and Portland.
Levon Helm (1940-2012): “Ophelia” (A gold standard for me)… “Atlantic City” (The best ever cover of a Springsteen song?)… “Don’t Do It” (“My biggest mistake was lovin’ you too much, and lettin’ you know.”)… “Up On Cripple Creek.” To highlight The Band’s unique inventiveness, “Cripple Creek” was one of the first instances of a Hohner clavinet being played through a wah-wah pedal. A couple years later, Stevie Wonder perfected this technique in his massive hit “Superstition.”
Richard Manuel (1943-86): “She Knows” (A live number from a bar gig that never wound up on any of the studio albums. Blows me away every time I hear it.)… “I Shall Be Released” (Haunting Dylan cover where Richard transforms his deep baritone into an oddly satisfying falsetto.)… “Just Another Whistle Stop”… “Hobo Jungle” (“Drifters and rounders and distant friends; Here I lie without anger or regret. I’m in no one’s debt.”)
All Together: “Daniel & The Sacred Harp”… “We Can Talk” (“I’d rather be burned in Canada than to freeze here in the South.”)… “Jemima Surrender”…”Acadian Driftwood” (“Acadian driftwood, gypsy tailwind. They call my home, the land of snow.”)
The Beatles break-up may, at least for my generation, be in a class by itself, but I will miss these guys for the rest of my days. I can still hear Levon testifying on “Mystery Train” — included as a bonus track on the “16-by-3” Spotify playlist — “I hate to tell you son, that train don’t stop here anymore.”
Onward, Malcolm
