Rock of Ages: The Band’s Robbie Robertson on Finding the Balance in Live Mixing and Playing With Bob Dylan

Posted on October 10th, by Mike Mettler in The SoundBard Interview.
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BY MIKE METTLER

“Everybody loved it — except me. I was so not satisfied with it. It was my fault.” That’s Robbie Robertson, telling it like it is back in August about the original mix of The Band’s acclaimed 1972 double live album, Rock of Ages (Capitol). It only took 40-plus years for Robertson to get his wish to remix — and expand — that music to his satisfaction by culling the best performances of The Band’s 4-night stand at New York’s Academy of Music on December 28-31, 1971 for a stellar five-disc box set, Live at the Academy of Music 1971 — The Rock of Ages Concerts (Capitol/UMe). Audiophiles take note: Disc 5, a DVD, is mixed in surround sound by Bob Clearmountain under Robertson’s supervision, and it gives the proper dimensionality to an important live recording that’s simply been, well, inferior for decades.

Photo by John Scheele

Robertson told me he and Clearmountain finally got what he was looking for with the mix they did for “Rockin’ Chair” (Disc 2, Track 6), which was culled from the Wednesday, December 29 set. It all came down to a matter of balance. “Not only balance in terms of accurately hearing how the music was performed,” he explains, “but in getting it to work musically as well. On that song, Richard [Manuel] is singing the lead on the verses, and then he goes up and sings a high harmony on the chorus while Levon [Helm] take over the lead. It was a very delicate balance to get it right so you can hear all of those subtleties that Garth [Hudson] is playing, and the way that the horns and Garth’s organ are weaving together. I can now hear the harmonies nice and clear. And the way that [Helm’s] kick drum and [Rick Danko’s] bass rub together on this track is just perfect.”

Photo by Ernst Hess

The complete New Year’s Eve show appears via a soundboard mix on Discs 3 and 4, the transfer supervised by Robbie’s son, Sebastian Robertson. That night’s special guest was none other than Bob Dylan. If you listen closely, right before “Like a Rolling Stone” (Disc 2, Track 16) starts, Bob asks, “We haven’t played this in, how many years, 6 years?” and then somebody else chimes in jokingly with, “16 years.” I asked Robertson who said that. “I think it was Rick [Danko],” he replied, chuckling at the recollection.

Playing with Dylan has its own unique charm. “We didn’t have time to rehearse with Bob,” admits Robertson, “but we played so much together over the years, I thought, ‘Yeah, we’ll wing it.’ When Bob came out, we didn’t even know what songs we’d do. We were figuring it out on the spot, and I can hear it in the music. But that’s part of the great fun of it all. It’s loose, and spontaneous, and as real as it gets.” And that’s how you repaint a masterpiece.

I also asked Robbie what the first album he bought was and the album he keeps going back to for repeat listening, and you can find his choices over in The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

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Rock of Ages: The Band’s Robbie Robertson on Finding the Balance in Live Mixing and Playing With Bob Dylan

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