catalog# UDSACD 2048
Artist: The Band
Title: Stage Fright
Format: Hybrid Stereo SACD
DiscSet: 1
Genre: Rock
Condition: New
Label: Mobile Fidelity
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The Band::Stage Fright
Play_List
Record Shivers With Raw Emotions, Dark Confessionals, and Intense Singing A sharp stylistic and thematic detour away from its first two albums, the Bands Stage Fright is a compelling snapshot of a group coping with massive success and internal changes. Recorded in 1970 at the Woodstock Playhouse, the set shivers with raw emotions, dark confessionals, and intense singing. Largely devoid of the quintets trademark all-for-one harmony vocals, Stage Fright is an utterly distinctive piece of the Bands catalogand a historic landmark thats a necessary part of any music collection. Such splintered camaraderie and personal demons appear in now-famous songs such as the title track, The Shape Im In, and The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show.The music is rife with palpable tension, and as a credit to the Bands unique sound, absolutely singular. Its impossible to think of any other group playing these tunes. Robertsons balladic ode to his daughter, All La Glory, featuring a gorgeous vocal turn from Levon Helm, provides a sunny contrast to the darker compositions. Circumstances behind the recording sessions also reflected the mood. While the Band had intended to capture the album in one take in front of a small crowd at the theater, the town residents vetoed the idea due to concerns over being inundated by too many visitors. Consequently, the Band played to an audience of no one, sometimes with the curtains closed and other times, with them open. Todd Rundgren, who engineered the album, couldnt even see what was going on he was sitting in a canvas prop tent that became the control room, behind the theater.
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