Described by Wikipedia as "an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor " Levon Helm best known for being the drummer and singer for The Band died today at age 71 of throat cancer. Did The Band make as much an impact in music in the UK as they had here in the US?

Levon and the rest of the Band just oozed charisma in the film The Last Waltz and while it was the movie which brought them to my attention initially, I stayed for the music. Their music has a quality different from their contemporaries, I can't really describe it properly. Listening to their songs is like driving down a country road in Tennessee or something, brings you to another place far from the hustle bustle of city life and modern living.

Bob Dylan said of him

"He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation."

R.I.P

I do not remember The Band as being big in the UK - I was in London in the late sixties was quite involved with so called 'alternative/non-pop' music and managed to obtain a copy of Big Pink from a friend who brought it back from the USA - and apart from fleeting fame from The Weight in Easy Rider - I do not think that they made much of an impact in the UK.
My second (and last) LP by them was the Last Waltz.
I appreciated them, but I think that there was something that did not 'click' in the UK - or just that there was so much going on they got lost/missed in the vast amount of music that was available.

I hadn't heard about this Loved Levon Helm. I wasn't crazy about The Band necessarily, but always enjoyed Levon (FYI: He was the inspiration for Levon by Elton John).

As for acting, I loved him as Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter. What a great face! And a good actor to boot.

So sorry to hear about his passing.

I remember the day I bought their second album - The Band. (Often referred to as The Brown Album) I played it once and thought - that's mysteriously good. I played it a second time and thought - that's a masterpiece. I still think that.
I pressed it upon lots of pals and they just didn't get it ... too country ... too folky ... too murky - and I was baffled.

Since I heard about Levon's death I've been playing them constantly, and muttering to myself - as I often do when I play their music - what a f...k..ng band. Three great singers, at least two wonderful songwriters, and five amazing musicians.

Have you ever heard Levon sing I DON'T WANT TO HANG UP MY ROCK N ROLL SHOES?

He's taking them off now and getting ready to jam with Elvis.

How does the lyric go? If there's a rock & roll heaven, they must have one hell of a band.

I have a documentary about the making of the "Brown Album" where among the musicians interviewed was Bernie Taupin so it isn't too surprising Levon inspired a song of his own name. One of the fun facts was Garth, the keyboardist got proficient because he played organ for his uncle's funeral parlor. He also plays woodwinds. All the members of the Band seemed to easily swap instruments, no one was locked into one thing. I still can't get over the fact that a lot of the album was recorded in a pool house on an estate in LA. They were a band for the music and by all accounts, the album grew out of the sessions organically. They weren't trying to be the next big thing, the Band just wanted to play music they like. U2 tried a similar method in recording Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree. And while Robbie Robertson didn't guest star on Joshua Tree, U2 did guest star on Robbie's solo album.

In another documentary, Robbie said when they were recording the Basement Tapes and into Big Pink, no one outside the band knew what they were up to in the house in Woodstock, rumors abound that were akin to they were a bunch of Quakers on acid or something.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 0453 Apr 24 2012 by lifeonmarsfan.

You know, Robert, I should revisit The Band now that I'm older. My tastes have changed a lot over the years and I might get into them now that I'm not head bangin' in front of Marshall stacks anymore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 0741 Apr 24 2012 by Janaru.

Their first two albums are by far their best - Big Pink and The Band. They never reached those heights again. But Rock of Ages is a superb live album - and Moondog Matinee is great fun - a collection of oldies they used to play in clubs,

My partner, when she was very young! saw them live, backing Dylan. I didn't. She reminds me about that sometimes.

I am sure this is by no means original, but this could have been a selling hook for the Band, The Band: Americans and Canadians making beautiful music together.

They lived in the big house up to 7 months recording the albums (all of Big Pink was recorded in Woodstock). Sessions meant for The Big Pink became the beginnings of the Brown Album. The term they had for the recording method was "club house", they weren't stuck to a recording schedule by either the studio or the record company. When they moved to LA, they rented Sammy Davis Jr.'s house and they recorded the rest of the tracks in the pool house.

With the X Factor/American Idol world we live in now, I doubt another Band can ever come to be. Would love me some rootsy and uncommercial music.

I agree with everything you've said, lifeonmarsfan - they embodied virtues and ideals that seem to be very rare these days.

At a time when young bands were saying - trust no-one over thirty - here comes this bunch of outlaws saying - what about Howling Wolf? What about Robert Johnson? What about Hank Williams? What about Jimmie Rodgers? What about Elvis, for God's sake? What about music made by some guy heard by no-one outside his own valley - 50 years ago or a 150 years ago? What about your own grandparents and the music that thrilled them? You can't walk away from the past - it trails you like a shadow. And by jingo it knows some tunes.

How influential - in terms of numbers - the Band were in UK I can't say. But those two albums - in a small town in the West of Scotland - changed my life.

