The Band are to release a new four-CD and DVD collection, titled Live At The Academy Of Music 1971, on October 7 through Universal Music Catalogue. The set consists of four concerts The Band played at New York City’s Academy Of Music in the final weeks of 1971, and feature a surprise guest appear...
The Band are to release a new four-CD and DVD collection, titled Live At The Academy Of Music 1971, on October 7 through Universal Music Catalogue.
The set consists of four concerts The Band played at New York City’s Academy Of Music in the final weeks of 1971, and feature a surprise guest appearance from Bob Dylan at the New Year’s Eve show.
Select highlights from the concerts were previously compiled for The Band’s 1972 double LP, Rock Of Ages.
The new collection features new stereo and 5.1 Surround mixes, including 19 previously unreleased performances and newly discovered footage of two songs filmed by Howard Alk and Murray Lerner.
Discs 1 and 2 feature performances of every song played over the course of the four concerts, while discs 3 and 4 feature the soundboard mix for the entire New Year’s Eve show. Disc 5 consists of a DVD of the tracks from discs 1 and 2 in 5.1 Surround, plus Alk and Lerner’s filmed performances of “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” and “The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show”.
The set will be released in a deluxe, 48-page hardbound book with previously unseen photos, a reproduction of Rolling Stone’s original Rock Of Ages review, an essay by Robbie Robertson, and appreciations of The Band and the set’s recordings by Jim James and Mumford & Sons.
The first two discs will also be released as a 2CD set.
Says Robertson, “We were in a huddle of playing music, enjoying what we were doing, and I had a feeling, ‘We should capture this.’ To end 1971 with these shows felt, for all of us, like the right thing to do. This is a fulfillment of that extraordinary musical experience that I feel great about sharing.”
Of the set’s complete New Year’s Eve recording, Robertson says, “This is like being there. It was the final night; there was a thrill in the air. We were excited about New Year’s Eve, and then Dylan joined us for the encore. When he came out, we thought we could wing it, and wing it we did. We thought, ‘We’re not gonna fall off this wire.’ That whole night had a bit of magic to it.”
The tracklisting is:
Disc: 1
The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show (Friday, December 31)
The Shape I’m In (Friday, December 31)
Caledonia Mission (Thursday, December 30)
Don’t Do It (Wednesday, December 29)
Stage Fright (Friday, December 31)
I Shall Be Released (Thursday, December 30)
Up On Cripple Creek (Thursday, December 30)
This Wheel’s On Fire (Wednesday, December 29)
Strawberry Wine (Tuesday, December 28) [previously unreleased]
King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (Friday, December 31)
Time To Kill (Tuesday, December 28)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Wednesday, December 29)
Across The Great Divide (Thursday, December 30)
Disc: 2
Life Is A Carnival (Thursday, December 30)
Get Up Jake (Thursday, December 30)
Rag Mama Rag (Friday, December 31)
Unfaithful Servant (Friday, December 31)
The Weight (Thursday, December 30)
Rockin’ Chair (Wednesday, December 29)
Smoke Signal (Tuesday, December 28)
The Rumor (Thursday, December 30)
The Genetic Method (Friday, December 31)
Chest Fever (Tuesday, December 28)
(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes (Wednesday, December 29)
Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever (Wednesday, December 29)
Down In The Flood (The Band with Bob Dylan) (Friday, December 31)
When I Paint My Masterpiece (The Band with Bob Dylan) (Friday, December 31)
Don’t Ya Tell Henry (The Band with Bob Dylan) (Friday, December 31)
Like A Rolling Stone (The Band with Bob Dylan) (Friday, December 31)
Disc: 3
New Year’s Eve At The Academy Of Music 1971 (The Soundboard Mix)
Up On Cripple Creek [previously unreleased]
The Shape I’m In
The Rumor [previously unreleased]
Time To Kill [previously unreleased]
Rockin’ Chair [previously unreleased]
This Wheel’s On Fire [previously unreleased]
Get Up Jake [previously unreleased]
Smoke Signal [previously unreleased]
I Shall Be Released [previously unreleased]
The Weight [previously unreleased]
Stage Fright
Disc: 4
New Year’s Eve At The Academy Of Music 1971 (The Soundboard Mix)
Life Is A Carnival [previously unreleased]
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
Caledonia Mission [previously unreleased]
The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [previously unreleased]
Across The Great Divide [previously unreleased]
Unfaithful Servant
Don’t Do It [previously unreleased]
The Genetic Method
Chest Fever [previously unreleased]
Rag Mama Rag
(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes [previously unreleased]
Down In The Flood (with Bob Dylan)
When I Paint My Masterpiece (with Bob Dylan)
Don’t Ya Tell Henry (with Bob Dylan)
Like A Rolling Stone (with Bob Dylan)
Disc 5 [DVD]
Live At The Academy Of Music 1971 in 5.1 Surround Sound
The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
The Shape I’m In
Caledonia Mission
Don’t Do It
Stage Fright
I Shall Be Released
Up On Cripple Creek
The Wheel’s On Fire
Strawberry Wine [previously unreleased]
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
Time To Kill
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Across The Great Divide
Life Is A Carnival
Get Up Jake
Rag Mama Rag
Unfaithful Servant
The Weight
Rockin’ Chair
Smoke Signal
The Rumor
The Genetic Method
Chest Fever
(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes
Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
Archival Film Clips – December 30, 1971
King Harvest (Has Surely Come) [previously unreleased]
The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show [previously unreleased]
