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Music Calendar, The Band

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

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Video, video of the day

Video of the day: Tears of Rage – The Allman Brothers Band

abb

A wonderful version of Tears of Rage (Dylan/the Band) from earlier this month at The Beacon Theater.

Wikipedia:

The song was first recorded in rehearsal sessions at The Band’s upstate New York residence, “Big Pink”, in 1967, with Dylan on lead vocal and The Band backing him. This recording and those from the rest of the sessions would not be officially released for another eight years, on the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes, although they were widely bootlegged in the late 1960s and early ’70s. It is considered one of the most widely acclaimed from The Basement Tapes.

The first official release of the song was as the first track on The Band’s debut, 1968 album Music from Big Pink, without Dylan and featuring Manuel on lead vocal. According to Levon Helm, “Richard sang one of the best performances of his life.”

– Hallgeir

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylans's best songs, The Best Songs

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

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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:

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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums, Featured Articles, Great albums

Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert

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Well, but you see, Columbia’s never offered to do that. They have done that with The Basement Tapes and the Budokan album. But they’ve never offered to put that out as a historical album or whatever. And believe me, if they wanted to do it, they could.
~Bob Dylan to Kurt Loder in 1984

 “I still can’t believe they’ve finally put it out. I just keep staring at my copy.”
~Andy Kershaw (BBC Radio 1 DJ)

14 years ago today… they finally put it out, this surely calls for a celebration!

Baby, Let Me Follow You Down:

From Wikipedia:

Released October 13, 1998
Recorded May 17, 1966
Genre Rock, folk rock, blues rock
Length 95:18
Label Columbia
Producer Jeff Rosen

Live 1966: The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert is a two-disc live album by Bob Dylan, released in 1998. Recorded at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. It is from Dylan’s famous world tour in 1966, having been extensively bootlegged for decades, and is an important document in the development of popular music during the 1960s.

The setlist consisted of two parts, with the first half of the concert being Dylan alone on stage performing an entirely acoustic set of songs, while the second half of the concert has Dylan playing an “electric” set of songs alongside his band The Hawks. The first half of the concert was greeted warmly by the audience, while the second half was highly criticized, with heckling going on before and after each song.

Here are two (of many..) “real” bootleg covers of this concert:

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Music Calendar, The Clash

Today: Mick Jones is 57

 From Wikipedia:

Michael Geoffrey “Mick” Jones (born 26 June 1955) is an English rock guitarist, vocalist and songwriter best known for his works with The Clash until his dismissal in 1983, then Big Audio Dynamite with Don Letts before line-up changes led to the formation of Big Audio Dynamite II and finally Big Audio. Jones plays with Carbon Silicon along with Tony James and is touring the world as part of the Gorillaz live band (which includes former Clash member Paul Simonon).

When he was 21, he and Paul Simonon were introduced to Joe Strummer by Bernie Rhodes (the self proclaimed inventor of punk rock) in a dirty squat in Shepherd’s Bush. The band practised in a disused railway warehouse in Camden and The Clash was formed. Jones played lead guitar, sang, and co-wrote songs from the band’s inception until he was fired by Strummer and Simonon in 1983. Jones’ lack of punctuality played a major role in his dismissal from the band.

For his time with The Clash, Jones, along with the rest of the band, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Here is “London Calling”:

Album of the day:

Other june-26:

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