Stage Fright

The conventional wisdom is right: Pound for pound, "Big Pink" and "The Band" are more complete successes for this group, and I love them both. But I love "Stage Fright" more. It is the album where this group drops its masks and speaks directly to the audience about themselves and each other.The Band is really two duos: Helm and Danko, who are usually paired as singers on some of the group's best-loved material, and Robertson and Manuel, who are engaged in a sort of musical and spiritual dialogue that often forms much of the depth, richness and mystery of this group. That dialogue is the dominant theme of "Stage Fright" in its many evocations of the theme of self-destructiveness, especially the self-destructiveness of a great artist.My theory is, Richard Manuel was the artistic soul of the The Band. He was their best singer, by far. His "feel" approach to playing the many instruments he played, especially piano, gave the Band a funky, soulful "bottom" that contrasted with the highly intellectual approaches of both Robertson and Hudson. Manuel was responsible, on their first three albums, for some of their very best songs as writer or co-writer: "Tears of Rage," "In A Station," "Lonesome Suzie," "Whispering Pines," "Across the Great Divide," and, on this album, "Sleeping" and "The Shape I'm In" were at least partly his. But...Richard Manuel was not a particularly responsible person. He was, in fact a drunk, and an unmotivated writer. He was a sadly vulnerable man, for whom, as Robertson writes in "Sleeping," "the world was too sore to live in." In some ways, being in the Band destroyed him. At the same time, it created a place for him to hide.Robertson, ever the brilliant control freak, clearly admired and loved Richard Manuel, and was also exasperated with him. Robertson was basically in charge of the business of The Band, and also the artistic direction of The Band as its most prolific songwriter. He wanted Manuel to play a bigger role, but eventually saw that he couldn't, or wouldn't. And so, according to my theory, he wrote songs to reach him when nothing else would work.It is no accident that the leadoff track is "Strawberry Wine," a fun but desperate track in which Levon Helm sings (brilliantly) the part of a drunk who wants to be left alone to "feel good all the time." This is followed by the album's first masterpiece, "Sleeping," which at first seems to be about life as a musician on the road, but expands into a poem about isolation and hiding. This song, one of Manuel's most treasured performances, almost seems like a dialogue between the two men, with Robertson acknowledging that perhaps life on the road, in which "to be called by noon, is to be called too soon" is part of the drill if you're performing before crowds of people "searching" for something special every night. Maybe, Robertson seems to suggest, that's why Richard is such a juicer; it's the road's fault. But then, the song seems to say, that's not why. He would be living this way on his own, even if he weren't part of The Band. Maybe the rock and roll lifestyle isn't killing him; maybe it's really keeping him alive.I won't go through every song, but themes of drunkenness, fear, isolation, and hiding take some form in almost every remaining track. Even the two songs that have the "old-timey" historic and mythic resonances of their prior albums, "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" and "W.S. Walcott's Medicine Show" are tales full of personal symbolism. Richard Manuel plays the role of the music-mad Daniel who sells his soul to play the sacred harp, but Levon Helm sings the part of the narrator who becomes horrified at Daniel's fate: "When he looked to the ground, he noticed no shadow did he cast." Again, this is Robertson assessing the cost of the music career to himself and his bandmates, especially Manuel. "Walcott" reinterprets the rock and roll touring lifestyle as a 19th century medicine show, in which alcohol-laced snake oil and other mind altering substances are purveyed to the dazzled crowds as the keys to health--which, back in '69 is about right. Manuel just happened to be the guy who kept sampling the stock.After this album, Manuel had many more wonderful performances ahead of him, but he wrote no more songs. From the Last Waltz and everything one can read about the Band, he appears to have not taken the bootstrap advice of the singer in "Stage Fright" who "when he gets to the end, wants to start all over again." He went on, and kept singing because that kept him afloat long enough to get the next drink. He began the long, slow retreat that to the people who knew him best and admired his talent was probably an agonizing spectacle to watch. I see "Stage Fright" as a collection of songs in which Robbie Robertson alternately rages at, laughs at, cries about, and tries to save, Richard Manuel--and in which Richard Manuel finally escapes Robertson's tender mercies. And, as great as the first two Band albums might have been, they don't have this kind of intimacy and depth. This album is hardly the coda or afterthought to a classic period--it may be its culmination.

I love it because it is Like New!

