The Last Waltz

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The Last Waltz
Live album by The Band

Publication
(s)

April 16, 1978

Label (s) Warner bros.

Format (s)

3 LP, 2 CD, 4 CD, DVD-Audio

Genre (s)

Folk rock , country rock

Title (number)

30 (LP)

running time

2 h 9 min 6 s (LP)

occupation

production

Robbie Robertson

Studio (s)

Winterland ( San Francisco )

chronology
Islands
(1977) 		The Last Waltz Jericho
(1993)

The Last Waltz was the farewell concert of the Canadian rock band The Band and is the resulting live album .

history

The concert on November 25, 1976 ( Thanksgiving ) in Winterland in San Francisco lasted over five hours. The musical guests included Ronnie Hawkins , in whose backing band The Hawks the members of The Band met, and Bob Dylan , for whom The Band worked for years as a backing band - both in the studio and on stage. The concert gained particular fame through the Martin Scorsese film The Band .

The production time for the album and film was around 16 months. The reason for the delay was, among other things, that the soundtrack of some tracks was changed during the production time in order to achieve better sound quality, this particularly applies to the guitar solos by Robbie Robertson. Another reason was the coupling of the album to the release of the film. This was delayed, for example, when guest musician Neil Young forgot to wipe the cocaine residue off his nose before his performance, so that the recordings had to be retouched with him frame by frame.

The album was released on April 16, 1978. It reached number 16 on Billboard Magazine's pop album charts .

Publications

The album was released on three LPs by Warner Bros. in 1978; In 1988 this version was also re-released on two CDs by Warner. In 1995, Cool Daddy Productions released a bootleg entitled The Complete Last Waltz , which contains all the pieces from the concert on four CDs in unprocessed form and in the original order. In 2002 the music was digitally remixed with the participation of Robbie Robertson and released on four CDs by Rhino. Also in 2002, Rhino released a DVD audio and double CD with the remixed pieces from the 1978 album in a different order, and in 2003 the pieces were released as a limited edition on three LPs.

reception

Scorsese's film is still considered one of the best concert films today, Allmovie writes: “ An impressive marriage of visuals and sound, The Last Waltz is a glorious document of our recent musical past. “The album, on the other hand, was received less euphorically. Rolling Stone's Jim Miller wrote in his review: “ The production and pacing are crisp, the performances generally competent, if rarely much more. ... A classic recording of a classic pseudo event, The Last Waltz poses as a document of rock history in the making. But no new standards are set, few old standards are met, and future challenges are never raised. What we have here is a glittering but empty rite of passage. Mark Deming from Allmusic writes on the release of the double CD from 1988: “ The Band are in fine if not exceptional form here; on most cuts, they don't sound quite as fiery as they did on Rock of Ages , though their performances are never less than expert, and the high points are dazzling, especially an impassioned version of "It Makes No Difference" and blazing readings of "Up on Cripple Creek" and " The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down ". "

Guest musician

The Band (not in the picture: Richard Manuel) with Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and Neil Diamond during The Last Waltz Concert on November 25, 1976

The specialty of the Last Waltz was the number of stars among the guest musicians, the recordings of Muddy Waters ' Mannish Boy , Van Morrison's Caravan as well as the performances of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan are considered outstanding . The participation of Neil Diamond was not without controversy : While all the other guest stars had a special relationship with The Band , Diamond's only connection was the album Beautiful Noise (1976) produced by Robertson .

During the concert

( * Not included in the originally published recordings.)

Accompanist
Brass section
During the studio recordings for The Last Waltz Suite

Track list

In the following, the track lists of the different releases (3LP, 4CD, film) are compared, and the set list of the concert is given.

