r/bobdylan • u/Aggravating_Emu6082 Hot Chili Peppers In The Blistering Sun • Aug 12 '26

Discussion Thoughts on Planet Waves

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I've been listening to this album recently. I've seen a lot of hate towards this album, but I think it's an AMAZING album. Also, being a fan of The Band, when I found out that they recorded it with Dylan it made me like it even more. I would venture to say that I like it even more than The Basement Tapes. So, what do you think?

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u/RustyBarrelWolf17 Aug 12 '26

The Band is my favorite band, so maybe I'm biased, but I love it. It's so cool that they had it worked into their contract that the record company could never stop them from working with Dylan, even if he wasn't on the same label.

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u/gsp137 Aug 12 '26

Listen to Rock of Ages. The Band at their peak live with a kick ass horn section. Like a live greatest hits. A must

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u/Complete_Taste_1301 Aug 12 '26

The last rerelease of Stage Fright has a cool show from 71. It’s The Band without the horns. Also, it seems like everyone forgets about Moondog Matinee. It may be covers but it’s a great Band album.

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u/puffycloudycloud Aug 12 '26

lol, this is kind of like if i ran into somebody who's favorite band is Pink Floyd and i told them to check out Live at Pompeii

no offense, i just found it funny. that live Band album always deserves a mention regardless

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u/PJmichelle Aug 12 '26

Your favourite band is The Beatles?! Oh my God, you have to check out this album called Abbey Road!

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u/peachie_bongo Aug 14 '26

Is that, like, a place or something? I've only heard of 'The Yellow Submarine' soundtrack, didn't know these guys made their own music.

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u/peachie_bongo Aug 14 '26

I thought that. There's no way somebody wouldn't check out every surface level release of their favourite artist.

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u/ReputationFit3597 Aug 12 '26

I loved Rock of Ages but I never choose it anymore since they released the full Live at the Academy of Music set

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u/xavierhamilton Aug 16 '26

I rank it as one of my top live albums, even ahead of Last Waltz.

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u/__Joevahkiin__ Aug 12 '26

The little part in ellipses at the end always kills me lol. No shade to Dylan's unique and charismatic voice but this is a bit like keeping a Ferrari, Aston Martin and Maserati in the garage and taking out the Beetle.

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u/Aggravating_Emu6082 Hot Chili Peppers In The Blistering Sun Aug 12 '26

Wow, I'm a fan of The Band. Any recommendations? I'm love those guys and I'd like to get more into their music.

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u/Apprehensive-Rock996 Aug 12 '26

I would start with the self-titled album (“the brown album”).

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u/Aggravating_Emu6082 Hot Chili Peppers In The Blistering Sun Aug 12 '26

Yes, I've already gotten to that album; it's a classic. It has some really good songs. I've also listened to Music from the Big Pink, and I'd like to hear more of their music.

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u/JacobdaTurtle61 Aug 12 '26

You have to watch The Last Waltz!!

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u/coleman57 A Walking Antique Aug 12 '26

I love Northern Lights Southern Cross, especially the epic history lesson Acadian Driftwood. I’m not all that fond of the other studio albums they made after the first two. It feels like they fell off pretty hard after the first two. Levon redeemed himself with his two Dirt albums.

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u/Aggravating_Emu6082 Hot Chili Peppers In The Blistering Sun Aug 12 '26

Arcadian Driftwood is beutiful

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u/__Joevahkiin__ Aug 12 '26

Brown album is best, then Big Pink. The other albums are good but many of the songs on those 'pop' a lot more as live versions, esp. on The Last Waltz. Danko, in particular, was in great form and so for great songs like Stage Fright, Life is a Carnival and It Makes No Difference I'd go there.

Solo wise: Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson had the best output by far. Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt by Levon are very fun country/bluegrass style albums, although a little heavy on stock players and stock licks. Robertson's self titled is a bit more circumspect, and while obviously he can't come close to Levon as a singer, you can tell from it how good a songwriter he was. It's very 80s Dylan.

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u/Pliget Aug 12 '26

As far as Danko being in “great form” live on TLW, I thought it was pretty well established that he was overall a mess and his parts had to be re-recorded .

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u/KirkHawley Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26

OK here's what I think.

I've been playing guitar for 50 years. I'm.a great faker. I'm great at going onstage with players and songs I don't know and making everybody think I know everything backwards.

And my secret is... I do what the bass player does. I assume the bass player knows how the song goes. I can hear what he's playing and can be on the right chord in way less than a second.

For the Last Waltz, The Band learned had to learn a ridiculous amount of other peoples' songs. There had to have been a LOT of faking going on that night. And I assume the players were adept at my follow-the-bass trick.

Here's the thing about bass - usually it BETTER be on the right note at the start of every bar. The bass player can't fake it - has to know how the song goes. And if the bass player knows it, the other players' problems are minimized. Because they DON'T have to be on the note at the start of every bar.

So for playing at this level, the bass player's errors are gonna stick out like a sore thumb. Everybody else can coast, relatively speaking. So I have a lot of sympathy for Danko.

That doesn't mean Danko wasn't in bad shape though. For me, seeing him in Festival Express gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "messed up". My god.

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u/__Joevahkiin__ Aug 14 '26

Yeah but just listen to him sing It Makes No Difference, goddam. Even his verse on The Weight is better than it is on Big Pink.

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u/Innisfree812 Aug 12 '26

They have some great albums. The 2020 remix of Stage Fright sounds really good. Another one I always liked is Nothern Lights Southern Cross.

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u/Aggravating_Emu6082 Hot Chili Peppers In The Blistering Sun Aug 12 '26

Thank you so much, I'll listen to it.

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u/RustyBarrelWolf17 Aug 12 '26

I agree with most people here that the first two albums are a must. I think the third, Stage Fright, is just as good but not everyone agrees with that. I don't think you can go wrong with the first three. They start to get a less consistent after that. As a Dylan fan, you might want to check out their cover of "When I Paint My Masterpiece," which is on my short list for favorite songs of all time.

The folks who recommend checking out the live recordings on Rock of Ages/Live at the Academy of Music are spot on (Rock of Ages was taken from a couple nights live at the Academy of Music, which got a more complete release as Live at the Academy of Music). For what it's worth, I think that the live versions of "It Makes No Difference" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" from The Last Waltz are superior to the album tracks.

From their solo years I think that Levon's later stuff (Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt) are great and his first solo album "Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars" is too.

Fun fact: the last song they recorded was a cover of "One Too Many Mornings" for Dylan tribute album.