Cahoots is the fourth studio album from The Band, released in 1971. Like the previous three albums from the group, Capitol is releasing various 50th Anniversary editions, including a Super Deluxe Edition, which we will cover here.
The album is the fourth of what must be considered the five core studio albums from the group that were the basis of their foundational mythic studio album years. The others are Music From Pink (1968), The Band (1969), often referred to as the “Brown” album, Stage Fright (1970) and Northern Lights – Southern Cross (1975), the fifth, which has not received a super deluxe edition reissue thus far.
Selected songs from these five albums would also comprise the group’s seminal, iconic and acclaimed live album Rock of Ages, released in 1972, and would remain their primary setlist until their final concert at Winterland in San Francisco in November of 1976, commemorated in the Martin Scorsese film The Last Waltz. The group would release the covers album Moondog Matinee in 1973; Islands, a hodgepodge of material recorded between 1972 and 1977; and in 1977 the soundtrack to the The Last Waltz.
There would also be three post-Robbie Robertson releases from the group in the ’90s. They also were a part of three collaborations with Bob Dylan, Planet Waves (1974), the live Before the Flood (1974), and The Basement Tapes (1975), of recordings they did in 1967 and 1968 before the release of Music From Big Pink.
John Simon produced the first two albums from The Band, and their third was self-produced, but on board for that album were Todd Rundgren and Glyn Johns. With Cahoots, The Band were truly self-producing and recording themselves and it was the first time they recorded at the not quite completed Bearsville Studios, near Woodstock, New York, owned by their manager Albert Grossman.
All of the super deluxe editions of the first four albums from The Band have included a mix of CD, vinyl, and Blu-ray discs. Music From Big Pink included two 12-inch vinyl albums played at 45 and was manufactured in the United States. The Band also included two 12-inch vinyl albums played at 45, but the box was manufactured in Canada. Stage Fright included a single vinyl album and was manufactured in Germany.
All the boxes contained a seven-inch 45 with 180-gram vinyl albums, and a Blu-Ray that included a 5.1 mix. All the boxes also included bonus tracks, a booklet, and lithographs. The Band, Stage Fright and Cahoots all include bonus concerts. Cahoots was also made in Canada, but for the first time offers a 12-inch vinyl album cut from half-speed masters and for the Blu-Ray there is an Atmos mix.
After the triumvirate of Music From Big Pink, The Band, and even the difficult Stage Fright, Cahoots, upon its initial release and even retrospectively, is often viewed as a weak album in the group’s discography. Upon listening with fresh ears to this new Bob Clearmountain mix of the album, it’s clear that this is a formidable release and one wonders how it’s been so poorly received through the years. Even Robbie Robertson was not happy with the mix of the original album. This is Clearmountain’s most game-changing mix of all the albums he has remixed for this series.
Studio albums had always posed a challenge to the group, akin to holding mercury in one’s hands, as the group’s magic lies in the spontaneous interplay of its five members, making Rock of Ages easily one of the best live albums in rock history and The Last Waltz the ultimate concert film soundtrack album, overdubs and all.
There is some strong songwriting here, most notably on “Life Is A Carnival,” a co-write by Robertson, Helm, and Danko, with a brass arrangement by Allen Toussaint, and on the lone cover, Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” There is also a co-write between Manuel and Van Morrison on “4% Pantomime,” with Morrison guesting on vocals on the track at a peak time in the career of the then Woodstock resident. All the rest of the songs are written solely by Robertson, who has admitted that specific movies or film directors had a direct influence on various songs. There are plenty of other excellent songs, and whether it’s Helm, Danko, or Manuel taking lead vocals, or harmonizing in various configurations, everyone sounds surprisingly in peak form.
CD1 includes the original album with Clearmountain’s new mix and five bonus tracks. CD2 includes 11 performances from a concert at the Olympia Theatre in Paris from May of 1971 that is billed as a bootleg partial concert and is about half the actual show that was performed, along with three bonus tracks. The Blu-ray includes the new album in Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and stereo high-resolution audio, along with six bonus tracks. The vinyl 12-inch album is of the new mix by Clearmountain, and the seven-inch 45 is of “Life Is A Carnival,” with “The Moon Struck One” on the B-side.
The packaging is also superb. Everything is housed in a sturdy lift-off box. The main album is in a gatefold package and the 180-gram vinyl album is in a poly-lined sleeve. The two CDs, the Blu-ray, and the seven-inch 45 are housed in a cardboard gatefold folder. Enclosed in a packet are four art prints, including the iconic Richard Avedon group photo that adorns the back of the album jacket. There is also a booklet that includes an informed essay by Rob Bowman, photos, concert ads, and more.
It has been enlightening seeing how each one of these boxes has been produced, with each one evolving slightly in terms of formatting and production. While there was some disappointment with Music From Big Pink due to it not including as much bonus material as previous reissues of the album, there is much to recommend with all of these super deluxe editions. Serious fans of The Band will no doubt want all four sets released so far, with more hopefully to come, with Rock of Ages eagerly anticipated to be the likely next release.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
