ALBUM: The Best of the Band (1976)
MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$
I remember three things about the purchase of this record:
- I bought it at a used record store in Atlanta.
- I bought it the day I went to a Who concert at the Omni, which was July 9, 1980.
- I played it so much at the home of a friend of a friend’s house before the concert someone asked, ’Don’t we have any other records?”
These were people I didn’t know well. They were Atlanta friends of several of my Auburn University college buddies. We AU guys had driven up to see the Who and were at a house in, I believe, Dunwoody.
“But it’s the Band, man,” one replied in defense of keeping record going.
Hey, mister, can you tell me, where a man might find a bed?
He just grinned and shook my hand, “No” was all he said.
The other guy, resigned, left the room.
Now the Who are/were legends, even then on the ‘Who Are You?’ tour. “Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ based on attitude, chops and sound, is easily one of the top 10 rock songs of all time, IMHO.
The Band, I suppose, you could call semi-legendary. The Canadian-American band was roots rock, or Americana, before those terms were being tossed out. Most significantly they played and recorded extensively with Bob Dylan and were featured in what many consider the best rock movie of all time, ‘The Last Waltz,’ directed by Martin Scorsese.
These kids — Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm – were all right.
For me it was the perfect warm-up to a Who concert.
Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny, and (and, and) you put the load (you put the load) right on me.
Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.