Early footage of The Band

In the wake of Levon Helm's death, footage of The Band at various stages in their career has started to appear on YouTube. I only became aware of this the other day, so I haven't had much of an opportunity to view the footage, nor see how much is pre-Last Waltz and how much is post (I have The Last Waltz on DVD).

I did see two versions of 'The Weight' - the first was from Woodstock (yes, The Band was there but their manager, Albert Grossman, didn't want their material in the film or on the soundtrack, possibly because Robbie Robertson's microphone was live) and the second from a concert in Pittsburg a year later (there are four songs in this film). I want to focus on this latter footage which seems to have been made by a single camera.

The camera starts off by focusing on Robertson - after all, he is the guitarist, appears to be leading the musicians and has a microphone in front of him into which he appears to sing - but after a while, the cameraman realises that Levon Helm behind the drums is the one who is singing the verses. During the chori, he pulls back to show Rick Danko (and Robertson) singing. Where does the third voice in the chorus break come from ('and ... and ... and ... she put the weight back on me)? From Robertson, of course. Richard Manuel? Never heard of him. Garth Hudson? Unheard and unseen.

After the cameraman finally learns that Helm is singing the verses, he returns to the drummer at the beginning of every verse, only to discover in a panic that Helm is not singing the fourth verse.  It takes a while, but the camera pulls back and starts searching for someone moving his lips. Eventually it settles on Rick Danko, singing about crazy Chester.

As there was only a single camera, there obviously was no director who can be blamed for not doing his homework. So the sole cameraman is guilty: he didn't bother to find out who the vocalist is before the concert. Poor man: little did he know that The Band had three world class vocalists who would often sing in unison or pass the tune around (at least in the early days). 

"Time to kill" is the opening song which features a constant duet between Danko and Helm; the camera stays on Danko almost all the time and one is left to guess to whom belongs the second verse.

There are means of saving films shown on YouTube as avi files; I am storing these clips and will one day burn them to DVD.