Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 01/30/2007
As a rule,
tribute records are problematic; there are some tunes that shine, others that are interpreted as if the performer has no idea what the original artist was about. Amazingly, that's not so on
Endless Highway: The Music of The Band, despite a wider ranging roster than is usually proffered. This is also a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of
Martin Scorsese's brilliant film
The Last Waltz commemorating
the Band's farewell concerts in San Francisco. The array here is simply dazzling. Recordings artists from across the popular music spectrum participate: there are the
jam bands like
the Allman Brothers,
Widespread Panic and
Blues Traveler; there are indie rockers like
Guster,
My Morning Jacket, and
Death Cab for Cutie; big modern
country names like
Josh Turner and
Lee Ann Womack; modern
adult alternative popsters like
Rosanne Cash,
Bruce Hornsby and
Jack Johnson; unclassifiable rockers like
Gomez; and modern-day folkies like
Jackie Greene and
Steve Reynolds, with
the Roches on the set, too. And while
Bob Dylan isn't here,
Jakob is, in duet with
Liz Wright on a gorgeous reading of
"Whispering Pines." But then, this whole thing works.
Guster's reverent and moving read of
"This Wheel's on Fire," opens the set; it's a beautiful place to start because it's followed in true
Band fashion by
Hornsby's swinging, funky rendition of
"King Harvest," only to be underscored by
My Morning Jacket's
"It Makes No Difference." It's true that nobody could sing this song like
Rick Danko, but it's played with such understated passion and tension that it's as necessary a cover as there ever has been. While everybody refers to
the Staple Singers cover of
"The Weight," Lee Ann Womack brings the song back to its
country roots with a vengeance It's still a back porch
gospel tune, but
Womack underscores the rural grit in the tune.
Wow!
Gomez count
the Band among their many influences and have been playing its songs for over a decade. Their version of
"Up on Cripple Creek" is a testament to this. It's not radically re-interpreted, but as an English band, these cats get the hip and greasy funkiness in the original and bring it out. The live version of
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," sung by
Warren Haynes is slow, ragged, and close to stunning. One would have to say that
the Roches have been destined by God to cover
"Acadian Driftwood." While it is inextricably linked to
the Band's drummer
Levon Helm,
the Roches add a completely different spin on this with their wistful, female take on the dislocation, exile, and regret.
Rosanne Cash's
"Unfaithful Servant" is one of the finest moments here and shows a great empathy for
Robbie Robertson's lyric writing. Yeah,
Josh Turner's deep hillbilly reading of
Bob Dylan's
"When I Paint My Masterpiece," which
the Band incomparably covered, is wonderful and nails the simplicity in
Dylan's narrative as well as having a backing band that idles up to
the Band's instrumental acumen. The set closes with a darkly interpreted version of
"Rockin' Chair" by
Death Cab for Cutie. The sense of loss, reverie, and loneliness underscores
Robertson's intent, and the understated horns evoke the longing for Dixieland emphatically. In fact, there is only one cut here that doesn't work --
Jack Johnson's -- his utter lack of feeling in
"I Shall Be Released" is unforgivable for one of the greatest prison songs ever penned by
Dylanand definitively recorded by
the Band.
Johnson's lack of lyricism and forced innocence do not ring true for the material. Otherwise,
Endless Highway is not only a fitting tribute to
the Band, but a necessary one and a blueprint for how it should be done.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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