Never Say Goodbye

In 1974, The Band was adjusting to a brand new life. They were far away from the small, peaceful town of Woodstock, New York, and their small Bearsville Studios. This was the big time with larger studios, more intimidating businessmen, and many more demands in the big beach area of Malibu, California. A familiar face though was Bob Dylan, who had moved to Malibu in 1973 and inspired the rest of The Band to follow suit. Dylan had not released an album of original and new material since 1970 and was essentially on another hiatus.

Similarly, for The Band, they were still on their hiatus and had not released original songs since Cahoots. Still held to their record contract, they had to come up with something for 1974. With Dylan and The Band being neighbors again, this gave him inspiration for Dylan's upcoming album. Bob Dylan and The Band had become a fan-favorite partnership, and after several years it seemed right to revisit this collaboration. David Geffen, who had convinced Dylan to be signed on to his Asylum Records, wanted a world tour that would hopefully bring Bob back on top. After getting Robbie Robertson into this discussion, it was agreed upon that The Band would join Bob as a backing band for the upcoming album, Planet Waves, and would be part of the world tour immediately after.  

After having a get-together at Robbie Robertson's home to jam and make sure the magic was still there, they were ready to get to work. The recording process started on November 2, 1973, and was swiftly recorded in just two weeks. Keeping true to the days when they were still "Bob Dylan's backing band", none of The Band's vocalists sing on Planet Waves. This album is full of fast and slow-paced songs, which makes it a little difficult at times to actually decipher which Band members are playing on the tracks. There are a couple of tracks where not all of them did play on, such as only Robbie and Bob on "Dirge", and just Bob on "Wedding Song".  An example of personnel confusion is "Going, Going, Gone". Rick Danko probably receives the most confusion for what he did play on, due to the album personnel on various websites listing him as either just bass or violin and vocals as well. "Going, Going, Gone" does have on the bridge what sounds like backing vocals, but on only one website have I been able to see a claim where it is Danko providing the backing vocals. To me, it does sound like it could be Danko, but if so, why was he not credited for more than just bass officially for this track? Overall, his performance is brilliant on the entire album. His bass melts perfectly into each song he is on and is punchy yet smooth as only Rick Danko can do. My personal opinion is that Danko's best bass performance on this album is "On a Night Like This". As soon as the beat kicks in, he jumps in with the bass, not missing a bouncy beat from beginning to end. 

Planet Waves was released on January 17, 1974, just two weeks after Bob Dylan and The Band's world tour started on January 3. It was intended to be this way so that there wasn't any waiting for Bob and The Band to start their career revival. This tour would be groundbreaking, with 40 concerts in just 30 dates, and all in indoor arenas. On average, each show was around 2 1/2 hours; with each act having a solo set and then a performance together. Everyone in The Band started the tour feeling tense and nervous. It had been several years since they had gone on such an intensive tour, and many of them were in the midst of their own personal struggles. Could they pull this off? The stakes were already high considering the amount of record-breaking hype the tour had produced from Bill Graham and the fans as soon as tickets went on sale. $92 million worth of tickets had been ordered via mail order and one post office had fans stretched for five blocks come midnight of the first sales date. Some fans were so desperate that they even listed ads in newspapers that were willing to go to sexual extremes in return for tickets. 

While the tour strongly promoted Planet Waves with the songs performed, it was also a chance for The Band to revisit their classic songs for the fans, young and older. Some of the songs that Bob Dylan and The Band performed together were familiar ones from their very first tour. The energy was high and loud, much like in 1965-66. The setlist throughout the tour was mostly the same, but different arrangements of the songs were utilized so to keep it interesting for the performers as well as the audience. Throughout the tour, the common consensus by reviewers was that the energy was unmatched by anything that The Band or Bob Dylan had done before. This was a true rock and roll tour; far from the "down home roots" sound that The Band had become known for on Music From Big Pink or their self-titled. These reports and expectations kept both Bob and The Band driven to keep the energy high and loud, even though it came at a price vocally. 

