Band/The Band, MFSL MOFI 180g Vinyl LP (NM)

$

62

Michael Fremer's 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning - Rated 72/100!
 
  Michael Fremer Rated 10/10 Music, 9/10 Sound in his October 2013 reviews on www.analogplanet.com!

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 45/500!   

  The Band The Band on Numbered Limited Edition 180g LP from Mobile Fidelity! Pressed at RTI!
 


  Incalculably Influential: The Band’s Self-Titled Sophomore Release a Country-   and Folk-Rock Benchmark
 
  Guitarist Robbie Robertson and Drummer Levon Helm Take Reigns on Americana-Flavored Set
 
  Includes Staples “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Across the Great   Divide,” “Up On Cripple Creek”
 
  Many believe it’s the most perfect Americana album ever made. The 1969   touchstone very well may be. Advancing the chemistry and cohesion of the group’s   ground-shifting debut, The Band is an inimitable distillation of compelling   storytelling, cosmic divinity, loose country-rock tunefulness, and superbly   crafted songwriting. Warm, literate, poignant, and intimate, the record   established new standards for seemingly effortless telepathic interplay among   first-class musicians whose creations are as much about feeling as they are   about sound.
 
  Mastered on Mobile Fidelity’s world-renowned mastering system and pressed at RTI,  this collectable LP burrows into the sonic heart of hearth-rich fare that   balances Appalachia’s mountain flavors, the Old West’s rollicking free   spiritedness, Canada’s limitless vast folk sprawl, and the Deep South’s   whiskey-soaked drawl. Arkansas native Levon Helm blends his rural roots   with guitarist Robbie Robertson’s allegorical narratives, the pair meeting at a   crossroads that, on this pressing, reveals textures as organic as cotton and   tonalities as timeless as the look of classic filmstrips. Notes hover and   naturally decay; cascading harmonies waft and reverberate; soundstages open up   and extend, providing generous spaces for each member’s invaluable contributions   to relax, settle, and enter into a wholesome communion.
 
  Indeed, a force normally associated with higher powers appears to guide each one   of the 12 tracks, honed to perfection by co-writer Robertson and his simpatico   mates. Sensitive, graceful, magnetic, entirely genuine: Whether focusing on   Richard Manuel’s spiritual piano chords and evocative tenor, Rick Danko’s simple   albeit direct bass lines and melancholy deliveries, Robertson’s pull-no-punches   leads, Garth Hudson’s majestically tuckpointed organ runs, or Helm’s percussive   rhythms, a sense of astonishment and truth dignifies arrangements steeped in   meditative properties and barn-dance rawness.
 
  From the swampy bayou grooves, jaw-harp-mimicking clavinet passages, and   traditional yodels found on “Up on Cripple Creek” to the jubilant dance   persuasion of “Rag Mama Rag,” The Band blends mythological devices with   authentic melodies, rustic acoustic properties with haunting harmonies.   Universally identifiable, the characters in the songs are people well-versed in   hardship, depression, working-class struggle, and Skid Row trouble. Musically,   the group balances sweetness and edginess on all of its foundational material,   capturing the essence of American music and culture like no band before or   since.
 
  "A completely successful major restoration of one the great records of the rock era and that includes the jacket, which is perfect in every way. The longer I live, the more I find myself marveling at the beauty of "Whispering Pines". It has come to be my favorite song on the record. I have never heard it revealed as cleanly as on this reissue." - Michael Fremer, www.analogplanet.com, rated 10/10 Music, 9/10 Sound 

  Features:
  • Numbered, Limited Edition
  • Production and Mastering by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
  • Specially Plated and Pressed on 180 grams of High Definition Vinyl
  • Special Static Free - Dust Free Inner Sleeve
  • Heavy Duty Protective Packaging
  • Pressed at RTI
 
  Musicians:
  Garth Hudson, organ, clavinette, piano, accordion, soprano, tenor and baritone-sax, slide trumpet
  Richard Manuel: vocals, piano, drums, baritone-sax, mouth harp
  Levon Helm, vocals, drums, mandolin, guitar
  Rick Danko, vocals, bass, violin, trombone
  Jaime Robbie Robertson, guitar, engineer
  John Simon, tuba, electric piano, high school and peck horns, engineer
   
  Selections:
  Side One:
  1. Across the Great Divide
  2. Rag Mama Rag
  3. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
  4. When You Awake
  5. Up on Cripple Creek
  6. Whispering Pines
  Side Two:
  1. Jemima Surrender
  2. Rockin’ Chair
  3. Lookout Cleveland
  4. Jawbone
  5. The Unfaithful Servant
  6. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)