Islands (The Band album)

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Islands is the seventh studio album by Canadian-American rock group the Band. It was released on March 14, 1977, through Capitol Records, and was self-produced. The album, which was compiled primarily of previously unreleased outtakes, was released to fulfill the band's contract with Capitol so that the live concert album The Last Waltz (1978) could be released through Warner Bros. Records. As the band would soon break up later in 1977, Islands would be the last album to feature the group's original lineup.Template:Efn<ref name="Q">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Upon release, Islands received mixed reviews and was a commercial slump for the band. While the band's cover of "Georgia on My Mind" was released the previous year in tandem with the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter, no singles were released to promote the album. The record itself stalled at number 64 on the Billboard 200, becoming the lowest-charting of all the band's albums for Capitol.<ref name=faq103>Aaron 2016, p. 103</ref> Both contemporary and retrospective reviews consider the album to be inferior to the band's previous work, though certain tracks have been singled out for praise. The album has been reissued multiple times, including with bonus material in 2001.

Background and recording

In 1975, the Band would release their sixth studio album, Northern Lights – Southern Cross. The album would receive positive reviews from critics, with some declaring it among the group's best work, but was a commercial disappointment, falling outside the top 20 in the US. Troubles arose while touring behind the album, including a major powerboat accident suffered by pianist and vocalist Richard Manuel, as well as a general loss of enthusiasm for touring.<ref name=hoskyns329330>Hoskyns 1993, p. 329-330</ref> Additionally, Manuel's failing health and drug addictions caused his vocal abilities to suffer, and the general quality of the band's performances became inconsistent.<ref name=hoskyns329330/> These issues culminated in Robbie Robertson's decision to cease the band's touring schedule, culminating in a finale concert entitled The Last Waltz, which would take place on Thanksgiving 1976. Mo Ostin, president of Warner Bros. Records and friend of Robertson's, helped to finance the film in exchange for the rights to release the corresponding live album on his label. Because of this, the group needed to compile one more album's worth of new material to complete their current contract with Capitol before The Last Waltz could be released.<ref name=liner>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

With the exception of the album's title track, which dated back to earlier sessions at Bearsville Studios in New York, all of the material on Islands originated from various recording sessions at the band's own Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California in the year and a half period following the release of Northern Lights – Southern Cross.<ref name=liner/> The band did not undertake these sessions with the intention of completing an album; rather, the group would enter Shangri-La simply out of a desire to record with no larger plans.<ref name=liner/> After realizing their need to submit one last album to Capitol, the group began work on completing the older material; the band would alternate between this project and rehearsals for The Last Waltz at Shangri-La.<ref name=hoskyns334>Hoskyns 1993, p. 334</ref> Recordings continued up to just days before The Last Waltz, with bassist Rick Danko finishing his harmony vocals on "Livin' in a Dream" in the early hours of November 22 after having spent the entire previous day rehearsing for the upcoming performance.<ref name=hoskyns338>Hoskyns 1993, p. 338</ref>

The title track, the oldest on the album, began life as a guitar riff composed by Danko years earlier, which caught the attention of Robertson. Originally titled "Dr. Medicine Song", the piece would continue to be developed through Danko and Robertson working with a drum machine, while keyboardist Garth Hudson would also make contributions to the track.<ref name=liner/> By late 1976, Robertson had planned to write lyrics for the track, but these plans were later abandoned and it would ultimately remain an instrumental.<ref name=liner/><ref name=helm269>Helm 1993, p. 269</ref>

Composition

"Right as Rain" would later be described by Robertson as possessing a sense of "sophistication" due to the use of major seventh chords and a "light" and "sweet" tone; he also compared the track to the work of Stevie Wonder. Peter Aaron, author of The Band FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Fathers of Americana, likens the track to soft rock bands such as Exile and Ambrosia.<ref name=faq104/> The song also showcases Hudson's keyboard work as well as a soprano saxophone solo.<ref name=liner/> The following track, "Street Walker", has been referred as a "prostitute's lament". Aaron describes Robertson's solo as "squealing" with prominent use of pinch harmonics.<ref name=faq104>Aaron 2016, p. 104</ref> Aaron considers "Let the Night Fall" to be a yacht rock track whose lyrics are a "metaphorical commentary on the group's nocturnal lifestyle".<ref name=faq104/> Helm takes the lead vocal for a cover of Homer Banks' "Ain't That a Lot of Love", originally released in 1966.<ref name=faq104/> Robertson felt the song's style was natural for the band, stating: "it was like here's a song that's got our name written all over it… we just had to do it."<ref name=liner/> In the liner notes for the album's 2001 reissue, Rob Bowman compares the song to the group's earlier covers album Moondog Matinee (1973).<ref name=liner/> "Christmas Must Be Tonight" was inspired by the birth of Robertson's son and contains "crystalline" synthesizer and organ playing from Hudson, which Aaron credits with creating an "appropriately peaceful, reverent air."<ref name=faq104/>

