Remembering When The Band Broke Out of Their Creative Doldrums With a Stellar Covers Record in 1973

The Band built their legacy on original material that dug deep into the roots of American music. They knew those genres inside and out from playing classic cover songs night in and night out before they were famous, before they were even The Band.

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In 1973, The Band decided to show the world what they could do with cover songs in a studio format. The result was Moondog Matinee, one of the finest albums of non-original material in rock history.

Getting Back to Work

The Band’s first three albums can go toe-to-toe with any trio of LPs in rock history. Music From Big Pink, The Band, and Stage Fright put the loose-limbed authenticity of their performances front and center. Even though the songs were mostly original, they sounded as if they were lifted from some quaint era of antiquity.

But the years of effort to reach the pinnacle of rock music had taken their toll, to various degrees, on the group’s five members. And where there had once been a tight brotherhood, concerns over money, credit, and their artistic direction began to eat away at their unity.

After the release of the relatively underwhelming Cahoots in 1971, The Band cast about listlessly for a few years. They whetted fans’ appetite for material with the ace live album Rock Of Ages in 1972. Still, the growing span of time since they’d last made a new record was eating at them all. They needed to get back to work.

Oldies but Goodies

Around that time, Robbie Robertson, The Band’s chief songwriter, had been toiling on and off at a project that he called Works. He envisioned it as a kind of magnum opus for his group. But he was struggling to bring it to fruition (and he never did). He realized that he and The Band needed to get back in the studio and do something.

They decided that a covers album would be the most painless way to churn out new product. Originally, they thought they’d rehash material that they’d played when they were still known as The Hawks in the early 60s. Eventually, they simply chose songs that they loved, regardless of whether they were too familiar with them.

The Band settled in Bearsville Studio in their adopted hometown of Woodstock, New York, to make the record. They enjoyed picking apart each of the chosen songs, seeing what they could do with it from an instrumental standpoint, and which of their three brilliant singers would be best suited to sing it.

‘Matinee’ Idols

Whimsically titled Moondog Matinee, the album captured The Band effortlessly putting their stamp on whatever golden oldie they touched. Everywhere you listened, you’d find one of the group’s members stepping up with something special. And at every moment, the chemistry of the five men shone forth.

Moondog Matinee earned solid reviews when released in October 1973. Many critics bemoaned the fact that The Band still hadn’t produced anything new in a while. That bemoaning would continue for another two years, which is when Northern Lights – Southern Cross finally arrived.

For connoisseurs of cover albums, this one holds up extremely well. Perhaps it’s because you can hear five brilliant players discovering the mysteries of older music instead of feeling the burden of having to create new ones.

(Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images)