BEFORE: Once again, I feel I have to delay "The Last Waltz" one more day, because I've stumbled on to ANOTHER documentary about The Band, this one's on Hulu (and I think on Amazon Prime for like 99 cents) and I think this will help fill in some of that big gap between the recording of the "Basement Tapes" in 1967 and "The Last Waltz" concert in 1976. The last doc ended with clips from "The Last Waltz", so I would have been justified in going straight there, but there were some hints and allegations in the last film about trouble and strife in The Band, so I want to get to the bottom of that before I proceed.
But as I stated yesterday, I'm afraid of running out of slots at the end of the year. I had 10 or so slots, but I've added two unexpected documentaries this week, so now I think I'm leaving myself only 8 steps at the end of 2020 to get to a Christmas movie somehow. I can probably do it, but maybe I should save 10 slots just to be on the safe side - or else by adding in two films this week I'm saying that I'll have to skip on seeing "The New Mutants", even if it gets released in theaters in time. Excising that little section of the horror chain could get me back three slots - and the worst thing would be if I run out of slots before I run out of year. Either way, I'll have to do another count once the Summer Concert Documentary series is over.
My muse this week is really Martin Scorsese, who directed "No Direction Home" and also "The Last Waltz" back in the day, and he's listed as executive Producer on this one. I'm following your interest in rock music, Marty, so don't let me down. If you're good I'll also consider adding "Shine a Light", that Rolling Stones concert film you directed.
Robbie Robertson carries over from "Down in the Flood: Bob Dylan, the Band and the Basement Tapes", but a lot of other people do, too.
THE PLOT: A confessional, cautionary and occasionally humorous tale of Robbie Robertson's young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music: The Band.
AFTER: Well, they do say that history is written by the winners - or the band members who live the longest, I guess. Richard Manuel died in 1986 while on tour with a revived partial line-up of The Band, and Rick Danko passed away in 1999, while Levon Helm stuck around until 2012. That just leaves Garth Hudson, aka "the shy one", so really just Robbie Robertson is the one crafting the tale these days, and I've seen some opinions and reviews of this film that lead me to believe there's a fair amount of revisionist history here.
But first I had to sit through another re-telling of the band's history, forming in Toronto as the Hawks, backing up Ronnie Hawkins who'd moved up from Arkansas with Levon Helm in tow. After about a half-hour this film got to the Basement Tapes, where I was yesterday, and then thankfully proceeded forward from there. The renting of the Big Pink house in Saugerties, Levon Helm coming back from his time working on an oil rig, and the release of The Band's first album, "Music from Big Pink". First they outgrew Ronnie Hawkins, then they outgrew Bob Dylan, even though they eventually went back out on tour with Dylan in 1974, which I now know was David Geffen's idea. Geffen had always wanted to sign Bob Dylan, and he got there by going through Robertson.
The problem with listening to Robbie Robertson, I think, is that his voice comes off as very condescending, a bit like a certain President's does. As a storyteller, well, he makes a great guitarist, and the condescension can easily be mistaken for insincerity. The blandness of his storytelling doesn't help either, because a typical Robertson story will go something like, "We were looking to play more gigs, and one day Bob Dylan told us he was looking for a backing band, so we discussed it and said YES!" Wow, fascinating stuff, Robbie. Now tell us the one about that time that the band was really thirsty, and then drank a bunch of water, and that took care of it. Such a gripping narrative.
Others have taken umbrage with the fact that this film is very apologetic to Robertson, and supports his side of some very complicated issues, and downplays any information that disagrees with his story, or shines a bad light on him in any way. Clearly after 10 years of working together there was some kind of divide between Robertson and Helm, but Robertson here keeps stressing how much he loved him and considered him his brother - OK, so then what was all the fighting about? Brothers can fight, too, that's part of some relationships, so let's get into it. To hear Robertson tell it, the divide between him and the rest of the band arose because he was married with kids, and they weren't. He didn't mess with heroin, and they did. He kept sharp with songwriting and practicing, while the others were driving drunk and getting into car wrecks. It feels like a set of absolutes, and I've learned that things are rarely so black and white. Robertson never partied, never partook, never indulged in excess? I find that a little hard to believe. Possible, I suppose, but doubtful for any rocker during the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Then there's the issue of songwriting credit (and therefore royalties) which was touched upon briefly in "Down in the Flood". There are apparently two schools of thought when it came to the form of collaborative songwriting that The Band engaged in. One school says that whoever first brings a song idea to the group, that person should get songwriting credit, even if a collaborative process changes or tweaks the song from there. The other school says that if the new song gets workshopped by the group, if the drummer says, "Oh, what if I add this rhythm here" and the organist is allowed to have a freeform solo, then all the band members should share songwriting credit. Robertson was a believer in the first system, while Helm believed in the second, and felt he was getting screwed out of royalties. However, the other argument is that there's a difference between composing a song and arranging a song, so if the writer brings a song to the group with, say, a set of chords or rough sheet music, that's songwriting and the rest is arranging or producing. I'll admit this is something of a very gray area, but also, if these men are truly Robertson's "brothers", why wasn't he willing to share credit and royalties with them? Even a small percentage, like 10% each, and he could still retain 60% of the credit and royalties for himself.
