3. The Band

Release: 1969 (Capitol, bastards who don’t document the release date on their records)

Acquisition details: 1993 or 94, in Chapel Hill (Skylight Exchange), during an effort to collect “canonical” pop music (esp. Christgau’s list).

Hain’t listened to in seven or eight years, prolly. I started out thinking: purty good faux Americana, though the chorus of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” certainly turns an interesting beginning into a drag. The subject matter of this record lies somewhere in a mythical borderland containing both the Old South and the Wild West, hey, maybe Arkansas, since the only real American in The Band came from there. At least that’s the gist of the sound (pianos that sound like the self-players, mouth harps and whatnot) and the lyrics I hear, though I’m certainly too lazy to really listen hard. But I grew more exhausted of the record as it spun repeatedly; its fakeness began to be as blatant as the lie of the sepia cover photo.

Actually, what can I say that Greil Marcus hasn’t already said, in his interesting yet mystifying (and overwhelmingly personal) explanation of the interconnectedness of all American culture and music in Mystery Train. Say, where is my copy? It wasn’t in the box labeled “Music bks.” Hate to lose the annotated discography in the back. And speaking of Greil, sort of, an amusing snarky comment about an old dorm-mate of mine (Marc Greilsamer: sorry to spill your true name Grill Cheese, but the anecdote requires I do so) who became a music critic since I last saw him (He gave me water and a brownie in Manhattan when I had eaten a Percocet too many [2], and couldn’t stomach the egg plant pizza I’d mistakenly bought; it looked so good layin’ there fried on top, and the batter disguised its vegetable nature). Anyhow, someone was put off by Marc’s “rockist” ballot for the 2003 Pazz and Jop, and called him Greil Marcus’s evil twin.

Mixworthy: n/a

Verdict: I don’t know. I’ve certainly heard it enough for the next half-decade. And who am I kidding, is anyone going to buy back this record with a big tear in the cover?