The Band's 'Last Waltz' Takes Another Bow
By Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Brian Ives
06/12/2001
The 1978 Martin Scorsese documentary of the Band's 1976 farewell
concert,
"The Last Waltz," has long been considered one of the best rock films
ever
made. Now Band guitarist/songwriter (and film producer) Robbie
Robertson
hopes to make it even better.
Robertson is adding interviews of himself (done by Scorsese) to the
movie's
DVD release. He's remixing "The Last Waltz" in Surround Sound and
contemplating adding such footage as a scene of himself writing the
film's
theme music.
Robertson is also cleaning up the audio for a re-released soundtrack,
having
never been pleased by the original.
"I was happy with the movie's sound but I was never happy with the
album
because I couldn't do it myself," he said last week. "The movie was so
demanding that I told somebody I worked with, 'While I'm mixing the
movie,
you can engineer and mix the record,' and it just wasn't done
properly."
The remastered soundtrack will likely feature additional songs with
Eric
Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters and Van Morrison.
"A lot of stuff we didn't use on the record because it was already
three
albums long," Robertson said. "But now some amazing things from
rehearsals
are gonna make the package really terrific."
Robertson originally wanted the "The Last Waltz" re-release to come out
by
Thanksgiving to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the concert. But
because of the digital editing and remastering that remain, the package
won't be out until at least next spring, he said.
Aside from "The Last Waltz," Robertson is working on a new Band box set
to
replace the out-of-print 1994 three-disc, 56-track collection Across
the
Great Divide, which also displeases him.
"I didn't like the way it was laid out. It was uninteresting," he
grumbled.
"And the record company couldn't find the masters of a lot of things,
so
they just took them off secondary places. The integrity in what should
have
been done with the thing wasn't taken care of properly."
The new Band box should be available by 2002 and will include material
Capitol Records unearthed while assembling the recently released Band
reissues.
"The people there that specialize in lost tapes started finding all
these
outtakes and alternative takes I don't even remember doing," Robertson
said.
"The more material they found, the more I thought to myself, 'Now I
want to
do the definitive Band collection with lots of surprises and things I
didn't
even know existed.'"
The Band
A
anonymous
(view)
The Band's 'Last Waltz' Takes Another Bow
By Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Brian Ives
06/12/2001
The 1978 Martin Scorsese documentary of the Band's 1976 farewell
concert,
"The Last Waltz," has long been considered one of the best rock films
ever
made. Now Band guitarist/songwriter (and film producer) Robbie
Robertson
hopes to make it even better.
Robertson is adding interviews of himself (done by Scorsese) to the
movie's
DVD release. He's remixing "The Last Waltz" in Surround Sound and
contemplating adding such footage as a scene of himself writing the
film's
theme music.
Robertson is also cleaning up the audio for a re-released soundtrack,
having
never been pleased by the original.
"I was happy with the movie's sound but I was never happy with the
album
because I couldn't do it myself," he said last week. "The movie was so
demanding that I told somebody I worked with, 'While I'm mixing the
movie,
you can engineer and mix the record,' and it just wasn't done
properly."
The remastered soundtrack will likely feature additional songs with
Eric
Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters and Van Morrison.
"A lot of stuff we didn't use on the record because it was already
three
albums long," Robertson said. "But now some amazing things from
rehearsals
are gonna make the package really terrific."
Robertson originally wanted the "The Last Waltz" re-release to come out
by
Thanksgiving to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the concert. But
because of the digital editing and remastering that remain, the package
won't be out until at least next spring, he said.
Aside from "The Last Waltz," Robertson is working on a new Band box set
to
replace the out-of-print 1994 three-disc, 56-track collection Across
the
Great Divide, which also displeases him.
"I didn't like the way it was laid out. It was uninteresting," he
grumbled.
"And the record company couldn't find the masters of a lot of things,
so
they just took them off secondary places. The integrity in what should
have
been done with the thing wasn't taken care of properly."
The new Band box should be available by 2002 and will include material
Capitol Records unearthed while assembling the recently released Band
reissues.
"The people there that specialize in lost tapes started finding all
these
outtakes and alternative takes I don't even remember doing," Robertson
said.
"The more material they found, the more I thought to myself, 'Now I
want to
do the definitive Band collection with lots of surprises and things I
didn't
even know existed.'"
By Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Brian Ives
06/12/2001
The 1978 Martin Scorsese documentary of the Band's 1976 farewell
concert,
"The Last Waltz," has long been considered one of the best rock films
ever
made. Now Band guitarist/songwriter (and film producer) Robbie
Robertson
hopes to make it even better.
Robertson is adding interviews of himself (done by Scorsese) to the
movie's
DVD release. He's remixing "The Last Waltz" in Surround Sound and
contemplating adding such footage as a scene of himself writing the
film's
theme music.
Robertson is also cleaning up the audio for a re-released soundtrack,
having
never been pleased by the original.
"I was happy with the movie's sound but I was never happy with the
album
because I couldn't do it myself," he said last week. "The movie was so
demanding that I told somebody I worked with, 'While I'm mixing the
movie,
you can engineer and mix the record,' and it just wasn't done
properly."
The remastered soundtrack will likely feature additional songs with
Eric
Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters and Van Morrison.
"A lot of stuff we didn't use on the record because it was already
three
albums long," Robertson said. "But now some amazing things from
rehearsals
are gonna make the package really terrific."
Robertson originally wanted the "The Last Waltz" re-release to come out
by
Thanksgiving to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the concert. But
because of the digital editing and remastering that remain, the package
won't be out until at least next spring, he said.
Aside from "The Last Waltz," Robertson is working on a new Band box set
to
replace the out-of-print 1994 three-disc, 56-track collection Across
the
Great Divide, which also displeases him.
"I didn't like the way it was laid out. It was uninteresting," he
grumbled.
"And the record company couldn't find the masters of a lot of things,
so
they just took them off secondary places. The integrity in what should
have
been done with the thing wasn't taken care of properly."
The new Band box should be available by 2002 and will include material
Capitol Records unearthed while assembling the recently released Band
reissues.
"The people there that specialize in lost tapes started finding all
these
outtakes and alternative takes I don't even remember doing," Robertson
said.
"The more material they found, the more I thought to myself, 'Now I
want to
do the definitive Band collection with lots of surprises and things I
didn't
even know existed.'"
