The Band Stage Fright - 50th Anniversary 180g LP

Stage Fright is the third studio album by Canadian American group the Band, released on August 17, 1970. Engineered by Todd Rundgren and Glyn Johns, it features two of the group's best-known songs, "The Shape I'm In" and "Stage Fright," both of which showcased inspired lead vocal performances (by Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, respectively) and became staples in the group's live shows.

50th Anniversary edition of the LP has been newly remixed and remastered and pressed on 180 gram vinyl, 33rpm.

If their first two LPs inspired the Beatles and Stones to return to basics, Stage Fright connotes an entirely different sphere of influence: it's a nonpareil boogie album, whose in-the-pocket playing establishes the Band as the equal of groovemaster peers like Booker T. and the Meters and sets a predicate for followers like Little Feat and NRBQ. The Band's signature was always the telepathic interplay between bassist Rick Danko, guitarist Robbie Robertson, drummer Levon Helm, pianist Richard Manuel and multi-instrumentalist-shaman Garth Hudson. This is Stage Fright's great selling point. The group never sounded more effervescent or imaginative than on tracks like the strutting 'Strawberry Wine' or the layabout-anthem 'Time to Kill,' a rollicking tribute to a week off the road that serves as a subtext to the punishing touring schedule that would eventually become the Band's undoing. What Stage Fright lacks in history lessons it makes up for in palpable joy. They would never seem so happy again... Fifty years on Stage Fright is an oasis, an exhalation, a genial respite from the ongoing crucible of the Band's accumulating days. The final moment when the music came easy, before the weight became unmanageable.

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. 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.