When this record came out after the amazing Music from Big Pink and The Band (called the Brown Album), most fans were disappointed. I’ve read that Robbie Robertson said he couldn’t keep turning out songs like The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down; I think he wanted to crank out Surfin’ USA and My Sharona. This album is light-hearted (says me), less polished, without so many vocal harmonies as the first two.
Sleeping contains ‘to be called by noon/is to be called too soon.’ That doesn’t match the simple country boy pose the record adopts. Just Another Whistle Stop starts ‘to all concerned, dead or alive,’ which is just silly. It moves on with ‘to grind the axe until it’s dull/you’ve got to get it through your skull.’ It closes ‘there’s one way home that’s guaranteed’ without being morbid. The Shape I’m In has ‘out of nine lives, I spent seven/now how in the world/do you get to heaven?’ Some funny juxtapositions: ‘Save your neck or save your brother/looks like it’s one or the other’; ‘I just spent 60 days in the jailhouse/for the crime of having no dough, no, no/Now here I am back on the street/for the crime of having nowhere to go.’ Richard Manuel seemed to have fun with the lyrics. There’s nice organ work on The Shape I’m In. Stage Fright has a strong instrumental intro. Daniel and the Sacred Harp combines Robert Johnson, Faust, and an Old Testament feel. This was better than I remembered.
converselyspeaking 