While the Band's first two albums, Music From Big Pink and The Band respectively, have always received the critical acclaim and have the songs you always hear, Stage Fright is just as impressive. I love all of these albums but when I want my Band fix, I turn to Stage Fright most often. Robbie Robertson wrote or co-wrote another strong set of songs and here the lyrics are more personal while the arrangements are less cerebral. However, the tracklist is arranged so it is easier to digest. The most popular tracks are "The Shape I'm In" and the title track, both featured in The Last Waltz, and are quite upbeat musically even if they're somewhat dire lyrically. The diversity that is the Band continues to impress whether it's on a gentle ballad like "All La Glory", a gritty rocker like "Strawberry Wine", or an old time story telling song such as "Daniel and the Sacred Harp". As evidenced in other reviews, by this point it was more the Robbie Robertson show as Richard Manuel was barely writing but he still leaves his stamp with the ballad "Sleeping", the more upbeat "Just Another Whistle Stop," and the aforementioned "The Shape I'm In". A bit underrated but just as great, Stage Fright is worth picking up if you only know the Band for the radio songs.

I've always thought the biggest problem for The Band was that their first two albums were almost too good. Because they were among the best ever released, everything after them was downgraded. Cahoots isn't as bad as a lot of people seem to think and Northern Lights is actually a very good album.But back to Stage Fright. It isn't as original or groundbreaking as the first two. But compared to almost everything released by anyone in the 35 years since this was issued, it's still an A-plus.Maybe it is, as one reviewer suggests, symbolic of Robertson's frustration with Manuel's (and Danko's) substance abuse problems. That makes it more personal and less roots-based than the first two, one reason it's been downgraded. Big Pink and The Band were groundbreaking albums. Stage Fright was similar (although much better) to a lot of albums in the early '70s.In any case, I'm happy that The Band seems to be getting the respect in the 21st century that it got only sporadically during its peak years (68-72). Even though the music world ranked them with the Beatles (see Clapton's comments) I don't think any album sold more than 800,000 copies, a piddling number today. I suspect the reissues might have done close to that and I love the fact that people who weren't born during their heyday now love them.One aside about this album: the title song isn't a reference to Richard or Rick. It was Robbie's problem: literally the stage fright he experienced just before The Band's debut (as The Band, not The Hawks) in San Francisco.

This is another excellently remastered Band cd. The sound quality is crisp and good and there seems to be far more separation between the instruments and a greater sense of depth to the whole recording. This pleased me greatly.Stage fright is an album I love despite its pervading feeling of sadness. With hindsight that could be explained by the parlous state of some of the band members where their sudden success and affluence had been an overwhelming experience that they found hard to handle. Too many drugs, to many expectations of them and too much criticism had them spiralling out of control as musicians and as people.I feel this album is often unfairly criticised as weak. Although it lacks many of the powerful story-songs that characterised the previous two albums and the glorious harmonies that were on them are missing from Stagefright there is a lot of musical invention that fills in the spaces .To me there is a lot here. Danko playing fretless bass and fiddle, the inclusion of Robertson's guitar solos and experimenting on auto-harp, Hudson' s swirling accordion, sax and organ and the electrifying and heartbreaking vocals from Danko on the title track and Manuel's "Shape I'm In".Although I wouldn't part with the earlier Band albums I think that anyone who has avoided Stagefright as the weak third album should give this remaster a try as there is a lot good music on it.

Apart from a handful of tracks - 'stage fright' 'time to kill' 'all la glory' 'Daniel and the sacred harp' this is a real drop down from the classics 'big pink' and 'the band' which are 5 star albums.It's hard to pinpoint what's wrong, but Robbie Robertson's book points out that he was starting to become concerned about members drug and alcohol use. You just feel the band of 2 years previous would have knocked songs like 'sleeping' and 'ws Walcott' out the park, here they just sound ok.

I know that the overwhelming consensus of opinion says 'Big Pink' and 'The Band' are The Band's best two studio albums, but 'Stage Fright' is my favourite. For me, it's a warmer album with a greater r&b element and the players sound as if they're enjoying what they're doing. I am not bowled over by 'Big Pink', an arid, lumbering album that owes much of its reputation to the Dylan connection ( Basement Tapes  is a great album though). 'The Band' is a classic and features some stand-out songs, whereas 'Stage Fright' is all of one quality, but it isn't as carefree. 'Time To Kill' and 'The Shape I'm In' float in a way nothing on those earlier albums does. 'Just Another Whistle Stop', the title track and 'The Rumor' all have arresting, dramatic qualities. Each track is distinct and strong. If anything, this is also a more accessible album and well worth a listen. Basement Tapes

This album was wasted on me twenty years ago! Fave tracks are 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 & 10. Track 10 is an utter masterpiece of understatement - after twenty or more listenings, it dawned on me. Thanks to Barney Hoskyns for pointing it out in his book about the band.

Stunning album by one of the greatest bands of all time. Recorded on 4 track, it sounds better than everything that's been recorded in the last 20 years. Jaw dropping playing from some of the greatest musicians who ever lived. A must have for every music lover.