The Band

The Band naturally became famous as the backing band for singer Bob Dylan, but also made a series of unforgettable albums on their own.

The members of The Band had already been playing together in the late 1950s, initially as The Hawks, singer Ronnie Hawkins's backing band. The Canadian-American collective consisted of bassist Rick Danko, drummer Levon Helm, keyboardist Garth Hudson, keyboardist Richard Manuel, and guitarist Robbie Robertson. In 1965, the five-piece was asked to accompany Bob Dylan on his world tour. In 1967, the group recorded a large number of songs that would later be released as The Basement Tapes (1975). The Band had also accompanied Bob Dylan on his albums Before the Flood (1974) and Planet Waves (1974).

Meanwhile, The Band's career had also taken off without Bob Dylan, thanks to albums like Music From Big Pink (1968), The Band (1969), and Stage Fright (1970). Combining folk, country, and rock, the group created music that would later be dubbed Americana. After Moondog Matinee (1973), Northern Lights – Southern Cross (1975), and Islands (1977), The Band decided to call it quits, but not without delivering a resounding swan song. With the help of colleagues like Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, and many others, they performed once more. The resulting recording was released in sound and visual form as The Last Waltz (1978). It remains a monumental live document.

As expected, Robbie Robertson enjoyed the most success after the breakup of The Band. He scored a major hit with his first solo album, Robbie Robertson (1987), which featured contributions from U2 and Peter Gabriel. He later also enjoyed considerable success with soundtracks. Without him, The Band picked up where they left off with Jericho (1993), High On The Hog (1996), and Jubilation (1998). Richard Manual died in 1986. Levon Helm followed in 1998. His death was the reason for those left behind to finally disband The Band in 1999.

At Platenzaak.nl we have a lot of CDs and LPs from The Band, including exclusive versions.