
The Band was a rock group that first came to our
attention in the late 1960s and became extremely popular among the cognoscenti (a
demographic of whom there were a heck of a lot more members then than now). In
1968, they more or less introduced the world to the musical genre known as
Americana; threw a big party (“The Last Waltz”) on Thanksgiving day 1976 to
announce its/their retirement from touring; and then broke up, as most rock
bands do, in a rather ugly spat between
the two founding and leading members of the ensemble. The Band initially came together in the
early 1960s as The Hawks, Ronnie Hawkins’ backup band, then went on to be Bob
Dylan’s touring band in 1965 and 1966 (and later again in 1974). At Dylan’s
invitation, they famously moved to Woodstock, NY in 1967 and living and working
in a modest pink house there, developed their idiosyncratic style: a mélange of
folk, country, blues, hillbilly, honky-tonk and rock’n’roll music.

Music from Big Pink released in 1968 at the height of
psychedelia’s musical sway, but it was something different altogether. And something great. A year later, the next album, simply titled The Band was
just as good, if not better. Each of
these albums were ranked in the top 50 rock albums of all time by the folks at
Rolling Stone Magazine a few years ago. The Band itself was ranked as
one of the top fifty rock artists of all time.
The demise of great (and not so great) rock outfits due to
personality clashes is such a common occurrence - the most famous instance
being, perhaps, The Beatles’ dissolution in 1970 - that it was the core
subject of one of the best satirical movies of all time: This Is Spinal Tap
(1984). In the case of The Band, the end came due to friction between co-founders
Robbie Robertson, the guitarist and principle songwriter, and Levon Helm, the
drummer/singer.


There are also numerous clips of the group in performance at
various stages of their career, some never seen before; most are relatively
short but there are a couple of terrific extended versions. If you want to see
more of The Band in performance, check out Martin Scorsese’s film of
their final concert, The Last Waltz (1978), to which Once Were
Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band is somewhat of a companion
piece. [The Last Waltz is available free to Amazon Prime subscribers and
to rent from iTunes and elsewhere.]
I quite enjoyed Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson
and The Band. After seeing it, I revisited all of my favorite music from The Band – which was quite a thrill, because it still sounds and
feels fresh. If you are a fan of The Band, of rock and/or
popular music history, of Americana or American music generally, and/or if you
just appreciate an interesting story well told, this may be for you too.
1 hour 42 minutes
Grade: B+
Opens in select theaters nationwide Friday, February 28,
2020
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