Tag Archives: Rick Danko

Bob Dylan & The Band: Hazel @ Winterland, San Francisco, 25 November 1976 (Video)

bob dylan last waltz 1976

Bob Dylan played 6 songs @ the Last Waltz concert.

This brilliant version of Hazel was not officially released until 2002 on: The Last Waltz (4CD Box set).

Winterland
San Francisco, California
25 November 1976

Musicians:

  • Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal)
  • Robbie Robertson (guitar)
  • Garth Hudson (synthesizer)
  • Richard Manual (keyboards)
  • Rick Danko (bass)
  • Levon Helm (drums)

Continue reading Bob Dylan & The Band: Hazel @ Winterland, San Francisco, 25 November 1976 (Video)

Today: Bob Dylan recorded “She’s Your Lover Now” in 1966, 48 years ago

Bob Dylan 1966 10

Pain sure brings out the best in people, doesn’t it?
– Bob Dylan (She’s Your Lover Now)

..‘She’s Your Lover Now’, a gleeful masterpiece more redolent of its era than most things that came out at the time..
~Michael Gray (BD Encyclopedia)

Continue reading Today: Bob Dylan recorded “She’s Your Lover Now” in 1966, 48 years ago

Today: The late Richard Manuel was born in 1943 – 70 years ago

richard manuel

I play patterns. I’ll make up a pattern and just play it.
~Richard Manuel

“Well, let’s see: I started [in music] at nine and quit. Then got back to it when I was twelve. Then I became a party star. In fact, I became a party!”
~Richard Manuel

For me he was the true light of the Band. The other guys were fantastic talents, of course, but there was something of the holy madman about Richard. He was raw. When he sang in that high falsetto the hair on my neck would stand on end. Not many people can do that.
~Eric Clapton

A nice tribute video – I’m just a country boy:

I Shall Be Released (The Band)

Gonna dedicate this song to Mr. Richard Manuel, who does it so well
~Bob Dylan (Introducing “I Shall Be Released” December 8, 1975)

Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel

Birth name Richard George Manuel
Born April 3, 1943
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Died March 4, 1986 (aged 42)
Winter Park, Florida, U.S.
Genres Country rock, R&B, rock and roll, americana
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, piano, drums, keyboard,lap slide guitar, harmonica, clavinet, marimba, conga
Years active 1957–1986

Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band.

richard manuel

Here is the wonderful “Georgia On My Mind” from The Last Waltz concert:

“Richard Manuel was a whole show unto himself. He was hot. He was about the best singer I’d ever heard; most people said he reminded them of Ray Charles. He’d do those ballads, and the ladies would swoon. To me that became the highlight of our show.”
~Levon Helm

The Band was a Canadian-American roots rock group that originally consisted of Rick Danko (bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, guitar, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboard instruments, saxophones, trumpet), Richard Manuel (piano, drums, baritone saxophone, vocals) and Robbie Robertson (guitar, vocals). The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins’s backing group, The Hawks, one by one between 1958 and 1963.

the-band

You Dont Know Me – Tokyo 1983

“He brought a lot of powers and strengths to the group. He brought in gospel music from his church upbringing. Plus, he loved to play and just come up with new things. It was like having a force of nature in the band.”
~Rick Danko

Posthumous recognition

  • In 1994, Richard Manuel was inducted, posthumously, into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Band. 
  • In 2003, Japan’s Dreamsville Records released Whispering Pines: Live at the Getaway, which contains selections from a solo concert recorded in Saugerties, New York in October 1985.
  • Former bandmate Robbie Robertson‘s song “Fallen Angel” (1987) and The Band‘s song “Too Soon Gone” (1993) are each tributes to Manuel. 
  • On Forbes.com, Allen St. John wrote a tribute article about Richard Manuel and Rick Danko on April 19, 2012.
  • Eric Clapton’s 1986 album, August, features his tribute to Richard Manuel entitled “Holy Mother”.
  • San Francisco-area group, The Call, who had collaborated with former Band members Hudson and Robertson, dedicated the video for their 1986 single, “Everywhere I Go” to Manuel.
  • Counting Crows recorded the song “If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is Dead”, released on their 2002 album Hard Candy.
  • The Drive-By Truckers’ song “Danko/Manuel” was released on their album The Dirty South in 2004.

Wikipedia, http://theband.hiof.no, +

Playlist of the day

Other April-03

Continue reading Today: The late Richard Manuel was born in 1943 – 70 years ago

Bob Dylan’s best songs – This Wheel’s on Fire #100

bob dylan basement tapes

Jan Wenner: Of all the versions of This Wheel’s On Fire, which do you like the best?
Bob Dylan: Uh… the Band’s. Who else did it?
Jan Wenner: Where was that done?
Bob Dylan: Well, that was done out in… out in somebody’s basement. Just a basement tape.
~ Jan Wenner Interview Nov 1969

the band big pink basement

@ #100 on my list of Dylan’s 200 best songs. Recorded in the basement @  The Big Pink, West Saugerties, New York – June – October 1967.

the big pink

 Basement tapes version:

From Wikipedia:

This Wheel’s on Fire” is a song written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko. It was originally recorded by Dylan and The Band during their 1967 sessions, portions of which (including this song) comprised the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes. The Band’s own version appeared on their 1968 album, Music From Big Pink.

Released June 26, 1975
Recorded 1967
Genre Rock
Length 3:49
Label Columbia
Writer Bob Dylan, Rick Danko
Producer Bob Dylan & The Band

bob dylan and the band 1967

Here’s a great live version from Stockholm 1998-06-09:

  Continue reading Bob Dylan’s best songs – This Wheel’s on Fire #100

Happy birthday Jonas Fjeld!

From Wikipedia:

Jonas Fjeld (born Terje Lillegård Jensen; 24 September 1952 in Bodø, Norway) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known in the English-speaking world for two albums recorded by Danko/Fjeld/Andersen, a collaboration with Canadian Rick Danko of The Band and American singer-songwriter Eric Andersen. Fjeld also recorded two albums with the American bluegrass group Chatham County Line.

He is 60 years old today!

We celebrate him with a collection of his finest songs.

The Bells are ringing for you now (1985):

Paying Back (with The Chatham County Line):

Engler i sneen/angels in the snow (norwegian and english) (with Chatham County Line):

And the same song with Rick Danko, Eric Andersen and Jonas Fjeld:

Blue Hotel (Rick Danko, Eric Andersen and Jonas Fjeld, audio only):

We end this little tribute with the lovely, Mary I’m coming back home (Danko/Fjeld/Andersen):

Great singer and songwriter!

– Hallgeir