This is the sort of thing that can, over time, tear a band apart. Meanwhile the partying lifestyle the other band members enjoyed in wild, freewheeling upstate New York wasn't helping, and Levon Helm not admitting to having a drug problem was apparently another bone of contention. Things got so frustrating for Robertson, he claims that the only way he could see to right the ship and get the band back to where it needed to be was to suggest the idea of the "Last Waltz" concert. But this doesn't really make much sense in retrospect - how can he suggest that the way to save the band, to keep it moving forward, was to schedule their farewell concert? That's a bit like trying to improve the performance of your car by removing the engine. Did Robertson not really understand the implications of a farewell concert? I mean, going out on top, at the peak of a band's popularity, it's a hell of a baller move, but it doesn't really come with a good prognosis for future success.
Robertson now claims at the end of "Once Were Brothers" that the intention of "The Last Waltz" was to have a big, blowout party concert, take some time off to regroup, and then get The Band back together again, though what happened was everyone just kind of forgot to get back together. Right, it just slipped the mind of five guys all at the same time. If you care about the band and you know that some members have problems with addiction, taking time off could really be the worst idea, because then you've altered their routines, and you've removed their incentive to get clean and stay clean, because the addiction is hurting their performance in the band. Send them to rehab, sure, but don't break up the band, because then they'll all have so much more time on their hands to get high. I can't really take Robertson at his word, because he either was very misguided about what was best for The Band, or he's lying about it.
The party line, even among fans and critics, is that "The Last Waltz" is the last performance of The Band, but that's not completely true. It's just the last time that all five members performed together. By 1983 the other four members were playing together without Robbie Robertson. Then even after Richard Manuel died, the other three kept touring, with other musicians filling in for Manuel and Robertson. So I'm eager to watch "The Last Waltz", sure, but it was NOT the end of The Band, they played at Woodstock '94 and released a couple more albums. What's weird is that in "Once Were Brothers", Robertson only mentions Levon Helm's death directly, omitting the prior deaths of the other two band members.
Look, 16 years is a great run for a band - that's eight before they hit big, and another 8 after. Even the Beatles lasted only 8 years after they hit the charts. It's very rare for a band to last longer than this, the only real exceptions are the Rolling Stones and The Who - a few others who still play the State Fair and nostalgia circuits. Technically the Eagles are still playing, but only two or three original members are still alive, and they've rustled up Glenn Frey's son and the Beach Boys have roped in second cousins and children and grandchildren to back them up. Chicago's still going, but they've had a fair amount of turnover, too. That's really about it, most other bands don't make it past a decade before they either fall out of style or become victims of their own success. Queen, Styx, REO Speedwagon are all still touring, but with fewer and fewer original members. So maybe it's better to get off the crazy merry-go-round when you can, but the best advice is to slow the ride down and let it come to a complete stop first.
(EDIT: Today's the anniversary of The Byrds being at number one on the UK singles chart with their cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" in 1965. While this doesn't directly relate to today's film, it feels sort of tangentially related.)
Also starring Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Eric Clapton, John Simon (all also carrying over from "Down in the Flood: Bob Dylan, the Band and the Basement Tapes"), Martin Scorsese (last seen in "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan"), John Hammond (ditto), Bruce Springsteen (last seen in "Quincy"), Peter Gabriel, Rick Dano, David Geffen, Van Morrison, Jann Wenner, Taj Mahal, Jimmy Vivino, John Scheele, Bill Scheele, Dominique Robertson, George Semkiw, Jon Taplin, Larry Campbell, Grant Smith, Elliott Landy,
with archive footage of Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Neil Diamond, Albert Grossman, George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Neil Young (all carrying over from "Down in the Flood: Bob Dylan, the Band and the Basement Tapes"), Chuck Berry (last seen in "Quincy"), Fats Domino, Bill Graham (last seen in "Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story"), Dr. John, Marilyn Monroe (last seen in "Always at the Carlyle"), Muddy Waters (last seen in "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan"), Howlin' Wolf (ditto), Sonny Boy Williamson.
RATING: 5 out of 10 publicity photos
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