Across the Great Divide

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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:

Across the Great Divide

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  • Artist: The Band
  • Rating: StarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: November 15, 1994
  • Type: Compilation (best of), Box set
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Capitol's 1989 Band compilation To Kingdom Come was subtitled "The Definitive Collection," so what is this? Well, the other one was only a two-disc set, and this is a three-disc set. As the CD reissue/box set boom goes on, record companies have taken to redoing acts they've already done once, so even though the Band has one classy CD anthology (and a few tacky ones), Capitol gives us another. In this case, they've divided it into two discs' worth of the greatest hits, followed by a disc of rarities (some not so rare) and unreleased tracks that include pre-Band recordings by the Hawks, collaborations with Bob Dylan, live tracks from the Woodstock and Watkins Glen festivals, and the like. All of which pushes this set up a price point or two from the earlier one without adding anything substantial to the story. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

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Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Across the Great Divide (album)

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Across the Great Divide
Compilation album by The Band
Released November 15, 1994 (1994-11-15)
Recorded January 1963 – January 1986
Genre Rock
Length 131:57
Label Capitol
Producer John Simon and The Band
The Band chronology
Jericho
(1993)
Across the Great Divide
(1994)
Live at Watkins Glen
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars[1]
Wiki letter w.svg This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Across The Great Divide is a box set from Canadian-American rock group The Band released in 1994.

The three-disc set, consists of two discs of songs from all of The Band's albums through 1989's To Kingdom Come. The selections featured seven tracks from their first album and eight from their second, four each from their third and fourth, five from their 1972 live album, only two from their sixth album and three each from their 1975 and 1977 albums.

The third disc of a collection of rarities taken from studio sessions and live performances. The first few tracks were taken from the Band's days before being signed to Capitol Records. Beginning with a version of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love"—recorded with Ronnie Hawkins on lead vocals and Roy Buchanan on bass—, and going into two tracks recorded as Levon and the Hawks. It also features one track from their Woodstock performance, one from a concert in St. Louis, a 1967 demo, two tracks from "The Basement Tapes," and five tracks supposedly from their 1973 set at the legendary Summer Jam at Watkins Glen festival (see Live at Watkins Glen for details.) A solo Richard Manuel performance ("She Knows", from January 1986) and their non-LP single "Twilight" are also on the album. Rounding out the disc are five of six tracks taken from "The Last Waltz Suite" licensed from Warner Bros. Records.

The box is currently out-of-print. A five-CD/one-DVD box set was released in September 2005 and a massive anthology of their pre-Capitol days was released in 2006.

Contents

Track listing

All songs written by Robbie Robertson unless noted.

Disc one

Tracks 1-7 from Music From Big Pink. Tracks 8-15 from The Band. Tracks 16-19 from Stage Fright.

  1. "Tears of Rage" (Bob Dylan, Richard Manuel) – 5:19
  2. "The Weight" – 4:35
  3. "I Shall Be Released" (Dylan) – 3:12
  4. "Chest Fever" – 5:13
  5. "In a Station" (Manuel) – 3:30
  6. "To Kingdom Come" – 3:19
  7. "Lonesome Suzie" (Manuel) – 4:01
  8. "Rag Mama Rag" – 3:03
  9. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" – 3:31
  10. "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" – 3:38
  11. "Rockin' Chair" – 3:39
  12. "Whispering Pines" (Manuel, Robertson) – 3:56
  13. "Up On Cripple Creek" – 4:31
  14. "Across the Great Divide" – 2:54
  15. "The Unfaithful Servant" – 4:16
  16. "The Shape I'm In" – 4:01
  17. "Daniel & The Sacred Harp" – 4:13
  18. "All La Glory" – 3:34
  19. "Stage Fright" – 3:44

Disc two

Tracks 1-4 from Cahoots. Tracks 5-9 From Rock of Ages. Tracks 10-11 from Moondog Matinee. Tracks 12-14 from Northern Lights – Southern Cross. Tracks 15-17 from Islands (The Band album).

  1. "When I Paint My Masterpiece" (Dylan) – 4:18
  2. "The Moon Struck One" – 4:08
  3. "Life Is a Carnival" (Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Robertson) – 3:57
  4. "The River Hymn" – 4:37
  5. "Don't Do It" (Holland–Dozier–Holland) – 4:42
  6. "Caledonia Mission" – 3:21
  7. "The W. S. Walcott Medicine Show" – 3:52
  8. "Get Up Jake" – 3:16
  9. "This Wheel's on Fire" (Danko, Dylan) – 3:54
  10. "Share Your Love with Me" (Deadric Malone, Alfred Braggs) – 2:54
  11. "Mystery Train" (H. Parker, Jr./Sam Phillips, additional lyrics by Robertson) – 5:40
  12. "Acadian Driftwood" – 6:40
  13. "Ophelia" – 3:29
  14. "It Makes No Difference" – 6:32
  15. "Livin' in a Dream" – 2:50
  16. "The Saga of Pepote Rouge" – 4:13
  17. "Right as Rain" – 3:54

Disc Three

  1. "Who Do You Love" (Bo Diddley) – 2:40
    • by Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks, released March 1963
  2. "Do the Honky Tonk" (Don Robey) – 2:58
    • by Levon & The Hawks, recorded live in 1964, previously unreleased
  3. "He Don't Love You" – 2:36
    • by Levon & The Hawks, released 1964
  4. "Katie's Been Gone" (Manuel, Robertson) – 2:46
  5. "Bessie Smith" (Danko, Robertson) – 4:18
    • From The Basement Tapes
  6. "Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast)" (Manuel) – 3:18
    • Previously unreleased demo
  7. "Ain't No Cane on the Brazos" (Traditional, arr. The Band) – 4:26
  8. "Slippin' and Slidin'" (Richard Penniman) – 3:13
    • Recorded live 1970 St. Louis, MO, previously unreleased
  9. "Twilight" – 3:15
  10. "Back to Memphis" (Chuck Berry) – 5:58
  11. "Too Wet to Work" (Garth Hudson) – 2:30
    • Performed by Garth Hudson solo, during thundershower
  12. "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (Stevie Wonder/Ivy Jo Hunter) – 3:25
  13. "Don't Ya Tell Henry" (Dylan) – 3:23
  14. "Endless Highway" – 5:09
  15. "She Knows" (Jimmy Griffin/Robb Royer) – 3:22
    • Credited to Richard Manuel; Rick Danko and Garth Hudson also perform
    • Recorded live 1986 at Lone Star Cafe in New York, previously unreleased
  16. "Evangeline" – 3:11 (with Emmylou Harris)
  17. "Out of the Blue" – 3:11
  18. "The Weight" – 4:35
  19. "Last Waltz Refrain" – 1:31
  20. "Theme from the Last Waltz" – 3:26

Group members and other participants

Producers

  • The Band – producers (disc one, tracks 16-19, disc two, tracks 1-17 and disc three tracks 2, 4-5, 8-14)
  • John Simon – producer (disc one, tracks 1-15)
  • Robbie Robertson – producer (disc three, tracks 16-20)
  • Henry Glover – producer (disc three, track 1)
  • Eddie Heller – producer (disc three, track 3)
  • Albert Grossman – producer (disc three, track 6)
  • Eric Blackstead – producer (disc three, track 7)
  • Garth Hudson – producer (disc three, track 15)
  • See individual albums for engineering credits.

Band members

Other participants

References


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