MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE BAND - THE BAND (50th Anniversary Edition)

This isn't the first reissue of The Band's classic 1969 album, but it is the most extensive so far. A super deluxe edition includes a bunch of bells and whistles and a 5.1 mix, but the two CD version has all the necessary stuff, for the budget conscious.

The big news is that disc two features the complete group performance at Woodstock, about a month before the album came out. There are some pretty excellent live albums out there by the Band, and this set matches up just fine. They didn't play any of the upcoming album, concentrating on Music From Big Pink tracks and some of their excellent covers, including their brilliant Motown numbers, "Baby Don't You Do It" and "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever." They still had some of the flavour of their Levon and the Hawks days, the r'n'b band that had barnstormed Toronto and beyond.

Bonus tracks fill up both discs, out-takes, alternates and instrumental versions of tracks from the album. Some of these were included on the reissue from 2000, but there are a further six previously unissued ones new for this set. That includes two very different versions of "Rag Mama Rag," one early one with different instrumentation, and another with a much different vocal mix. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is featured in an alternate mix that with the acoustic guitar more prominent.

The alternate takes and early mixes give us an even better taste of what it was like when the group recorded as one, sitting around each other in Sammy Davis Jr.'s pool house. Unlike Music From Big Pink, this one was recorded in Hollywood in the rented home, to get the clubhouse atmosphere the group so desired. And the album itself features a new remix, although nothing drastic for sure, mostly touching up the ambience with what the latest technology can offer.

As for the songs on the original album itself, if you do not have it already, are we even friends? This is The Band - The Band! You know, with "Up On Cripple Creek," "Across The Great Divide," "King Harvest," and of course, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." No, it does not include "The Weight," that's on the other one, Big Pink. If you're buying The Band just for "The Weight," we have a lot to talk about.