The Band: Stage Fright 50th Anniversary Edition

Stage Fright isn’t The Band’s best studio album, nor even its second best. Those accolades go to the group’s first and second releases, Music from Big Pink and The Band, though not necessarily in that order. Stage Fright, which came next chronologically and appeared in 1971, takes the bronze medal. But in this case, that’s not a diss. It’s like saying (insert your third-favorite Beatles album here) isn’t the first- or second-best Beatles album. We’re still talking superlative music.   

Fifty years ago, after The Band had made a huge splash with those ground-breaking first two albums, Stage Fright took fans and critics alike by surprise. The tone was lighter, the tempos more upbeat. Further, its songs were personal rather than historical. All this was intentional. Robbie Robertson, the group’s main songwriter, needed a reprieve from the first two albums’ seriousness. Candidly, he also wanted Stage Fright to be different enough from its predecessors to prevent direct comparisons.  

Nonetheless, several critics made such comparisons and, just as Robertson had feared, decided that less serious meant less good. Over time, however, as Stage Fright’s best tracks have proved just as sturdy—if not as iconic—as “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” it’s become clear that the album has nothing to apologize for. In fact, quite the opposite. 

Fifty years on, listening to Stage Fright is an unexpected delight. This is true not only because the material has held up so well, but also thanks to the work of Robertson and Bob Clearmountain, who completely remixed and re-sequenced the tracks. So now, instead of kicking off with “Strawberry Wine,” the album’s only clunker, the festive mood is set with the jaunty “W.S. Walcott Medicine Show.” Yet as the new tracklist plays out, a theme of contentment tinged with darkness becomes increasingly prominent, no more so than in the line “Feel so tall/Like a prison wall” from “All La Glory.” This duality, especially in the new sequence, gives the superficially-breezy album unanticipated depth and complexity. 

As for the playing itself, Stage Fright captures The Band more confident and cohesive than ever before. Thanks to years of touring, the rhythm section of bassist Rick Danko and drummer Levon Helm had really gelled. Garth Hudson’s singular, whirling dervish organ work and Richard Manuel’s tasty piano licks had likewise evolved and matured. Perhaps the biggest change was guitarist Robertson’s emergence from the shadows. For the first time on an album (as opposed to onstage), he delivered a bevy of crackling solos and perfect fills.

The result is an album that, should you choose, you can dance to—which certainly couldn’t be said about The Band’s earlier work. Alternately, you can heed call of the closing track, “Sleeping,” to “dream away” while lapping up the beautiful melodies and stellar vocals. You can also listen to the album’s best song, “The Rumor,” while thinking hard about how its warnings concerning disinformation resonate even more strongly today.   

The new mix, it’s safe to say, is an utter triumph. The album doesn’t sound a little bit better than the original—it sounds like a completely different recording. Indeed, if you didn’t know otherwise, you’d think the remixed Stage Fright was a brand-new, audiophile-quality release. Now, you can clearly hear everything—technically and emotionally—these stellar musicians put into the music. 

Regardless of your choice of format, I would strongly recommend springing for the Deluxe Edition. The voice-and-piano rendition of “Sleeping” alone is worth the price of admission. But there’s also an entire Royal Albert Hall concert that ranks with one of The Band’s best—and that’s saying a lot. On that occasion, the group was in peak form, unencumbered by additional horn sections or guest artists. If you didn’t already know it from Rock of Ages and The Last Waltz, this concert hammers home how formidable The Band was as a live act.  

Between its enduring songs, unmatched musicianship, newly-sequenced tracks, valuable bonus material, and vastly-improved sound, the 50th anniversary edition of Stage Fright is one of the most rewarding rock reissues ever released. Along with the likewise successful reissues of The Band’s first two albums, the new Stage Fright is a testament to one of rock’s greatest groups. Only the certified-classic status of The Band’s first two albums relegates Stage Fright to bronze medal status. Don’t let that deter you. Most bands would kill to have put out an album anywhere near this good. Highly recommended.