Robertson likened the album's instrumental title track to movie background music, citing its "cinematic" flavor. Instrumentation on the song includes "elegant" soprano saxophone as well as synthesized flute and strings, with the latter giving the song a "vaguely Celtic" sound according to Bowman.<ref name=liner/> Aaron describes "The Saga of Pepote Rouge" as a "Danko vehicle" possessing a "descending gospel melody" with "full-bodied" backup vocals by Helm and Manuel.<ref name=faq104/> Its lyrics have been described as "Buñuel-esque", while Robertson himself characterized his writing as "fairy tale-ish" and "mythological", likening it to Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan (1968).<ref name=faq104/><ref name=liner/> Bowman refers to the track as "one of Robbie's trademark stream-of-consciousness stories."<ref name=liner/> "Georgia on My Mind" contains a vocal performance from Manuel which Aaron considers to be "heart-melting", while, like "Ain't That a Lot of Love", Bowman compares it to the band's work on Moondog Matinee.<ref name=faq105>Aaron 2016, p. 105</ref><ref name=liner/> "Knockin' Lost John" contains Robertson's first lead vocal on a Band album since "To Kingdom Come" (1968); Aaron lists Hudson's accordion work and Robertson's "detuned" guitar solos as the song's highlights.<ref name=faq105/> The lyrics, which are set during the Great Depression, have been described as an "off beat tale", while Bowman states the music "evokes a feeling of looseness and spontaneity".<ref name=rs>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=liner/> The album concludes with "Livin' in a Dream", which has been described as "ironic", given the contrast between the song's hopeful and optimistic nature and the frayed state of the band at the time.<ref name=liner/> Aaron describes the track as "deceptively cheery", highlighting Helm's whistling at the song's conclusion.<ref name=faq105/>

Release

The album art of Islands was designed by Bob Cato and depicts the five band members' profiles set against a coastal sunset.<ref name=liner/><ref name=faq102/> Some<ref name=rs/><ref name=faq102>Aaron 2016, p. 102</ref> have noted a correlation between the album's title of Islands and the state of the Band at the time of its release, with Aaron stating: "…the group had drifted apart, each member isolated on his own emotional island. Or, perhaps more accurately, Robertson, who wanted the group to stop performing, was on one island and the others were on another." In his review of the album for Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus also noted a correlation between the album's title and their then-recent farewell concert as well as the growing number of side projects being held by members of the group at the time, stating these facets all added up to the implication that Islands would be the Band's "last word".<ref name=rs/>

Upon release, Islands was a commercial failure, stalling at number 64 in the US, the lowest placement of any of the band's Capitol albums.<ref name=billboard>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=faq103/> While "Georgia in My Mind" was released as a single in tandem with Carter's 1976 presidential campaign (and months before the release of Islands), no singles were released in promotion of the album itself.<ref name=liner/>

In later years, Robertson lamented Capitol's decision to market the record as the band's next studio album, instead of a "record of B-sides and outtakes".<ref name=faq103/> In the liner notes of the Islands CD reissue, Robertson went as far as to state that Islands "wasn't an album" and instead was a release simply meant to fulfill the band's contract. Bowman himself compares the album to outtakes compilations such as the Who's Odds and Sods and Jefferson Airplane's Early Flight (both 1974).<ref name=liner/>

Critical reception

Upon its release, reviews for Islands were mixed. In his review for Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus praised much of the album's second side, calling the title track as "slight and pretty" and highlighting Manuel's vocals on "Georgia on My Mind"; Marcus also named "Livin' in a Dream" as the album's best track. However, he disparaged the band's version of "Ain't That a Lot of Love" as "the stiffest excuse for R&B [he] ever want[s] to hear" despite what he felt were strong past live performances of the song by the group, while also stating that "too many of Robbie Robertson's tunes offer cracker-barrel banalities without the music that could redeem them — or disguise them."<ref name=rs/> Later, the Rolling Stone Album Guide would refer to the album as a "barely listenable collection of outtakes".<ref name=rsg/> Robert Christgau reviewed the album negatively, giving it a grade of C+ and calling it a "listless farewell to old habits".<ref name=rc/>

Conversely, Rosalind Russell of Record Mirror awarded the album five stars out of five, praising Robertson's "haunting" songwriting and vocals and stating the record was one in a "long line of perfect albums".<ref name=rw/> Record World also gave the album a positive review, highlighting the title track, "Right as Rain", "Let the Night Fall", and "Georgia on My Mind" as "glistening performances", and declaring the album to be "as timeless as ever."<ref name=rw2>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Cashbox praised the album, stating the Band "manage[d] to sound fresh without losing their particular sound identity." The review highlighted the covers of "Ain't That a Lot of Love" and "Georgia on My Mind", and called the album as a whole "distinctive" and properly representative of the group.<ref name=cashbox>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Retrospective comments on the album have been mixed to negative. Reviewing the 1991 reissue, John Bauldie in Q called the album "a ragbag of old outtakes and otherwise unplaceable new numbers."<ref name="Q" /> In a retrospective review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann praised the band's playing, as well as Manuel's vocals on "Georgia in My Mind", but felt the album ultimately fell short of the standards set by the band's earlier work.<ref name=allmusic/> Aaron describes Islands as a "half-baked, phoned-in effort" which results in an "underwhelming swan song" for the group's original lineup.<ref name=faq103/> However, some songs on Islands have been retrospectively singled out for praise. In a retrospective of the band's catalog, Rolling Stone singled out "Christmas Must Be Tonight", "The Saga of Pepote Rouge", and "Georgia on My Mind" as highlights.<ref name=rsd>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> American Songwriter also praised "Christmas Must Be Tonight", stating the song "rises way above your typical rock holiday fare", as well as highlighting Danko's vocals and noting the song as "one of the last examples of the special chemistry that epitomized [the Band's] original lineup."<ref name=as>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personnel

The Band

• Rick Danko – bass guitar, vocals
• Levon Helm – drums, vocals
• Garth Hudson – organ, synthesizers, saxophones, accordion, piccolo on "Islands"
• Richard Manuel – piano, electric piano, vocals
• Robbie Robertson – guitars, lead vocal on "Knockin' Lost John"

Additional musicians

• Jim Gordon – flute on "Islands"
• Tom Malone – trombone on "Islands"
• John Simon – alto saxophone on "Islands"
• Larry Packer – violin on "Islands"

Production

• Ed Anderson – engineering
• Neil Brody – engineering
• Rob Fraboni – engineering
• Nat Jeffrey – engineering

References

Sources

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