The Band’s Classic ‘Stage Fright’ Album to Get Deluxe Reissue

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The Band’s classic 1970 album is often considered slightly inferior to its two stone-cold-classic predecessors, the group’s debut “Music From Big Pink” and the self-titled follow-up — but what’s not often stated is that “slightly inferior” to those albums still makes it one of the best albums of the year if not the era.

While the group had started to fragment a bit at the time of its recording — largely due to substance abuse — it still contains several of their all-time best songs, like the title track, “The Shape I’m In,” “Strawberry Wine” and others.

On February 12, Capitol/UMe will celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary with a set of newly remixed, remastered and expanded editions, including a multi-format Super Deluxe 2CD/Blu-ray/1LP/7-inch vinyl box set photo booklet; digital, 2CD, 180-gram black vinyl, and limited edition 180-gram color vinyl packages.

The release follows last year’s stellar reissue of “The Band,” which included the group’s previously unreleased set from the Woodstock festival.

All the Anniversary Edition releases were overseen by principal songwriter Robbie Robertson and boast a new stereo mix by Bob Clearmountain from the original multi-track masters (which resolves the conundrum caused by some of the album’s earlier re-releases, which included incorrect mixes of several songs).

While the release notes that “For the first time, the album is being presented in the originally planned song order,” what will really interest fans is the previously unreleased material.

The box set, CD and digital configurations include “Live at the Royal Albert Hall, June 1971,” a full 20-song concert captured in the midst of their European tour as the band was at the top of its game; alternate versions of “Strawberry Wine” and “Sleeping;” and seven unearthed field recordings, “Calgary Hotel Recordings, 1970,” a fun and loose, impromptu late night hotel jam session between Bandmembers Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel of several “Stage Fright” songs, recorded during the group’s legendary “Festival Express” Canadian tour with Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy and others.

In the set’s liner notes, Robertson calls the show at London’s Royal Albert Hall “One of the greatest live concerts The Band ever played.”

Exclusively for the box set, Clearmountain has also created a new 5.1 surround mix and a hi-res stereo mix of the album, bonus tracks and the live show, presented on Blu-ray. All the new audio mixes have been mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering.

The set also includes an exclusive reproduction of the Spanish pressing of The Band’s 1971 7-inch vinyl single for “Time To Kill” b/w “The Shape I’m In” in their new stereo mixes and a photo booklet with new notes by Robertson and touring photographer John Scheele, along with other ephemera.

Stage Fright (50th Anniversary Edition) Tracklisting

CD1; Digital
1. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
2. The Shape I’m In
3. Daniel And The Sacred Harp
4. Stage Fright
5. The Rumor
6. Time To Kill
7. Just Another Whistle Stop
8. All La Glory
9. Strawberry Wine
10. Sleeping
Bonus Tracks
11. Strawberry Wine (Alternate Mix) *
12. Sleeping (Alternate Mix) *
Calgary Hotel Room Recordings, 1970 *

13. Get Up Jake (#1) *
14. Get Up Jake (#2) *
15. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show *
16. Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu *
17. Calgary Blues *
18. Before You Accuse Me *
19. Mojo Hannah *

* Previously unreleased

CD2; Digital
Live At Royal Albert Hall, June 1971
(Previously Unreleased)
1. The Shape I’m In
2. Time To Kill
3. The Weight
4. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
5. Strawberry Wine
6. Rockin’ Chair
7. Look Out Cleveland
8. I Shall Be Released
9. Stage Fright
10. Up On Cripple Creek
11. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
12. We Can Talk
13. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
14. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
15. Across the Great Divide
16. The Unfaithful Servant
17. Don’t Do It
18. The Genetic Method
19. Chest Fever
20. Rag Mama Rag

Blu-ray
Stereo and 5.1 Surround
High Resolution Audio: 96 kHz/24 bit


DISC 1

1. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
2. The Shape I’m In
3. Daniel And The Sacred Harp
4. Stage Fright
5. The Rumor
6. Time To Kill
7. Just Another Whistle Stop
8. All La Glory
9. Strawberry Wine
10. Sleeping
Bonus Tracks
11. Strawberry Wine (Alternate Mix) *
12. Sleeping (Alternate Mix) *

* Previously unreleased

DISC 2
Live At Royal Albert Hall, June 1971
(Previously Unreleased)
1. The Shape I’m In
2. Time To Kill
3. The Weight
4. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
5. Strawberry Wine
6. Rockin’ Chair
7. Look Out Cleveland
8. I Shall Be Released
9. Stage Fright
10. Up On Cripple Creek
11. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
12. We Can Talk
13. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
14. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
15. Across the Great Divide
16. The Unfaithful Servant
17. Don’t Do It
18. The Genetic Method
19. Chest Fever
20. Rag Mama Rag

1LP (33 1/3 RPM)
180g black vinyl (included in the box set and available individually); ltd. edition 180g multi-colored vinyl (available individually)

Side One
1. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
2. The Shape I’m In
3. Daniel And The Sacred Harp
4. Stage Fright
5. The Rumor

Side Two
1. Time To Kill
2. Just Another Whistle Stop
3. All La Glory
4. Strawberry Wine
5. Sleeping

“Time To Kill” (Original 1971 7” Capitol Single, Spanish Pressing)

  1. Time To Kill
  2. The Shape I’m In

 

 





Source : Variety