A Change is Gonna Come

The early 70s had brought much change and turmoil for The Band. They had some of their highest peaks and some of their deepest lows, both professionally and personally. By the time 1973 came around, it was destined to not be any different. This would be the middle of what became known starting 1972 as The Band's "in-between years". They were in the midst of their recording contract obligations with Capitol but completely drained dry of their creativity. The process of collaboration was tense and not as balanced as it was for their first three albums, and it was starting to show in their album productions. Robbie Robertson had mainly seized control of The Band and was making decisions without the group's input which was causing even greater resentment and tension. The most affected was Levon Helm who already started holding a grudge against Robbie and the outside management, and his bitterness showed with his declining passion. The rest of the group felt in a similar agreement. Without a balanced input from all five members, what was the point of The Band anyway? There was never supposed to be a sense of hierarchy, but it seemed as if Robbie was becoming the leader and decider of their career moves.

With a sixth album to be made, The Band was at a loss. Cahoots from 1971 was their last album of original material, and even that was a struggle to be recorded. Since then, the creative block had grown worse. They couldn't put out another live album; they had just done that with Rock of Ages the prior year. An idea was tossed out to pay homage to their roots. Heroes that they grew up with who influenced them and songs that were prominent for them to play during their club days as The Hawks. This took the pressure off of them to have to write songs. All they had to do was make musical arrangements and try to place their personal issues aside to make greatness. They spent two weeks going through potential material that they would use, contenders including concert staples "Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever" and "Slippin' and Slidin'", although both would not make the final cut. Moondog Matinee would be arranged and recorded in Bearsville Studios, which would turn out to be their last album to be recorded there for 20 years.

While the album has not ever become one of The Band's most popular or memorable, it certainly has some strong and memorable songs. For both Richard and Rick, it especially showed the power and emotion in their voices. Surprisingly, for the standard album cut, only two songs featured Rick on lead vocals but are attributed actually to Richard in Levon Helm's autobiography. Perhaps the most confusing for Band fans though was the debate on who was the lead singer on Allen Toussaint's "Holy Cow". Understandably, the verses do sound like Richard in some spots, but if one listens closely, you can hear Rick's trademark of heavily emphasizing words and quiver. In a December 1998 interview with a fan called Little John Tyler from The Band Guestbook, he actually asked Rick after the show the burning question from many fans. He wrote the following:

As per Peter Viney's suggestion, I had the following bit of conversation with Rick Danko, barely an hour ago, after his show at the Towne Crier, Pawling, NY. It is as close to accurately quoted as I can recall.

Me: Hey Rick, I've got a Moondog Matinee question.
RD:What's that?
Me: Who sang lead vocal on Holy Cow?
RD: That's me!!
Me: Ah, really? Because there are lots of folks who think it was Richard.
RD: Well Richard WAS our lead singer.

As to why Levon attributed "Holy Cow" and "A Change is Gonna Come" to Richard, I am unsure, but there is no mistaking Danko for the latter. His take on this Sam Cooke classic is breathtaking and showcases his incredible vocal range which is sadly often overlooked. From the very first strain of "I was born by the river..." it grabs hold of you and makes you want to listen to the story. Commonly, the falsetto in The Band was given to Richard Manuel, so to hear Rick prove himself just as gifted in that range must be why people confusingly attributed Richard as the lead singer for that track.

Sadly, two Rick Danko tracks that were recorded during the making of Moondog Matinee but did not make it on the final cut were "Cryin' Heart Blues" and the studio version of "Endless Highway". Previously, it had been recorded as a demo in Bearsville by Richard Manuel in 1971 for Cahoots. Ultimately, it was decided somewhere along the way that Rick should be the lead singer for the track and he sang the "studio version". Much like the Cahoots demo though, it was never released as a studio track. "Endless Highway" became a concert staple by Rick in the mid-'70s, but the studio cut would not be released until 2001 as a bonus track. "Cryin' Heart Blues" would also be one of the bonus tracks. "Cryin' Heart Blues" is a perfect example of the heart-wrenching emotion that Rick so effortlessly put into his voice. His voice sounds like he is crying while he is singing it and even though it is a cover, it sounds like it was made for his voice. It is surprising how it tends to be overlooked, but being a later issued bonus track, I feel it is just not as well-known amongst casual Band fans.

