Million Dollar Bash

With the success of 1974's comeback albums, The Band enjoyed having more royalty money coming in while simultaneously enjoying their new studio setup. Shangri-La, a ranchette with a once sordid history as a bordello, was now The Band's new recording studio for up to 24 tracks while also being their clubhouse. This included a fully stocked bar and a pool table which became extra inviting for fellow neighboring musician friends to come by and party. While fans enjoyed Planet Waves and the live album Before the Flood, reviews by magazines were generally still positive, but were slowly becoming mediocre and criticizing. An example of this is Tom Nolan from Rolling Stone saying, regarding Before the Flood, that "...Dylan's vocal emphasis and The Band's busy arrangements make for an awkward listen.". Levon Helm wrote in his autobiography that it was "...as if the press were starting to tire of us after years of slavish reporting and reviews.". To make matters worse, tensions between Robbie Robertson and the rest of The Band and Levon with Capitol Records were becoming ever more tense. A new year though meant more albums to fulfill, this year matching 1974 with two new releases, including their first studio album of new material since Cahoots.

Prior to the release of the 1975 album The Basement Tapes, these famous demos had become somewhat of a mythological tale for fans of Bob Dylan and The Band. While it had been known that Music From Big Pink had been recorded in the basement of Big Pink and Bob Dylan's home, word had spread around that there were many more of these songs that had not seen the light of day. The Band and Dylan may have moved past them, but the fans certainly had not. Many songs from The Basement Tapes had been recorded by various artists ("Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn))", "You Ain't Going Nowhere", etc...), but still there wasn't an official release of the tapes. All that came out had been a sneaky, unofficial release in 1969 called Great White Wonder. This 4-disc, 24-track bootleg was leaked due to the advocacy and demands from music journalists such as Rolling Stone magazine's Jann Wenner for Bob Dylan's basement tape cuts to be released officially. Shortly after, two Los Angeles music industry bootleggers started mysteriously sending cheap copies to record stores. While the sound quality was terrible, fans were thrilled. Some of the tracks from Great White Wonder happened to be from the legendary basement tapes. Even though Columbia eventually got wind of the bootlegs making the rounds at the record shops and legally tried to put a stop to it, shops were selling copies quickly and new productions of the bootleg were being made (different album covers, track listings, etc...).

In 1975, a portion of the tapes was given an official release after years of still further pressing for a more complete album of the demos. Bob Dylan later told Rolling Stone, “Columbia wanted to put ’em out, so what can you do?”. To make the music more agreeable to seventies music fans accustomed to more polished recordings, Robbie Robertson and engineer Rob Fraboni tweaked the tapes. The Band overdubbed additional instruments on songs like “Too Much of Nothing.” and they also recorded all-new versions of the songs “Ain’t No More Cane,” “Bessie Smith” and “Don’t Ya Tell Henry.” Fraboni still feels frustrated that nothing in the LP’s packaging indicated those weren’t 1967 recordings. “It’s so obvious we faked them,” he says. “They have a different sound quality to the rest of the album. But it was good intentions. We were thinking, ‘We have to do what we can to make it a little better.’” Helm’s main complaint about the album was that it didn’t count toward the Band’s contract with Capitol, which had put them on suspension for failing to deliver enough albums even though each year saw a release of some kind.

For Rick Danko, The Basement Tapes album presented him in his element as part of Bob's "backing band" as being a strong harmonizer and holding up the rhythm. This album also highlighted a couple of his compositions as well. There is also "Orange Juice Blues" which was a joint arrangement between Danko and Richard Manuel. This track was written by Richard with musical arrangements suspected to have been made by Rick. The original demo was recorded in Woodstock in 1967 and only featured Richard on lead vocal and piano and Rick on bass and remained authentic on the released album. It wasn't until 1975 when The Band was overdubbing that the rest of the group added their instrumentation contributions. "Bessie Smith" is a song that was co-written between Robbie and Rick with the title being a nod to the blues artist.

The only track that has Rick Danko on lead vocal is "Bessie Smith" (albeit shared with Robertson) and singing the third verse and playing mandolin on "Ain't No More Cane". It is evident with Rick's vocals even on backup that he was having a blast as usual on whatever song that he was singing. The humor and laidback quality make you feel like you are sitting in that room watching them record (even if some of the vocals are overdubs on the official album). You can tell that they are finally relaxed, able to enjoy themselves, and basking in making music. Rick would reflect on the Basement Tapes era fondly saying, "We had toured since 1960, almost nonstop. When we met Bob Dylan, all of the sudden time was on our side. We had some time to do the things that make a career.”, and "It all felt natural, we didn't rehearse. One or two takes from conception, on paper, to the finish. We all knew it would never happen twice.". The photography for the album is a fun costumed concept of trying to capture what the original basement tape sessions must have been like.

1975 was right in the middle of a very busy last couple of years for The Band. They were back in full swing after 1974 had catapulted them back into action. Besides completing The Basement Tapes album, another important event that happened in the first half of 1975 was the SNACK benefit concert for the San Francisco schools' sports and cultural programs. Rick, Levon, and Garth (it seems that Robbie and Richard weren't there) participated in this on March 23, 1975, as well as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and many other popular bands. It was organized by Bill Graham and turned out to have an attendance of around 60,000 people, raising $200,000. At that time, it was the largest benefit concert ever held, the biggest array of rock artists gathered together since Woodstock 6 years earlier. The Band did a few of their songs but also joined in on songs with Neil Young and Bob Dylan like "Will the Circle be Unbroken", "I Want You", "Helpless", and "Are You Ready for the Country".

The rest of 1975 would prove to be just as busy with more guest appearances and getting back into the studio to record their first album of original material since Cahoots back in 1971. The spring and summer of that year were spent recording their first album at Shangri-La, which prior to this had been mainly spent helping out other artists with their material. This truly seemed like the time for The Band's comeback and having a chance to be back on top. With their suspension from Capitol Records, it seemed like a new studio album would make all things right, especially with a promise of a following tour shortly after. Not all that glitters is gold though and bringing everyone back into the studio would only prove that further.

Basement Tapes photo session