The Best of The Band

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With this album, Capitol Records began the inevitable process of repackaging the music of the Band, which the company would do at increasing length with Anthology (two LPs), To Kingdom Come (two CDs), and Across The Great Divide (three CDs), all without solving the fundamental problem that the Band, despite the quality of their individual songs, was not a singles act and was hard to summarize in a compilation. That said, for the real neophyte, this single-disc, 11-song album may be as good as anything. It contains the Band's two most famous songs, "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," as well as the group's only Top 30 hit, "Up On Cripple Creek," and such songs as "Tears Of Rage" and "Stage Fright" that they probably played at nearly every show they performed. It's true that if you really want to understand the Band, you have to hear all of Music From Big Pink and The Band. But if you just want a snapshot, here it is. -- William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide

The British release of Best of the Band featured a different track listing, replacing "Tears of Rage", "Don't Do It", and "It Makes No Difference" with "Rag Mama Rag", "Time to Kill", "Ain't Got No Home", and "I Shall Be Released". An Australasian 1991 release of The Best of The Band has extra tracks to what is on the British and American versions. It has 20 tracks in all with the addition of "Accross the Great Divide," "When You Awake," "Rocking Chair," "The Promised Land," "To Kingdom Come" and a couple more - mostly from The Band. It has sleeve liner notes, and the front cover art is the same but the back just lists the tracks.

Tracks

1.	Up On Cripple Creek	(242K)	(122K)
2.	The Shape I'm In	(319K)
3.	The Weight	(287K)	(123K)
4.	It Makes No Difference	(285K)	(120K)
5.	Life Is A Carnival	(282K)	(122K)
6.	Twilight
7.	Don't Do It	(245K)
8.	Tears of Rage	(285K)
9.	Stage Fright	(222K)
10.	Ophelia	(166K)	(121K)
11.	The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down	(210K)

The Best of The Band - The Band - (47:34) - 1976 - Capitol ST-11553
Single sleeve LP
Compact Disc: Capitol 46070-2 (1986)

AMG Rating: Good