how many actual lead/co-lead vocals does robbie robertson sing in THE BAND? i thought it was a total of 3 songs. how much backup singing does he do?

He sings on "To Kingdom Come", "Bessie Smith", "Ain't No More Cane" & "Knocking Lost John"...supposedly when they played live his mic was turned off.

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stones78
He sings on "To Kingdom Come", "Bessie Smith", "Ain't No More Cane" & "Knocking Lost John"...supposedly when they played live his mic was turned off.

are these lead/co lead/background or a mixture? i knew he sang lead on "to kingdom come" plus "out of the blue" and "the last waltz refrain". i swear on the last waltz studio version of "the weight" with the staples i can hear robertson on background vocals.

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keefriffhard4life

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stones78
He sings on "To Kingdom Come", "Bessie Smith", "Ain't No More Cane" & "Knocking Lost John"...supposedly when they played live his mic was turned off.

are these lead/co lead/background or a mixture? i knew he sang lead on "to kingdom come" plus "out of the blue" and "the last waltz refrain". i swear on the last waltz studio version of "the weight" with the staples i can hear robertson on background vocals.

Yes, I think you're right...Robbie sings back up on The Weight - at least the versions I've seen. I never (sadly) had a chance to see them live.

I believe he only sings lead on To Kingdom Come and Out Of The Blue (that's what he said in an interview, too). Two fantastic songs.

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tomk
I believe he only sings lead on To Kingdom Come and Out Of The Blue (that's what he said in an interview, too). Two fantastic songs.

go listen to "the last waltz refrain" robertson has 1 verse as the lead vocalist. as far as background vocals the only song i swear i can hear him is the last waltz version with the staples of "the weight"

i'll have to check "bessie smith" and "ain't no more cane". i have the basement tape version of "bessie smith" and the live at woodstock version of "ain't no more cane" from the ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE boxset. still uncertain if i want to drop the $60+ dollars for the MUSICAL HISTORY boxset and i still need to get the 4 cd LAST WALTZ boxset

Didn't Levon Helm claim in his book that they turned Roberston's mic off in "The Last Waltz". The way that movie was cut, you had no idea the drama that was going on that band.

I would like to rank The Band vocal like this:

1/ Richard Manuel
2/ Rick Danko
3/ Levon Helm
4/ Robbie Robertson



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Come On
I would like to rank The Band vocal like this:

1/ Richard Manuel
2/ Rick Danko
3/ Levon Helm
4/ Robbie Robertson

What, no Garth Hudson?

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71Tele
Didn't Levon Helm claim in his book that they turned Roberston's mic off in "The Last Waltz". The way that movie was cut, you had no idea the drama that was going on that band.

yes he says robertsons mic was off most of the time but the song i was talking about is a studio track not a song they recorded live

Garth even sings - Young Blood

Robbie can sing...





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-27 11:50 by Thommie.

ok for sure after checking i can confirm robertson sings co lead on "bessie smith" and a verse on "ain't no more cane", at least the live version of it

Bessie Smith is brilliant. Always thought that was Danko...Can't hear any from that voice on Robbies solo-projects though...

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Come On
Bessie Smith is brilliant. Always thought that was Danko...Can't hear any from that voice on Robbies solo-projects though...

"bessie smith" has a harmony co lead vocal. listen to it again you can hear robertson singing low and danko singing higher

"bessie smith" has a harmony co lead vocal. listen to it again you can hear robertson singing low and danko singing higher




AAAHHH..OK I see....

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I absolutly love "Out of the Blue" ...off the Last Waltz. Great Robertson vocals.

Robertsons voice sounded terrible on all his solo projects. You can hear clearly that this guy can't sing.

Keep on rollin'
Gangster

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Gangster-of-love
Robertsons voice sounded terrible on all his solo projects. You can hear clearly that this guy can't sing.

he can sing. his voice has just gotten worse since the 70's for lack of using it

The solo albums sound more like soundscapes than actual singing.

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tomcasagranda
The solo albums sound more like soundscapes than actual singing.

maybe.

can anyone post some pics of the 4 cd last waltz boxset?

Old thread but was just looking for this info too.

He's also singing the lead on the beutiful demo (sketch track) of "Twilight" from A Musical History (not to be confused by the "Early Alternate Version" from the expanded version of Northern Light-Southern Cross).




The Band - Twilight (song sketch)

this was told to me by a band insider that the crew never turned robbie's mic on because he can't sing

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TheGreek
this was told to me by a band insider that the crew never turned robbie's mic on because he can't sing

that was discussed in this thread but clearly it was on at times because he can be heard on some songs from woodstock providing backing vocals.

I just finished reading Levon Helm's book. A great read. Sadly, I lost some respect for Robbie because of it.

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71Tele
Didn't Levon Helm claim in his book that they turned Roberston's mic off in "The Last Waltz". The way that movie was cut, you had no idea the drama that was going on that band.

The way that movie was cut was to make Robbie look like the star and leader of the group.

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GumbootCloggeroo
I just finished reading Levon Helm's book. A great read. Sadly, I lost some respect for Robbie because of it.

helm has said some of that book was over stated

Has anyone else ever wondered if Ronnie Wood was parachuted into the Last Waltz to have some tenuous (in 76) Stones connection amongst all the industry glad-handing going on? Same as Ringo being there for a Beatles one.

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chrism13
I absolutly love "Out of the Blue" ...off the Last Waltz. Great Robertson vocals.

Agreed. Wonderful, forgotten track.

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GumbootCloggeroo

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71Tele
Didn't Levon Helm claim in his book that they turned Roberston's mic off in "The Last Waltz". The way that movie was cut, you had no idea the drama that was going on that band.

The way that movie was cut was to make Robbie look like the star and leader of the group.

''we've been on the road sixteen years." -Robbie Robertson

wow that sure must have been torture or something the way he said it