pach1908's Full Review: Music from Big Pink [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster] by T...
Ghosts are coming out of my speakers -- or from somewhere as I listen. One of the ghosts has a crystalline soprano, that must be Richard Manuel and I think he's telling me it's been too long. I'm not sure since what, but hearing his voice again aching out every high note of "I Shall Be Released" is about to bring some tears for them, for every other spirit on this record.
I've always thought of "The Weight" as my song because I'm a nice guy who'll do anyone a favor, but now I realize the song belongs as much to Lonesome Suzie, to the nameless narrator who takes a murder rap to protect "his best friend's wife" ("She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear...but sometimes at night when the cold wind moans, she stands over my grave and wails over my bones...") It belongs to young Emily, abandoned by her friend Luke (humorous family note: my cousin's name is Luke and Emily was our late grandmother...)
While this record has its ghosts, the songs aren't crushed by them. That's why it lives in many souls still 32 years after its release. It's still the lyrically resonant masterpiece -- that strange, terrifying cry "why must I always be a thief?" permeates. The cry is the ultimate blues since we as listeners are provided with absolutely no means of understanding, let alone helping.
The big musical revelation, for me, was the detailing Garth Hudson's organ provided to limn these songs. Anyone who'd ever heard him playing live on Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man" (the Highway 61 version belongs to Al Kooper)as well as his intro to "Chest Fever" knew he had and still has a flair for the dramatic, but check out those figurines on the edges of "Tears of Rage" and "Kingdom Come" Note how none of the musicians (except Garth on Chest Fever) takes anything remotely resembling a solo. Everything here is all about the song, and what wonderful topics.
20 of them to be precise on the new reissue. Fine work was done on the technical aspects -- everything is cleaner, cozier and warmer somehow. Many of the outtakes are straight from the Basement (anyone who wants to know why I capitalized that word -- read "Invisible Republic" by Greil Marcus). Capitol plans to have all 8 Band albums re-issued by Christmas with 7 or 8 outtakes a piece. While I'm sure Capitol is glad for the money, the bonus tracks smack in no way of any kind of cynicism, mainly because this is a history worth exploring fully.
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