Remarks
  • The different releases differ not only in the number of titles, but also in the playing time of the individual tracks. In the 1978 edition, in particular, the musicians' verbal contributions between the individual tracks were largely removed, but solos were also shortened or left out. Dylan's Forever Young has a stanza left out.
  • There is no official release that reproduces the tracks in the order of the set list, and none of these releases contain all the tracks from the concert.
  • In contrast to the film, none of the audio releases contain the poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti ( Loud Prayer ) and Michael McClure ( Introduction to the Canterbury Tales ), but both are mentioned with other poets as Poets of San Francisco in the credits.
  • Although the album was also intended as a soundtrack for the film, the recording of Don't Do It , the last track that The Band performed publicly in their original line-up , is missing . The film begins with this title.
  • The titles of the second side of the third LP and the first six titles of the fourth CD form the so-called The Last Waltz Suite . It was not part of the concert, but was recorded in the studio. Only the tracks The Weight and Evangeline were played during the concert with a different line-up (without The Staples Singers or Emmylou Harris).
  • Tracks eight to eleven of the fourth CD were recorded during rehearsals for The Last Waltz , tracks 12 to 14 are previously unreleased studio recordings.
title 1976
concert 		1978
3 LP 		1978
film 		2002
4 CD 		Guest musician
Theme From the Last Waltz 1-1-1 2 1- 1
Up on Cripple Creek 1 1-1-2 3 1- 2
The Shape I'm In 2 2-2-1 4th 1- 3
It Makes No Difference 3 1-2-3 6th 1- 4
Who Do You Love 13 1-1-3 5 1- 5 Ronnie Hawkins (vocals)
Life is a carnival 4th 3-1-1 1- 6
Find a night 14th 1-2-4 8th 1- 7 Dr. John (vocals, piano)
The Weight 33 1- 8
Down South in New Orleans 15th 2-2-2 1- 9 Bobby Charles (vocals), Dr. John (backing vocals, guitar)
This wheel is on fire 5 1-10
Mystery Train 16 2-1-2 15th 1-11 Paul Butterfield (vocals, harmonica)
Caldonia 17th 1-12 Muddy Waters
Mannish boy 18th 2-1-3 16 1-13 Muddy Waters (vocals), Paul Butterfield (harmonica), Bob Margolin (guitar), Joe Perkins (piano)
Stagefright 11 1-1-5 10 1-14
Rag mama rag 12 2- 1
All Our Past Times 19th 2- 2 Eric Clapton
Further on up the road 20th 2-1-4 17th 2- 3 Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar)
Ophelia 8th 2-2-3 20th 2 4
Helpless 21st 1-1-4 9 2- 5 Neil Young (guitar, vocals), Joni Mitchell (backing vocals)
Four Strong Winds 22nd 2- 6 Neil Young
Coyote 23 1-2-1 14th 2- 7 Joni Mitchell (vocals, guitar), Dr. John (congas)
Shadows and Light 24 2 8 Joni Mitchell
Furry Sings the Blues 25th 2- 9 Joni Mitchell
Acadian Driftwood 29 2-10 Neil Young, Joni Mitchell (backing vocals)
Dry your eyes 26th 1-2-2 13 2-11 Neil Diamond (vocals, guitar), Dennis St. John (drums)
The WS Walcott Medicine Show 6th 2-12
Tura Lura Lural (That's an Irish Lullaby) 27 2-2-4 2-13 Van Morrison (vocals), John Simon (piano)
Caravan 28 2-2-5 21st 2-14 Van Morrison (vocals)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 10 2-1-1 12 3- 1
The Genetic Method / Chest Fever (from the movie soundtrack) 19th 3- 2
Baby Let Me Follow You Down 34 3-1-2 3- 3 Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar)
Hazel 35 3- 4 Bob Dylan
I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) 36 3-1-3 3- 5 Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar)
Forever Young 37 3-1-4 23 3- 6 Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Reprise) 38 3-1-5 24 3- 7 Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar)
I Shall Be Released 39 3-1-6 25th 3- 8 Bob Dylan (vocals), Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Neil Diamond, Paul Butterfield, Bobby Charles, Eric Clapton and Van Morrison (backing vocals), Ringo Starr (drums), Ron Wood (guitar)
Jam # 1 40 3- 9 Neil Young, Ronnie Wood , Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Ringo Starr
Jam # 2 41 bonus 3-10 Neil Young, Ronnie Wood, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills , Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Carl Radle, Ringo Starr
Don't do it 42 1 3-11
Greensleeves (from the movie soundtrack) 3-12
The Well 3-2-1 4- 1
Evangeline (from the movie soundtrack) 3-2-2 18th 4- 2 Emmylou Harris (vocals, guitar)
Out of the blue 3-2-3 4- 3
The Weight (from the movie soundtrack) 3-2-4 11 4- 4 The Staples Singers with solo parts by Roebuck "Pops" Staples (vocals, guitar) and Mavis Staples (vocals)
The Last Waltz refrain 3-2-5 4- 5
Theme from The Last Waltz 3-2-6 4- 6
King Harvest (Has Surely Come) 4- 7
Tura Lura Lural (That's an Irish Lullaby) 4- 8 Van Morrison
Caravan 4- 9 Van Morrison
Find a night 4-10 Dr. John
Rag mama rag 4-11
Mad Waltz (jam that was not played in concert) 4-12
The Last Waltz Refrain (instrumental) 4-13
The Last Waltz Theme (Sketch, was not used in the film) 4-14
Georgia on My Mind 7th
King Harvest 9
Intro 30th
Chest fever 31
Evangeline 32

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Entry on The Band on laut.de.
  2. ↑ See also: Comparison of different publications by The Last Waltz
  3. ↑ Perry Seibert: " Review " on Allmovie.
  4. ↑ Jim Miller, “ The Band - The Last Waltz, ” June 1, 1978
  5. ↑ a b Mark Deming: “ Review of 1988 double CD ” on Allmusic
  6. ↑ Joel Selvin: " The day the music lived ". San Francisco Chronicle, April 4, 2002.
  7. ↑ Number in the set list of the concert, published in this form in 1995 as a bootleg of 4 CDs
  8. ↑ LP number-side-track number on the first publication in 1978 on 3 LPs
  9. ↑ Order in the film, the appearances Lawrence Ferlinghetti (22) and Michael McClure (7) are omitted in this representation.
  10. ↑ CD number-track number on the 2002 re-release on 4 CDs
  11. ↑ The members of The Band are not mentioned here.
  12. ↑ On the DVD release of the film from 2003

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