Robbie Robertson, who died on Wednesday at the age of 80, wrote songs that were both deeply and broadly entrenched. He used his guitar in a twangy, sneaky, and rigorously pithy manner, with no wasted motion.
After the Band's final goodbye in 1976, Robertson relied on his own limited voice, often augmented by guest vocalists, and worked with studio groups that hadn't developed the Band's road-tested reflexes. He did, however, continue to write songs rich in American folklore, including his personal celebration of his Native American origins. The Band's humorous camaraderie had been completely supplanted by earnestness, but Robertson's ambitions remained unabated.
Here are 10 of Robertson's best recordings:
Ronnie Hawkins – Who Do You Love? (1963)
One of these records, a rendition of Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love?, displays Robertson as a lithe blues guitarist with a smoldering tone and a talent for molding his livewire riffs around Hawkins' fiery vocals and the rest of the band.
“Like a Rolling Stone” (The Bootleg Series, Bob Dylan Live, 1966)
The song, which was equal parts combative and languid - at points, Dylan and the Hawks seem like they're luxuriating in their defiance - demonstrated the connection that would eventually make the Band famous in their own right.
The Weight (Music from Big Pink, 1968)
The original studio version of Robertson's sly signature song served as a model for most of the Band's best work. The Weight is a spiritually uplifting song with swinging beats, bar-band piano, and keening vocals from Levon Helm and Rick Danko.
This Wheel’s on Fire (Music from Big Pink, 1968)
This Wheel's on Fire displayed the Band's forward-thinking style at this point in their career. This Wheel's on Fire has been a pop culture mainstay for decades, including covers by Brian Auger and the Trinity with Julie Driscoll, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Kylie Minogue.
Up on Cripple Creek (The Last Waltz, 1978)
The live CD, recorded in 1976 but released two years later, offers an explosive performance of one of the Band's defining songs, Up on Cripple Creek, from the self-titled album.
Fallen Angel (Robbie Robertson, 1987)
The ensuing self-titled album is grandiose and theatrical, with the gauzy peak of Fallen Angel standing out. The song, co-written with Martin Page and featuring Peter Gabriel on guest vocals, is a passionate, heartbreaking homage to Robertson's former bandmate, Richard Manuel.
Breakin’ the Rules (Storyville, 1991)
Breakin' the Rules is a lovely, crestfallen duet with The Blue Nile - Paul Buchanan offers vocals and guitar, while Robert Bell contributes bass and drum programming - that meditates on an unhappy relationship that must end.
Ghost Dance (Music for the Native Americans, 1994)
The song is really beautiful. Although sonically similar to his stunning, glacial solo work with Daniel Lanois, the song is a forceful statement about reclaiming and protecting identity, history, and heritage in the face of horrific persecution.
“The Shape I’m In” (1970)
Hudson's note-bending organ interludes and outro are downright cherry, and the pace is energetic, almost impatient. Manuel, on the other hand, sings of a growing list of woes: loneliness, jail, and homelessness. Robertson's guitar delivers brief flashes of the blues, but this storyteller will have to make do.
“Yazoo Street Scandal” (1967)
With a wiry, stop-time melody and Helm's yowling lyrics that mix bawdiness and biblical references, "Yazoo Street Scandal" is the Band on its own.