From March-June 1973, The Band recorded Moondog Matinee. When it was released that October, it failed to do very much on the charts. The most it hit in the United States was #28 with the single "Ain't Got a Home" staying at #73, and the album did not even chart in the U.K. Between the failure of the album compared to their previous releases and The Band still being in their hiatus, they did not tour for their new album. The big concert that brought them out of semi-retirement was for the now-famous Watkins Glen Festival on July 28, 1973. At this point, it had been over a year since The Band had played together, but they were promised a big paycheck for what was supposed to have been a fairly small festival. All they had to do was show up, play for three hours, and then jam with The Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers, who had actually chosen The Band as the group they most wanted to join at the festival.

Much to their surprise, however, six times the estimated original size of the audience showed up. It is believed that Wakins Glen had an attendance of 600,000, making it the largest turnout for a single show in music history. While there were several initial hiccups to the festival including sanitation issues, protests from the authorities, and a torrential rainstorm that started happening which forced The Band to temporarily halt the show in case of electrical shock, eventually the show was able to go on brilliantly (albeit a shorter set than was initially planned). Watkins Glen was the first time "Endless Highway" was played, and other new songs like "Holy Cow", "Saved", and "Share Your Love With Me" were included. The practice session also featured Rick Danko singing "Raining in My Heart", which would be a melancholy song that he would keep around in his later solo career. One source remembers this particular performance by Danko as "... a bit jagged but oh so charming".

The rest of 1973 was fairly quiet musically. Rick helped out as a guest musician on two albums, the first being electronic and prog rock artist Jean-Yves Labat album M. Frog. This quirky album features Rick Danko on upright bass and Garth Hudson on his famous Lowrey organ. The history behind this album is told that Labat was working as a dishwasher in a Woodstock restaurant owned by Albert Grossman. After Danko met Labat, he offered to pass on whatever material Labat had over to Grossman. Danko gave a tape over to the Bearsville Studio office where the rest is history.

The second album that he contributed to was the fiddle for Ringo's 1973 self-titled album. The track "Sunshine Life for Me" featured all of The Band members except for Richard. This high-spirited and lively track has been described by biographer Simon Leng as "...musically an homage to the spirit of The Band's 'Rag Mama Rag'". This is quite appropriate considering George Harrison, who wrote and composed this song, was an avid fan of The Band and was inspired by them. It worked out for The Band to lend their parts in recording the song while they were in the process of recording Moondog Matinee. This would be the first time that Ringo collaborated with The Band, but would certainly not be the last.

Finally, Rick started getting involved more with environmental causes. In July 1973, he would join singer-songwriter, Fred Neil, for the second time at the benefit concert for The Dolphin Project in Coconut Grove, Florida. Rick started getting involved with The Dolphin Project in 1972 and would call this his "...first payback to society in life...".

As 1973 started nearing to a close, Bob Dylan accepted a new record deal with David Geffen and ended up moving to L.A. from Woodstock. The Band was the next to be approached by Geffen with the offer of switching to his Asylum label and doing an album and tour with Bob Dylan. Robbie went off with Geffen and quickly moved his family to California. The Band was feeling restless, wanting a change, and fearing for the survival of the group with the downward spiral they had been on. Most of The Band quickly packed up and followed Robbie out to Malibu in October 1973. Rick was more on the fence about the idea, with his initial plan to be a short-term stay. He stated, "My original idea was to move to California for about three months. Instead we came out and stayed eight years!". Even though Grace Seldner and Rick were officially separated, they mutually decided to move to Malibu together for the sake of keeping Lisa and Eli as a family.

So came an end of an era for The Band for a long time. From Woodstock came Malibu, from Bearsville Studios came their new makeshift studio, Shangri-La, and from their personal manager Albert Grossman came a whole new world of big-wigs, bean counters, corporate managers, and much more deceit. This exciting change for The Band going out to California would seem promising but would pull their already tense relationship further apart. The naivety of handling contracts and financial issues would get the better of them, and further acceleration of personal addictions and excessive partying would drive their career closer to an end. Rick Danko would look back on this new move as "a long, silly vacation". One promise that did come true was that 1974 would reawaken The Band for a little while longer. With a brand new album and a huge world tour coming up, 1974 was forcing them out of retirement and back to business.