When it came time for The Band to follow up on their debut, they decided to forego working in conventional studios and try instead to re-create some of the good-time homemade feeling of the Basement Tapes — what Robbie Robertson calls “the clubhouse concept.” Actually, there was initially a stab at cutting in a New York studio, but Robertson didn't think that environment fit the sort of songs he was writing for the second album.
“Really, this process — the clubhouse concept — started with the Basement Tapes,” says Robertson, recipient of this year's TEC Les Paul Award for his role in this and many other albums with and after The Band, “and it came from having been in regular recording studios and thinking, there are all these people here who are watching the clock. There are guys here that are part of a union and all of a sudden they're telling you, ‘It's time for me to stop,’ or ‘It's time for me to eat.’ And it has nothing to do with what you're doing. It's not coordinated with your rhythms. It's like punching a time clock. It seems like an anti-creative setting almost.
“Making the Basement Tapes was so much more enjoyable than any experience we'd ever had in the studio before, so we thought there must be something to that concept. When you look at it objectively, this [basement in Big Pink] is the worst recording circumstance, scientifically, known to man. We're in a place that has a cement floor, concrete walls and a furnace in the middle of it. This is exactly what you don't do in a recording studio. But there's a whole eye contact thing going on there when you set up close together in this sort of horseshoe with a tape recorder at the end. You get to use the whole silent lingo of playing music — where you look at the guy next to you and you indicate, ‘I'm going to go up here,’ or ‘I'm going to come in here with this vocal,’ or ‘I'm going to that weird chord change now’; all the signals that you use in music. You could really see one another, and there was something about that that was great. It was like some kind of mountain music setup or a living room thing. That's how we were most comfortable.
“So that was the philosophy that sent us in that direction, and that's why we eventually ended up in Sammy Davis Jr.'s pool house to make our second album.”
Not surprisingly, Capitol Records needed some prodding to get behind the clubhouse concept. After all, in 1969, this was truly radical thinking. But Robertson had a powerful ally in co-producer John Simon. “John was really good at supporting this thing,” Robertson says, “because engineers and the people from the record company would always say, ‘Are you sure about this?’ They had their doubts. And we didn't want to waste the money if it wasn't going to work, although we were pretty confident that it was going to work. But John was good at giving them a sense of confidence about it, that there was no question that it was going to work and that it was going to be good.”
It was someone at Capitol Records who found an unoccupied house in the Hollywood Hills owned by Rat Pack hipster Sammy Davis Jr. for The Band. The house itself was big enough to accommodate all of the group members (though Robertson jokes that some of the furnishings were a bit low to the ground; Sammy was one diminutive cat), and the separate pool house seemed like a perfect place to set up a studio.
slice of and from
Richard Manuel: Harmonica, Piano, Drums, Harp, Keyboards, Sax (Baritone), Vocals
Jaime Robbie Robertson: Guitar
Robbie Robertson: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Rick Danko: Bass, Trombone, Violin, Vocals
Levon Helm: Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, Drums, Vocals
Garth Hudson: Organ, Piano, Trumpet, Accordion, Keyboards, Saxophone, Sax (Baritone), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor), Clavinet, Slide Trumpet
John Simon: Tuba, Horn, Keyboards, Piano (Electric)
01 Across the Great Divide - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 2:54
02 Rag Mama Rag - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:04
03 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:33
04 When You Awake - Manuel, Robertson ... - 3:13
05 Up on Cripple Creek - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:34
06 Whispering Pines - Manuel, Robertson ... - 3:58
07 Jemima Surrender - Helm, Robertson ... - 3:31
08 Rockin' Chair - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:43
09 Look out Cleveland - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:09
10 Jawbone - Manuel, Robertson ... - 4:20
11 The Unfaithful Servant - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:17
12 King Harvest (Has Surely Come) - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:39
13 Get Up Jake - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 2:17
14 Rag Mama Rag - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:05
15 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:16
16 Up on Cripple Creek - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:54
17 Whispering Pines - Manuel, Robertson ... - 5:06
...
thanks Mr. Sweet
(highly recommended is the Netflix documentary)
4/11/11
Sammy's Poolhouse / The Brown Album
When it came time for The Band to follow up on their debut, they decided to forego working in conventional studios and try instead to re-create some of the good-time homemade feeling of the Basement Tapes — what Robbie Robertson calls “the clubhouse concept.” Actually, there was initially a stab at cutting in a New York studio, but Robertson didn't think that environment fit the sort of songs he was writing for the second album.
