Moondog Matinee | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 15, 1973 | |||
Recorded | March–June 1973 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 35:09 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | The Band | |||
The Band chronology | ||||
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Reissue cover | ||||
Australian alternate cover | ||||
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B+ [2] |
DownBeat | [3] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+ [4] |
MusicHound | 5/5 [5] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
Q Magazine | [7] |
Moondog Matinee is the fifth studio album by Canadian/American rock group the Band,released in 1973. It consists entirely of cover material reflecting the group's love of R&B and blues music,with one exception in their interpretation of the theme from the film The Third Man .
In a 2002 interview,Levon Helm described the reasoning for recording an album of covers:"That was all we could do at the time. We couldn't get along—we all knew that fairness was a bunch of shit. We all knew we were getting screwed,so we couldn't sit down and create no more music. 'Up on Cripple Creek' and all that stuff was over—all that collaboration was over,and that type of song was all we could do." [8]
The original idea had been to replicate the group's setlists of the mid-'60s when they had been known as Levon and the Hawks,playing clubs throughout Canada and the US. Of the ten tracks,only one,"Share Your Love (With Me)" had been performed by the group in the mid-'60s. The rest were merely tracks the group admired,two of them,"Holy Cow" and "A Change Is Gonna Come",chronologically coming after the group's club days.
Rhapsody praised the album,calling it one of its favorite cover albums. [9] John Bauldie in Q Magazine called the re-issued album 'funny,affectionate and immaculately polished' in 1991. [7]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
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1. | "Ain't Got No Home" | Clarence "Frogman" Henry | Levon Helm | 3:20 |
2. | "Holy Cow" | Allen Toussaint | Rick Danko, Helm | 3:15 |
3. | "Share Your Love (With Me)" | Deadric Malone, Alfred Braggs | Richard Manuel | 2:50 |
4. | "Mystery Train" | Junior Parker, Sam Phillips, Robbie Robertson (additional lyrics) | Helm | 5:35 |
5. | "Third Man Theme" | Anton Karas | Instrumental | 2:43 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Promised Land" | Chuck Berry | Helm | 3:00 |
2. | "The Great Pretender" | Buck Ram | Manuel | 3:07 |
3. | "I'm Ready" | Fats Domino, Al Lewis, Sylvester Bradford | Helm | 3:22 |
4. | "Saved" | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | Manuel | 3:42 |
5. | "A Change Is Gonna Come" | Sam Cooke | Danko | 4:15 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
11. | "Didn't It Rain" (Outtake) | Traditional, arr. by Roberta Martin | Helm | 3:16 |
12. | "Crying Heart Blues" (Outtake) | Joe Brown | Danko | 3:29 |
13. | "Shakin'" (Outtake) | Unknown | Helm | 3:31 |
14. | "What Am I Living For" (Outtake) | Fred Jay, Art Harris | Helm | 5:04 |
15. | "Going Back to Memphis" (Outtake) | Berry | Helm | 5:02 |
16. | "Endless Highway" (Studio version) | Robertson | Danko | 5:09 |
The Band was a Canadian-American rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1967. It consisted of Canadians Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson, and American Levon Helm. The Band combined elements of Americana, folk, rock, jazz, country, and R&B, influencing musicians such as George Harrison, Elton John, the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton and Wilco.
Music from Big Pink is the debut studio album by the Band. Released in 1968, it employs a distinctive blend of country, rock, folk, classical, R&B, blues, and soul. The music was composed partly in "Big Pink", a house shared by bassist/singer Rick Danko, pianist/singer Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson in West Saugerties, New York. The album itself was recorded in studios in New York and Los Angeles in 1968, and followed the band's backing of Bob Dylan on his 1966 tour and time spent together in upstate New York recording material that was officially released in 1975 as The Basement Tapes, also with Dylan. The cover artwork is a painting by Dylan.
The Band is the second studio album by the Canadian-American rock band the Band, released on September 22, 1969. It is also known as The Brown Album. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes for the 2000 reissue, The Band has been viewed as a concept album, with the songs focusing on people, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana. Thus, the songs on this album draw on historic themes for "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "King Harvest " and "Jawbone".
Styx is the debut album by American rock band Styx. It was released in 1972.
Stage Fright is the third studio album by Canadian–American group the Band, released in 1970. It featured two of the group's best known songs, "The Shape I'm In" and "Stage Fright", both of which showcased inspired lead vocal performances and became staples in the group's live shows.
