The Band release follow-up album to Music From Big Pink - Listen

The Band released their second studio album yesterday. Their self-titled LP is the follow up to their 1968 album Music From Big Pink, recorded in Woodstock, NY.

Recording for their new LP initially took place in New York. However, the majority of The Band was recorded at a rented house in the Hollywood Hills owned by Sammy Davis Jr, and formerly owned by Judy Garland.

Reviewing the album for Pop Scene Service, Mike Jahn said of the LP:

NEW YORK -- The Band, which first became famous backing up Bob Dylan and then as creators of their Music from Big Pink, one of the best albums released last year, now has produced a new record.

The album, simply called The Band, is less complicated than Big Pink. Approaching this album, the question is how can they possibly top Music from Big Pink? Apparently, they have succeeded by not even trying.

This new album is not cataclysmic, poetic and intellectually wiry in the same way Big Pink was. It is just a collection of tunes; melodies and songs to be appreciated leisurely and without intense analysis.

The rock audience has, in the past two or three years, come to expect that every album released is a "produced" album, that is designed to be heard as an entity, not just a collection of songs. Recently, albums have gotten away from this. Dylan himself released an LP that ostensibly was just a collection of songs, Nashville Skyline. No great overlapping of meaning, no plot, and even spaces between the songs on the disc.

The Band is such a record. It is pleasant, relaxed and funky in the group's unique mountain way. It should be viewed, not as an attempt to top Big Pink, but as the latest production by an unusually talented bunch of people.

The Band:

1 Across the Great Divide
2 Rag Mama Rag
3 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
4 When You Awake
5 Up on Cripple Creek
6 Whispering Pines

Side Two
1 Jemima Surrender
2 Rockin' Chair
3 Look Out Cleveland
4 Jawbone
5 The Unfaithful Servant
6 King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Listen to the new album below via Spotify or Apple Music.

In support of their latest album, The Band will be going out on tour over the next few months.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

October 11 - Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn, NY
October 26 - Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA
October 27 - Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
October 31 - Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
November 02 - The Ed Sullivan Show, New York, NY
November 14 - Grande Riviera, Detroit, MI
November 15 - Grande Riviera, Detroit, MI
November 16 - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place Des Arts, Montreal, QC
November 21 - Auditorium, Chicago, IL
December 02 - Brookhaven Gym, Long Island, NY
December 06 - Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
December 14 - Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY
December 26 - Felt Forum, Madison Square Garden, New York
December 27 - Felt Forum, Madison Square Garden, New York
December 29 - Miami Rock Festival, Pembroke Pines, FL