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Rick Danko

#21
Sneckumhaw said:
That is co-written and sung by Richard Manuel, not Danko. One odd thing that tends to happen is that many people wrongly give other singers from The Band (particularly Rick) credit for Richard's vocals, I'm guessing because of how little he was featured in The Last Waltz.
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I was just thinking that! Thanks for the correction, and may Richard Manuel rest in peace.
 
#23
Let us remember Rick Danko as one of those who, via The Band's brilliant Dylanesque County/New Orleans/Gospel/Rock/Blues "fusion," brought Jamerson's, Rainey's and Hood's Soul styles into country and Folk, as did Charlie McCoy and Norbert Putnam before him. :cool:
 
#26
The music world was a much better place with Danko in it. He was a musician first and a bass player second. Wonderful voice and perfect feel for what the Band was doing, IMO.

The comments about all 3 singers for The Band being great is right on target. They (The Band) was the most organic natural sounding rock band I ever heard. There music never seems dated or out of style.
 
#28
MR PC said:
No surprise. That had to happen for a lot of reasons, not only because of the live performances themselves. Yeah, it's pretty tragic to watch that film a realize how many drugs were being used, by almost everyone. Pretty heavy business.

I guess the low point of the whole affair might have been when Martin Scorcesse ( sp.?) tried to block Muddy Waters from taking part in the concert. I don't think that Muddy needed to overdub his part.

Martin and Robbie evidently holed up together for quite some time to piece the whole thing together.
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I didn't ever hear anything about that. :confused:

I always loved The Band. But I mostly appreciated them as songwriters. I never could hear what Rick was playing on bass. If you listen on the radio, songs like The Weight, Cripple Creek, or The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down* still get played, but the bass is just sort of a barely perceivable mush underneath everyone else. I always assume he was an extremely minimalist player until I watched the DVD where The Band, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and some others did a train borne tour across Canada. I watched Rick playing while he sang The Weight and was seriously surprised at how much his hands were moving. I thought "Man. I wish I could hear what he's doing."

That was a sadly typical isse with a LOT of music recorded back then. The only thing I like better about 'modern' songs is that you can at least make out the bass part.

*I can hear the bass line in 'Dixie Down', but only the part done on tuba. Apparently producers just hated bass guitars back then.
 
#29
Bard2dbone said:
I didn't ever hear anything about that. :confused:

I always loved The Band. But I mostly appreciated them as songwriters. I never could hear what Rick was playing on bass. If you listen on the radio, songs like The Weight, Cripple Creek, or The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down* still get played, but the bass is just sort of a barely perceivable mush underneath everyone else. I always assume he was an extremely minimalist player until I watched the DVD where The Band, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and some others did a train borne tour across Canada. I watched Rick playing while he sang The Weight and was seriously surprised at how much his hands were moving. I thought "Man. I wish I could hear what he's doing."

That was a sadly typical isse with a LOT of music recorded back then. The only thing I like better about 'modern' songs is that you can at least make out the bass part.

*I can hear the bass line in 'Dixie Down', but only the part done on tuba. Apparently producers just hated bass guitars back then.
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The Band was a perfect name for them because in fact that's exactly what they were. And that attitude was reflected in the mix of their songs. No part was more important than they other and therefore Danko's bass part - just like Robbie guitar, etc. was there for support. I had no trouble hearing what he was doing.
 
#31
As much as I loved The Band and Danko, it was tough for me to watch his technique. He was IMO the Monk of the bass 'cause when I see those exaggerated left hand movements its a miracle he ever got to the note he wanted. But he always did and more often than not it was the right note.
 
#32
I definitely noticed the exaggerated left hand in the clip I was talking about. But still, I could barely ever hear what he was doing. I could pick out the other parts, but bare;y hear the bass.

I listened to an oldies station for a little while today and have to say. It's not all old music that's mixed like that.

I experience The Band records like I do the Who records. I know whatever is going on in the bass part is probably awesome, If only I could make it out.
 
#33
Bard2dbone said:
I didn't ever hear anything about that. :confused:

I always loved The Band. But I mostly appreciated them as songwriters. I never could hear what Rick was playing on bass. If you listen on the radio, songs like The Weight, Cripple Creek, or The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down* still get played, but the bass is just sort of a barely perceivable mush underneath everyone else. I always assume he was an extremely minimalist player until I watched the DVD where The Band, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and some others did a train borne tour across Canada. I watched Rick playing while he sang The Weight and was seriously surprised at how much his hands were moving. I thought "Man. I wish I could hear what he's doing."

That was a sadly typical isse with a LOT of music recorded back then. The only thing I like better about 'modern' songs is that you can at least make out the bass part.

*I can hear the bass line in 'Dixie Down', but only the part done on tuba. Apparently producers just hated bass guitars back then.
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"Festival Express" is the movie you're talking about. A very entertaining movie with some killer music in it. Somebody was talking about how wasted everybody was in "The Last Waltz". How 'bout that scene in Festival Express where Rick, Joplin, and several others are singing and carrying on in what I guess was one of the bar cars. Talk about wasted...

But yeah, I hate it when the bass isn't featured prominently enough in the mix.
 
#35
Bard2dbone said:
I definitely noticed the exaggerated left hand in the clip I was talking about. But still, I could barely ever hear what he was doing. I could pick out the other parts, but bare;y hear the bass.

I listened to an oldies station for a little while today and have to say. It's not all old music that's mixed like that.

I experience The Band records like I do the Who records. I know whatever is going on in the bass part is probably awesome, If only I could make it out.
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I can't imagine how you could not hear the bass parts on The Who recordings. For the most part Ox's lines were usually quite up in the mix.
 

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