Jericho (album)

Jericho
Studio album by The Band
Released November 2, 1993 (1993-11-02)
Recorded Summer 1993; except "Country Boy", October 1985, and "Atlantic City", 1990/91
Genre Rock
Length 56:53
Label Rhino
Producer John Simon, Aaron Professor Louie Hurwitz & The Band
The Band chronology
To Kingdom Come: The Definitive Collection
(1989)		 Jericho
(1993)		 Across the Great Divide
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone[2]

Jericho is the eighth studio album by Canadian-American rock group the Band. Coming a full seventeen years after their "farewell concert", it was released in 1993 and was the first album to feature the latter-day configuration of the group, as well as their first release for the Rhino subsidiary Pyramid Records.

Joining original members Levon Helm (drums/mandolin/guitar/vocal), Rick Danko (bass/guitar/vocal) and Garth Hudson (organ/keyboards/horns) were Jim Weider (who had played guitar for the group from the time of their 1983 reformation), Randy Ciarlante (who had joined on drums in 1990) and Richard Bell (who had joined as keyboardist in 1991). In addition to this sextet, there were an additional fourteen musicians. Having such a large amount of guests would be commonplace on the latter-day group's albums.

Recording

In 1985, the Band went into the studio for the first time since 1977 with the intent of recording tracks for an eventual album. Richard Manuel had recently expressed interest in writing new material for the group,[3] and had written "Breaking New Ground" with Gerry Goffin and Carole King.[4] However, on March 6, 1986, Manuel was found dead of suicide,[5] and the Band abandoned efforts to make an album for several years.[6]

In 1990, Sony offered the Band a recording contract. The group hired fellow Hawks member Stan Szelest to replace Manuel on keyboards, and proceeded to record new material with songwriter Jules Shear. However, these recordings were rejected by Sony, who suggested the group take submissions from various songwriters. Just as recording continued, Szelest died of a heart attack. The Band then requested release from Sony and found a new contract with Great Pyramid Records. Without Manuel or Robbie Robertson as songwriters, the group relied mostly on outside sources, such as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Bruce Springsteen, and their friends Bob Dylan and Artie Traum. A few sessions also involved Champion Jack Dupree. "Country Boy", a song from the 1985 sessions with Manuel on vocals, was also selected for inclusion on the album. John Simon, who had produced the Band's first two albums, was again brought in to produce what would ultimately become Jericho. The album was finally completed in 1993, with new members Richard Bell, Randy Ciarlante and Jim Weider on keyboards, second drums and lead guitar respectively.[6]

Cover

The album cover is a painting by Peter Max of the "Big Pink" house in West Saugerties, New York, where Bob Dylan and the Band recorded music during the mid to late 1960s.[7] The albums The Basement Tapes and Music from Big Pink both originated from the music created in this house.[8][9]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Remedy"  Colin Linden, Jim Weider 4:25
2. "Blind Willie McTell"  Bob Dylan 6:42
3. "The Caves of Jericho"  Richard Bell, Levon Helm, John Simon 5:23
4. "Atlantic City"  Bruce Springsteen 5:16
5. "Too Soon Gone"  Jules Shear, Stan Szelest 3:59
6. "Country Boy"  Marshall Barer, Fred Brooks 3:17
7. "Move to Japan"  Joe Flood, Levon Helm, John Simon, Stan Szelest, Jim Weider 4:25
8. "Amazon (River of Dreams)"  Artie Traum 6:00
9. "Stuff You Gotta Watch"  Muddy Waters 2:50
10. "Same Thing"  Willie Dixon 4:31
11. "Shine a Light"  Marty Grebb, Daniel Moore 4:12
12. "Blues Stay Away from Me"  Alton & Rabon Delmore, Henry Glover, Wayne Raney 6:01

Personnel

Guest musicians
Production

References

  1. ↑ Jericho at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone
  3. ↑ Spencer, Ruth Albert (March 21, 1985). "Conversations with The Band: Richard Manuel". theband.hiof.no. Retrieved August 8, 2015 – via The Woodstock Times, Vol. 14, no. 12.
  4. ↑ "Carole King Discography". caroleking.com. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  5. ↑ Pareles, Jon (March 6, 1986). "Richard Manuel, 40, Rock Singer and Pianist". The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  6. 1 2 Viney, Peter. "Band Demos". theband.hiof.no. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ Dickinson, Chris (20 January 1994). "The Band | Theater Critic's Choice". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Hoskyns, Barney (1993). Across The Great Divide: The Band and America. Viking. p. 137. ISBN 0-670-84144-7.
  9. ↑ Bowman, Rob. "History of The Band: The Debut Album". theband.hiof.no. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
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