The Band - Moondog Matinee

The Band - Moondog Matinee
produced by The Band
Recorded at Bearsville Sound Studios, Bearsville, NY; Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA; New York, NY
Capitol Records, 1973

Moondog Matinee is a covers LP released by the legendary Canadian group The Band in 1973. An often neglected record, to me Moondog Matinee maybe is the most misunderstood record in their discography full of beautiful singing and tight grooves. After releasing to of the most influential records in the latter half of the 1960's, the incredible Music from Big Pink and equally impressive The Band in 1969, the group had sadly begun a creative decline, most probably due to internal squabbling over royalties and songwriting. After the ill received and musically chaotic Cahoots in 1971 and the live LP Rock of Ages the following year, The Band were clearly low of inspiration and needed to go back to basics. The decision to record a covers LP is seen by many as a sign of a creative nadir for songwriter and guitarist Robbie Robertson and the low-point for the group. However, I view Moondog Matinee  as the perfect anecdote for their dry spell and became subsequently their most focused record in years and the inspiration for some of their finest work yet to come.

Moondog Matinee is a joyous, slick, and thoroughly likable record full of modest recreations of songs which were features of their mid-sixties set-lists when they were know as The Hawks. From the punchy opener 'Ain't Got a Home' to the bizarre show tune instrumental, 'Third Man Theme', Moondog Matinee is a start-to-finish brilliant album. The group are tighter than ever and approach each song like the are playing at a sweaty club in the early sixties, with energy and slickness which had not been heard from the group in years. The Band are at their rocking best on 'I'm Ready' and the Chuck Berry's 'The Promised Land' and their most beautifully tender on the Richard Manuel sung 'Show Your Love'. With nods to Allen Toussaint on the records horn arrangements and the funky 'Holy Cow' and 'Mystery Train', Moondog Matinee is the sound of a band getting their groove back and rediscovering their love of playing. Levon Helm and the others' voices are on fine form sounding clearer and energized after the lackluster performances on Cahoots. The only downspot is the slightly underwhelming version of Sam Cooke's 'A Change is Gonna Come' (still a lovely version!) a mere blip in an otherwise flawless piece of work.

Moondog Matinee is widely viewed as a largely unimportant album when comparing to the quality and the difficult-to-overstate importance of their first two or three records and was dismissed by members of the group. As the music is unoriginal and the overall influence of the album minimal, the above position is arguably a correct observation to make about Moondog Matinee. More over, I feel that this record was a much needed step for The Band - a necessary reevaluating project for them. Not only did it refocus the group and tightened their sound, it inspired Robbie Robertson as a songwriter by The Band revisiting these old classic songs. As a result, Robertson went onto to compose some of their finest songs such as 'Ophelia' and 'Arcadian Driftwood' on their subsequent release, Northern Lights - Southern Cross. After Moondog Matinee, the group collaborated with Bob Dylan on the roots-rock classic Planet Waves and returned to forefront of American music on the Before the Flood joint tour with Dylan in 1974. Without the energizing Moondog Matinee, it is hard to see how The Band could have carried on making cultural important music and continue through until their final The Last Waltz concert in 1976. Undoubtedly, this record is vital in the history of The Band and can be viewed as a perfect anecdote to a period of musical uncertainty.

Key tracks:

Ain't Got a Home
Holy Cow
The Great Pretender

If you like this record, check out:

Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights
Eric Clapton - There's One in Every Crowd