Towards the end of what became known as "Tour '74" in mid-February, reporters started commenting on the state of Rick Danko's and Richard Manuel's voices. A Rolling Stone magazine article from March 1974 stated that by their last show (February 14, 1974), "It was evident that the Band's Danko and Richard Manuel had lost their singing voices.". These final shows of the tour are captured on what would become The Band's second live album, and their official album of 1974, Before the Flood. This 4-sided album includes performances from mostly February 13 and the afternoon and evening shows on the 14th. From this album, Rick Danko has three songs that he sings lead vocals on: his classic "Stage Fright", "When You Awake", and "Endless Highway", which would be the first time it had seen an official release. While "Endless Highway" has strong and passionate vocals that make it a brilliant cut, it is noticeable on the other tracks that Danko's voice was giving out from the grueling tour. "Stage Fright" musically has an incredible arrangement that makes it a solid live piece, but Rick's vocals crack often and sound strained throughout. Similarly, "When You Awake", has a fast-paced, louder, rock arrangement that to be honest is not my favorite sound for this song, but it sounds at times like Rick is having a little difficulty keeping up vocally with the style. 

Regardless of his voice becoming overused, Rick Danko perhaps never looked or sounded more like a rock star than he did on this tour. The most popular outfit that he wore was his J.C. Penney-bought plaid blazer that became a staple piece during the tour, with velvet on the outer lining that he added himself, and denim flares with studs going up the sides. Danko, always well-dressed, was never the type to typically be an eccentric dresser. For him to purposefully choose embellishments for his stage outfits is the epitome of what 1970s rockstar fashion is about. 

Another typical rockstar moment is the story of Rick Danko's broken wrist during Tour '74. The story goes surrounding this accident is that Leslie West from the group Mountain fell on Danko in a hotel room (probably during a party) and broke his wrist. Similarly, a window was slammed down on Rick's hand, although I have not been able to find out if that was the same hand. Quite a while went by before he was actually aware of his wrist being broken due to the typical party lifestyle going on during the tour. By the summer of 1974, however, we do see Rick's right wrist bandaged up in a cast. In spite of the broken wrist, he did not let that slow him down at all. In concerts such as the Wembley show that September, Rick is effortlessly gliding up and down the neck of his Ampeg fretless, his fingers moving as fast as they did pre-accident. If it weren't for the cast, one would not know that he was impaired at all. However, while the speed of his playing may not have been affected, his technique was changed for the rest of his life. Prior to breaking his wrist, Danko was never really seen playing with a pick. The fact that he spent months not being aware of his break prevented his wrist from healing properly, which meant that he had to use a pick to be able to still play bass and guitar. Some technically proficient players will look down on Danko switching to a pick, but he still seemed to play the songs just as quickly and brilliantly as ever. 

After Tour '74, The Band exhaustedly returned to their homes and spent the rest of 1974 not spending a lot of time together except to do the occasional shows. For Rick Danko, it appears that he did not spend a lot of time doing music outside of The Band. In the prior years, he performed on other people's albums around 2-3 times. The only guest appearance I could find was Neil Young's album On the Beach. For the track "Revolution Blues", Rick played bass and Levon was on drums. This haunting, dark track, sung from the perspective of Charles Manson, is not quite a track that you would expect an appearance from The Band on. This unsettling track can't help but engulf you with Levon's hard-hitting beats and the funky yet frantic playing from Danko and David Crosby. One thing I do incredibly admire about the musical arrangement of "Revolution Blues" is that you can hear until the very end of the fade-out Danko's deep-grooved bass, proving once again his skill of paying attention to detail and filling space where it is important. 

For The Band, 1974 proved to give them a resurgence in their career. After several years of writer's block, creativity disagreements, addictions, and other personal issues, it seemed like they were ready to get back on top. After all, they were responsible for putting out two albums and completing a world tour all in half a year. To make it complete, they had a new studio up and running in Malibu in the hills above Zuma Beach. Rick, Garth, and Robbie lived near this ranch house and had the upstairs master bedroom renovated into the group's new studio. They kept the name that it already had, Shangri-La for they felt that it was appropriate for the sunny, warm paradise that they were living in Malibu versus the cold, dark winters back in the mountains of New York. As time would quickly prove, however, the times of paradise and darkness would ultimately be reversed. Sunny California would quickly bring downfall and division, just a few short years after the peace and camaraderie in the days of Woodstock. The Band would be nearing their "Last Waltz".