“Really, this process — the clubhouse concept — started with the Basement Tapes,” says Robertson, recipient of this year's TEC Les Paul Award for his role in this and many other albums with and after The Band, “and it came from having been in regular recording studios and thinking, there are all these people here who are watching the clock. There are guys here that are part of a union and all of a sudden they're telling you, ‘It's time for me to stop,’ or ‘It's time for me to eat.’ And it has nothing to do with what you're doing. It's not coordinated with your rhythms. It's like punching a time clock. It seems like an anti-creative setting almost.
“Making the Basement Tapes was so much more enjoyable than any experience we'd ever had in the studio before, so we thought there must be something to that concept. When you look at it objectively, this [basement in Big Pink] is the worst recording circumstance, scientifically, known to man. We're in a place that has a cement floor, concrete walls and a furnace in the middle of it. This is exactly what you don't do in a recording studio. But there's a whole eye contact thing going on there when you set up close together in this sort of horseshoe with a tape recorder at the end. You get to use the whole silent lingo of playing music — where you look at the guy next to you and you indicate, ‘I'm going to go up here,’ or ‘I'm going to come in here with this vocal,’ or ‘I'm going to that weird chord change now’; all the signals that you use in music. You could really see one another, and there was something about that that was great. It was like some kind of mountain music setup or a living room thing. That's how we were most comfortable.
“So that was the philosophy that sent us in that direction, and that's why we eventually ended up in Sammy Davis Jr.'s pool house to make our second album.”
Not surprisingly, Capitol Records needed some prodding to get behind the clubhouse concept. After all, in 1969, this was truly radical thinking. But Robertson had a powerful ally in co-producer John Simon. “John was really good at supporting this thing,” Robertson says, “because engineers and the people from the record company would always say, ‘Are you sure about this?’ They had their doubts. And we didn't want to waste the money if it wasn't going to work, although we were pretty confident that it was going to work. But John was good at giving them a sense of confidence about it, that there was no question that it was going to work and that it was going to be good.”
It was someone at Capitol Records who found an unoccupied house in the Hollywood Hills owned by Rat Pack hipster Sammy Davis Jr. for The Band. The house itself was big enough to accommodate all of the group members (though Robertson jokes that some of the furnishings were a bit low to the ground; Sammy was one diminutive cat), and the separate pool house seemed like a perfect place to set up a studio.
slice of and from
Richard Manuel: Harmonica, Piano, Drums, Harp, Keyboards, Sax (Baritone), Vocals
Jaime Robbie Robertson: Guitar
Robbie Robertson: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Rick Danko: Bass, Trombone, Violin, Vocals
Levon Helm: Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, Drums, Vocals
Garth Hudson: Organ, Piano, Trumpet, Accordion, Keyboards, Saxophone, Sax (Baritone), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor), Clavinet, Slide Trumpet
John Simon: Tuba, Horn, Keyboards, Piano (Electric)
01 Across the Great Divide - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 2:54
02 Rag Mama Rag - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:04
03 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:33
04 When You Awake - Manuel, Robertson ... - 3:13
05 Up on Cripple Creek - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:34
06 Whispering Pines - Manuel, Robertson ... - 3:58
07 Jemima Surrender - Helm, Robertson ... - 3:31
08 Rockin' Chair - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:43
09 Look out Cleveland - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:09
10 Jawbone - Manuel, Robertson ... - 4:20
11 The Unfaithful Servant - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:17
12 King Harvest (Has Surely Come) - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:39
13 Get Up Jake - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 2:17
14 Rag Mama Rag - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 3:05
15 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:16
16 Up on Cripple Creek - Robertson, Robertson J. R. - 4:54
17 Whispering Pines - Manuel, Robertson ... - 5:06
...
thanks Mr. Sweet
(highly recommended is the Netflix documentary)
