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Waiting For The Punchline

carthshaking new soup * no attempt at any.
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ROCK OF ACCS even. It make them easier to live with. features what must be Robbie 's best guitar
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THE BAND ’ more work on the record. "Life Is A Carnival "
CAPITOL There * to it than sublimated really comes off here;it ' s another place where
entropy , though. The Band are probably the the horns work well. Hudson s humorous
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On a great night, the Band grab and biggest group in rock ' n ' roll who ' ve never had organ solo leads into " Chest Fever. " in a
mesmerize, so that neither your eyes nor your a hit single. They' ll stall cast the proverbial version which docs nothing to clarify the
long shadow. of course, but a little AM play
thoughts can be on anything die. It helps that would flesh ( Hit the image nkcly. eternal question : " What ' s it about?" (Chests,
they look hke a society of Viennese doctors, maybe ’ *) Still. " Chest Fever " is the most
of course, but their magic is moftly in the The latest attempt is " Baby Don ' t Do It. " powerful of all Band hard-rock. " Hang Up My
music - what they are playing, and how it b which is right out of the Band ' s Motown Rock ' n ’ Rotl Shoes " is the other * new " song
played. On a great night, the Band ' s heritage (dig the rhythm section). It s not as ( they ve never recorded it before ); it might be
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competition just doesn ' t exist. good as the practice tape bootleg thal s been the Band ' s epitaph in another couple decades .
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But on a good night, which they have floating around for a car or so. but it might The rest is down to moments. Hudson has
sometimes , too. a night when the Band is just be good enough to hit. good ones all over. Richard Manuel has
competent, maybe, or when Robbie is only We ' ve waited long enough. Here 's ( Ireil beautiful piano licks on " The Weight, " Levon
strangling his guitar every thud or fourth Marcus in the May. / 97/ CKFFM on ‘ 'Don ' t bursts out now and again while Rick Danko 's
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song, attention wavers, as it does with Do It : " The Band play the best hard rock in bass is always there, steady as a rock , lie s the
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anyone. Unless you count the few minutes the world when they want to. Now. why paragon of Molown- sessjon man asC anadun-
where the Organ plays its pith Hudson solo, don ' t they release this and pve us a chance to rock- and-roll- hero. Robbie ' s Robbie, primal
there isn ' t any show to lean on. If you sit and believe it. " energy force, quiet, but always forceful.
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wail for the punch line a few tones, and when As everywhere else. "Don ’ t Do It ' s horns Like any snotty punk, my solution to the
it comes, it doesn t overpower you. the edge are a throw-away , they don ' t exactly wiffer ennui of Ages would be to edit it. As one
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of your attention gets dispersed. from lassitude, but from something like record, the album might have the kind of
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Rock of Ages was recorded on a good flabbmesi It s an interesting experiment, but sustaining power and drive the set it was
night, and it is not always engrossing. It is one which never comes off. except on "Life Is recorded from probably possessed. Rock of
good, but spotty, and in one way that is A Carnival. " and occasional flashes here and Ages might then be just that, compelling
there.
enough. You can ' t recover from a disaster Uke
Cahoots with a miracle, after all. Or you can. The high*po«nts have to be sought. Some (the horns).
rather than interesting and a little bit curious
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but most people don t are more obvious than others , but not one b On the other hand, there are advantages to
Betides , after the overreaching of arresting " Get Up Jake" is the only "new " a Band album that is less than crushing, but
Cahoots, the mid- level excitement of Rock of Robertson song , and it has been recorded stdl good. Ivery body has to have some
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Ages rehumaniret the Band. It ’ s not one of before notably b Roger Tillison last year entertainment betwixt the heaviness , and all
the classic live rock records , and there are no on his remarkable Atco album. "Jake " also of this record is entertaining. The Band isn t
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BEFORE
• i