Stage Fright (album)

Stage Fright is the third studio album by Canadian–American group the Band, released in 1970. It featured two of the group's best known songs, "The Shape I'm In" and "Stage Fright", both of which showcased inspired lead vocal performances (by Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, respectively) and became staples in the group's live shows.

Stage Fright
Studio album by
The Band
ReleasedAugust 17, 1970
RecordedMay–June 1970
StudioWoodstock Playhouse, Woodstock, New York
GenreRoots rock
Length35:41
LabelCapitol
ProducerThe Band
The Band chronology
The Band
(1969)		 Stage Fright
(1970)		 Cahoots
(1971)
Singles from Stage Fright
  1. "Stage Fright/Sleeping"
    Released: August 1970
  2. "Time to Kill/The Shape I'm In"
    Released: October 1970

Stage Fright was a contradictory record, combining buoyant music and disenchanted lyrics, and exploring themes such as peace, escape and frivolity that revealed darker shades of melancholy, anxiety and fatigue.[1] Writer Ross Johnson described it as "a cheerful-sounding record that unintentionally was confessional... a spirited romp through a dispirited period in the group's history."[2] As a result, it received a somewhat mixed reception compared to its widely-praised predecessors, largely due to the ways that it departed from those records and, perhaps, frustrated expectations.[3][4][5][6] Generally, critics agreed that the music was solid. They hailed aspects like Garth Hudson's diverse textural weavings, Robbie Robertson's incisive guitar work, and the funk of the Danko–Levon Helm rhythm section, but differed on the record's troubling tone and overall cohesiveness. In later years, on the occasion of reissue and remaster releases, many critics reappraised the album as showing "no drop-off in quality compared to the first two"[7] and "evidence of a group still working at the top of their form."[8]

Much more of a rock album than the group's previous efforts, Stage Fright had a more downcast, contemporary focus and less of the vocal harmony blend that had been a centerpiece of the first two albums. The tradition of switching instruments continued, however, with each musician contributing parts on at least two different instruments. The album included the last two songs composed by pianist Richard Manuel, both co-written with Robertson, who would continue to be the group's dominant songwriter until the group ceased touring in 1976.

Stage Fright peaked at #5 on Billboard, surpassing the group's first two albums, which reached #30 and #9, respectively. It was one of three albums by the group, including The Band and Rock of Ages, to be certified gold (more than 500,000 sales).[9]

Production

Stage Fright was engineered by an up-and-coming Todd Rundgren and produced by the group themselves for the first time. Its cover featured a semi-abstract sunset designed by Bob Cato wrapped in a poster of a photograph by Norman Seeff, in his first major gig.[10]

Initially, Robertson says that he intended to do a less serious "goof" or "good-time" record in contrast to The Band.[1] The group's plan was to record the album live in their home base of Woodstock, New York at the Woodstock Playhouse. Ultimately, the town's council, fearing a Woodstock Festival-type stampede, vetoed the idea and the band simply used the (off-season) playhouse as a makeshift studio. Upbeat, straightforward rockers like "Strawberry Wine", "Time to Kill" and "Just Another Whistle Stop", the funkier "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show", and Robertson's more prominent guitar work together suggest the record retained some of the early, good-time intention. However, Robertson gradually found the songs taking a darker turn: "this album Stage Fright started seeping through the floor. I found myself writing songs that I couldn't help but write."[1] "The Shape I'm In" and "Stage Fright" grappled with dissipation and panic, while "The Rumor" and "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" addressed the malevolence of gossip and the loss of one's soul in pursuit of fame and fortune.[8] Manuel's dreamy "Sleeping" walked an uncomfortable line between bliss and a too-close-to-home longing for final escape.[1] Standing alone as a purely positive song was Robertson's delicate lullaby, "All La Glory", buoyed by one of Helm's most gentle, emotive vocals.[1]

In a 2010 interview, Robertson described the recording atmosphere as tense, with the group contending with a tricky sound situation in the playhouse, an unfamiliar presence in Rundgren, and "distraction and a lot of drug experimenting."[11] In This Wheel's On Fire, Helm concurred, describing a "dark mood that settled upon us" during the sessions.[12] Helm also believed the record could have benefited from more time, saying, "for the first time we hadn't cut it to our standard... The days when we would live with the music were over."[12]

Two different mixes were prepared, one by Rundgren and one by Glyn Johns, both in the UK. Some reports have suggested that the Johns mix was selected for the original LP release and all subsequent reissues on Capitol (including the expanded 2000 remaster), while Rundgren's mix was eventually released on a 24k gold CD reissue of the album by the DCC Compact Classics label in 1994.[13] However, there is considerable disagreement about this; Rundgren, in an interview with Relix magazine, said that a third version was created with the band back in the states, using tracks from both original mixes. Ultimately, he thinks that no one really knows which mixes were chosen for the original release.[14] In his memoir, Sound Man, Johns seems to confirm Rundgren's memory, noting that each did their own set of mixes independently, without the band present, but that he never really knew whose mixes were used or in what quantity.[15]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[17]
DownBeat[18]
Entertainment WeeklyA–[19]
MusicHound4/5[20]
Q[21]
Rolling Stone[22]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[23]