And when you look at that photo of them in their 'club house' studio - well ... imagine being THERE!

Who wouldn't want to join a club house like that? But the difference is despite all the distractions, they got stuff done. Or maybe they did get distracted because after the first two albums, they did get a bit scattered. Was watching some other documentary last night and there Eric Clapton inducting The Band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Introducing them, Eric said he wanted to join The Band as well, and as Robbie tells it, Eric told him he broke up Cream because of The Band. Could they have used another guitar player? Could some new blood have extended the creative adventure? Intriguing thought. The jam session as usual is the best thing of any of these sorts of shows (they did The Load with Eric taking vocal leads, didn't see Levon there and can't think of a reason for him for not being at the induction ceremony unless it was health related--he did look rather frail in the video from 10 years ago).

I am not sure if I would have connected with The Band if it wasn't for my interest in history and for having traveled through the hollers (valleys) in Kentucky and Tennessee. God bless my parents for their itchy feet. We explored every bit of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee when we lived in Cincinnati. No weekend was wasted. After dad got home from work Fridays, we'd load up the car and go. But yeah, some of that music was music you heard from the hill people. The Library of Congress thank goodness took it in their heads to record the music and voices of the hill people so all that would not be lost to future generations. The Gran Ol' Opry is doing their own archiving of music too, so there is an attempt to preserve the art which could easily be lost.

Music like this to me is comfort food. You don't want to have it all the time, but when you do it is very satisfying.

What you say about your past is so true, Robert. I think when your young you do try and separate yourself from your past (especially your parents) but as you grow you realize those root are a big part of who you are.

That sort of music was always in my house when I was growing up. As a teenager Rock was King. And even though I still love me some screamin' guitar turned all the way to eleven, when I hear really good old country, bluegrass or old time music, I'm home.

And thank God for the Lomax' family for going down there and recording all of those old songs and the folks that sang them, Mars. As well as the ones they made from the Caribbean, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, and Italy and the video footage they shot. It's priceless treasure.

Here's more on The Lomax Collection and a link to some online content from The Library of Congress, you might find interesting.

You can also find some interesting stuff here at the Internet Archive, including the Lomax Recordings.

Many thanks for that, Janaru. I have a lot of old music in the house - mostly American, God bless y'all - and will certainly explore these links.

People have been puzzling for years about why American country and blues is so loved in working class Scotland. I think the clue is in working class.

And as someone once said - never trust a man who doesn't love music.

You got it, puddin'

Actually, Robert, I think another big reason is a lot of the music is a direct offshoot of Scottish and Irish music. Many Scots and Irish settled in those hills. Their dances also have Scots and Irish roots.

So I think you may be smellin' a little home cookin' in there, dahlin'.

I've been thinking about this love of American country/folk music in Scotland - because of this conversation.
For many years I was involved with the folk scene here - running clubs and festivals - but there was something so rigid and stultifying about the scene. The Folk Police were in charge. In some clubs if you were English you had to sing an English song. If Scottish a Scottish song, from Aberdeen an Aberdeen ... and so on. I'm not making this up. If the song had a known composer it wasn't Folk (with a capital) it was banned ... and I do mean banned.
I remember in a club once I sang Dylan's North Country Blues - about a dying mining town. I'm from a mining family and I think it's a beautifully written, truthful song. A FOLKIE got up after me and sang something about the evils of American Imperialism and the danger of us all starting to sing like Americans. He had his bare arms folded and sang in a Scottish accent like none I'd ever heard and was glowering at me. Oh how I chuckled!
The Communist Party was a big influence; thay ran some of the clubs. (Did you know that the British Communist Party block-booked tickets for some of Dylan's 1966 shows - JUST SO THEY COULD WALK OUT to show their disapproval of his direction?)
As far as these guardians of correctness were concerned there were no writers, no composers, no individual artists; THE PEOPLE made it all.

All this nonsense suffocated Scottish and English folk music for years ... decades.

And if there's one thing American music is about it's the voice of the individual man or woman. Think Louis Armstrong in jazz. Hank Williams in country. Robert Johnson in ... whatever the hell that spooky music is!

Maybe that's what some of us heard; we thought - he or she is completely himself or herself but IT TOUCHES ME.

God bless America(ns)

(And then the Beatles happened!!!!!)

Robert Johnson in ... whatever the hell that spooky music is!

OMG Robert, I'm still laughin'! It's sooo true!


Yikes! I thought we had Folk Police! You folks got serious!


I think it's the back and forth of music that makes it so cool. Britain comes up with something and tosses it across the pond, we morph it and toss it back, Germany grabs it, tweaks it and Africa and the Caribbean riff off that....and on and on....

It's like world jazz, and great music is the result.

You always appreciate their original forms but the fusion is awesome and we wouldn't have some of the greatest music without it!