Cahoots is the fourth studio album by Canadian/American rock group the Band. It was released in 1971 to mixed reviews, and was their last album of original material for four years. The album's front cover was painted by New York artist/illustrator Gilbert Stone, while the back cover features a photograph portrait of the group by Richard Avedon. The album features guest vocals from Van Morrison. Libby Titus, the partner of drummer Levon Helm and mother of their daughter Amy Helm, also contributed uncredited backing vocals to "The River Hymn", the first time a woman appeared on a Band album.
Northern Lights – Southern Cross is the sixth studio album by Canadian-American rock group the Band, released in 1975. It was the first album to be recorded at their new California studio, Shangri-La, and the first album of all new material since 1971's Cahoots. It was recorded using a 24-track tape recorder, which allowed Garth Hudson to include multiple layers of keyboards on several tracks, and it is the only Band album where all songs are credited as compositions of guitarist Robbie Robertson.
Islands is the seventh studio album by the Canadian-American rock group the Band. Released in 1977 to mixed reviews, it is the final studio album from the group's original lineup.
Jericho is the eighth studio album by Canadian-American rock group the Band. Coming seventeen years after their "farewell concert", it was released in 1993 and was the first album to feature the latter-day configuration of the group, as well as their first release for the Rhino subsidiary Pyramid Records.
High on the Hog is the ninth studio album by Canadian-American rock group the Band, released in 1996. As with its predecessor, 1993's Jericho, it relies heavily on cover versions; only two tracks are original. Songs include Bob Dylan's "Forever Young", a live recording of Richard Manuel performing "She Knows", and the closer "Ramble Jungle".
Jubilation is the tenth and final studio album by Canadian/American rock group the Band. Recorded in the spring of 1998 in Levon Helm's home studio in Woodstock, New York, it was released on September 15, 1998. For the first time since the group reformed without guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson, there were more originals than covers. Songs include "Last Train to Memphis", featuring guest guitarist Eric Clapton, Garth Hudson's solo instrumental closer "French Girls", Rick Danko's "High Cotton" and the ode to Ronnie Hawkins, "White Cadillac".
Live at Watkins Glen is a 1995 album by the Band, presented by Capitol Records as a live album from the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen rock festival held outside Watkins Glen, New York, on July 28, 1973, in front of 600,000 people. Garth Hudson's organ solo, "Too Wet to Work", and the plainly titled "Jam" come from the actual Watkins Glen concert, as does the introduction of the group by Bill Graham. The former track appears on the out-of-print 1994 box set Across the Great Divide, but the latter track is only present on the Watkins Glen disc. The remainder of the tracks are two studio outtakes with overdubbed crowd noise, "Back to Memphis" and "Endless Highway", plus five tracks from the Academy of Music shows in December 1971 and "Don't Ya Tell Henry" from the Woodstock festival in 1969. The two studio outtakes are available on the 2001 re-release of Moondog Matinee, without the crowd overdubs. The Academy of Music tracks are available on the 2001 two-CD re-release of Rock of Ages as "previously unavailable" tracks.
Rick Danko is the 1977 eponymous debut by the bassist and singer for the Band. Featuring ten tracks mainly written by Danko, mostly in conjunction with lyricists Bobby Charles and Emmett Grogan, it was the first solo album by any member of the group and was Danko's only solo studio album; the other two albums he released in his lifetime were solo live recordings and collaborative studio albums.
Animal Notes is the second album by American rock band Crack the Sky, released in 1976.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, initially released in February 1972.
Stormbringer! is a 1970 album released by John and Beverley Martyn. It has no connection to Michael Moorcock's 1965 Elric novel of the same name. John Martyn wrote six of the ten songs and Beverley four. The album was recorded under the direction of Paul Harris in Woodstock, New York.
The Neighborhood is the fifth album by the rock band Los Lobos. It was released in 1990 and includes contributions from, among others, Levon Helm and John Hiatt.
American Son is a studio album by American country rock musician Levon Helm, who is most famous for his work as drummer for the rock group the Band. It was released in October 1980 on MCA Records and was Helm's third studio album. It had generally been considered Levon Helm's best solo work until the release of Dirt Farmer in 2007.
Ramble at the Ryman is a 2011 live album recorded by American rock multi-instrumentalist Levon Helm during his September 17, 2008 performance at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. The performance kicked off the beginning of the Americana Music Festival & Conference. The album features six songs by The Band and other cover material, including songs from previous Helm solo releases. Helm's band is led by multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and Helm's daughter, vocalist and mandolinist Amy Helm.
"Daniel and the Sacred Harp" is a song written by Robbie Robertson that was first released by The Band on their 1970 album Stage Fright. It has been covered by such artists as Barrence Whitfield.