Upon its release, critics generally praised Stage Fright's music. But several identified differences from the first two albums—themes of anxiety and vulnerability, fewer Americana character sketches, less of a communal feel—and suggested that something elusive was missing. Rolling Stone critic John Burks cited the group's "precision teamwork", but felt the lyrics didn't quite connect with the music and vocals; he wrote that the album was lacking "glory."[3] Critic Robert Christgau thought that the "bright and doughty" tunes overmatched the words. He concluded, "Memorable as most of these songs are, they never hook in—never give up the musical-verbal phrase that might encapsulate their every-which-way power."[5] Billboard's Ed Ochs described it as "candid and confessional, genuinely comic and gently satiric," but noted a "relationship of music to message [that] is noticeably off."[24]

According to author Neil Minturn, Greil Marcus's take in Mystery Train (1975) became pivotal and permeated subsequent assessments.[7] Marcus called it "an album of doubt, guilt, disenchantment and false optimism. The past no longer served them—the songs seemed trapped in the present, a jumble of desperation that was at once personal and social. The music was still special, but in every sense, the kind of unity that had given force... was missing. Now instead of hearing music that could not be really be broken down, one picked at parts for satisfaction."[4]

Later reviewers, however, questioned whether some mid-1970s criticism was colored by a perceived decline in the group's output, post-Stage Fright. In Q, rock critic John Bauldie hailed the trademark vocal interplay on "The Rumor" and "Daniel and the Sacred Harp", the ballads "All La Glory" and "Sleeping", and "The Shape I'm In" as career highlights. He suggested Stage Fright "may well be the greatest of their records."[7] Allmusic critic William Ruhlmann applauded the album's dense arrangements and instrumental work, and noting its "nakedly confessional" quality, wrote, "It was certainly different from their previous work... but it was hardly less compelling for that."[8] Writer Paul Casey described Stage Fright as "heartfelt," "sublime," and the "most personal, and least enamored with the fictional history aesthetic" of the band's albums. He concluded that it was "in some important ways above the two previous records," and that while "a commentary on the problems that were beginning to become apparent, [...] it is not compromised."[25]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead VocalsLength
1."Strawberry Wine"Levon Helm, Robbie RobertsonHelm2:34
2."Sleeping"Robertson, Richard ManuelManuel3:10
3."Time to Kill"RobertsonRick Danko, Manuel3:24
4."Just Another Whistle Stop"Manuel, RobertsonManuel3:48
5."All La Glory"RobertsonHelm3:31

Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead VocalsLength
1."The Shape I'm In"RobertsonManuel3:58
2."The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show"RobertsonHelm, Danko2:58
3."Daniel and the Sacred Harp"RobertsonHelm, Manuel4:06
4."Stage Fright"RobertsonDanko3:40
5."The Rumor"RobertsonDanko, Helm, Manuel[26]4:13

2000 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Daniel and the Sacred Harp (Alternate take)"5:01
12."Time to Kill (Alternate mix)"3:26
13."The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show (Alternate mix)"3:05
14."Radio Commercial"1:05

Personnel

The Band

Additional personnel

Charts

Album – Billboard (United States)

Year Chart Position
1970 Pop Albums 5

Singles – Billboard (United States)

Year Single Chart Position
1970 "Time To Kill" Pop Singles 77

References
  1. Hoskyns, Barney. Across the Great Divide: The Band and America, Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corp., 2006, p.234-5. Retrieved 26 February 2018
  2. Johnson, Ross. "It's All in the Name," Miami New Times, October 26, 2000. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  3. Burks, John (September 17, 1970). "Stage Fright". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  4. Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. Robert Christgau review site. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  6. Williams, Richard. "The Band: A Melody Maker Band Breakdown", Melody Maker, May 29, 1971. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  7. Minturn, Neil. The Last Waltz of The Band, New York: Pendragon, 2005, p. 143. Retrieved 26 February 2018
  8. Ruhlmann, William. Review in All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul, Ed. by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2002, p. 61. Retrieved 26 February 2018
  9. Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) website. Retrieved 26 February 2018
  10. Pemberton, Pat. "Norman Seeff Shares Stories Behind His Iconic Rock Photos," Rolling Stone, May 16, 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  11. Paul Myers music blog. Interview with Robbie Robertson excerpts. Retrieved 26 February 2018
  12. Helm, Levon with Stephen Davis. This Wheel's On Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band, Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2000. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  13. "Stage Fright". Theband.hiof.no. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  14. Steve Hoffman Music Forums Retrieved 26 February 2018
  15. Johns, Glyn. Sound Man, New York: Penguin Publishing Group, 2015, p.71-2. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  16. Ruhlmann, William. "The Band - Stage Fright". AllMusic. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  17. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: B". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  18. "The Band: Stage Fright". DownBeat: 66. October 2001.
  19. Scherman, Tony (September 1, 2000). "Music Review: 'The Band'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  20. Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 72. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  21. "The Band: Stage Fright". Q: 139. October 2000.
  22. "The Band: Stage Fright". Rolling Stone: 69–73. August 31, 2000.
  23. Brackett, Nathan, with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Fireside. p. 42. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  24. Ochs, Ed. Review in Billboard, September 12, 1970, p. 10. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  25. Casey, Paul. Thoughts On: THE BAND, Stage Fright Archived 2014-02-27 at the Wayback Machine, Popshifter, July 16, 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  26. "Stage Fright". hiof.no. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
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