Reception Professional ratings Retrospective reviews The overall design of the sleeve is by Milton Glaser (who also did the poster that was packed with the 1967 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits). The photo appeared on the cover with the caption "Next of Kin".
A photo was inserted of Diamond and Nell Helm, who lived in Arkansas. Photographer Elliott Landy flew to Toronto to photograph the assembled Danko, Manuel, Robertson, and Hudson families on the Danko chicken farm. The cover of Music From Big Pink was intended to establish the group as having a different outlook from the psychedelic culture of 1968.
Barney Hoskyns has written that it is significant the painting depicts six musicians. Instead, Dylan signified his presence by contributing a cover painting. Artwork ĭylan offered to sing on the album, but ultimately realized it was important for the Band to make their own statement. were "In A Station", "To Kingdom Come", " Lonesome Suzie", " Long Black Veil" and " I Shall Be Released". They also cut some material at Gold Star Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard. Robertson has said that when Simon asked them how they wanted it to sound, they replied, "Just like it did in the basement." Ĭapitol, pleased with the initial recording session, suggested that the group move to Los Angeles to finish recording their first album at Capitol Studios. The Band recorded " Tears of Rage", " Chest Fever", " We Can Talk", " This Wheel's On Fire" and " The Weight" in two sessions. Īfter meeting with producer John Simon, the Band started to record their debut album in Manhattan at A&R Studios, on the 7th floor of 799 7th Avenue at 52nd Street in the early months of 1968.
Helm's return coincided with a ferment of activity in Big Pink as the embryonic Band not only recorded with Dylan but also began to write their own songs. Armed with news of a recording deal for the group, they lured Levon Helm back from the oil rigs where he had been working to Woodstock where he took up his crucial position in the Band, singing and playing drums. Alan Livingston at Capitol signed the Band, initially under the name the Crackers. The Band's manager Albert Grossman (who was also Dylan's manager) approached Capitol Records to secure a record deal for a group still informally described as "Dylan's backing band". By the end of 1967 the Band felt it was time to step out of Dylan's shadow and make their own statement.
Widely bootlegged at the time, initially as Great White Wonder in July 1969, some of the recordings Dylan and the Band made were officially released in 1975 on The Basement Tapes, and then in their totality in 2014 on The Bootleg Series Vol. The house was subsequently sold by Gramms in 1977, and since 1998, it has been a private residence. The house became known locally as " Big Pink" for its pink siding. Danko moved in along with Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel in February 1967. The house was newly built when Rick Danko found it as a rental. The house was built by Ottmar Gramms, who bought the land in 1952. They began to create their distinctive sound during 1967 when they improvised and recorded with Bob Dylan a huge number of cover songs and original Dylan material in the basement of a pink house in West Saugerties, New York, located at 56 Parnassus Lane (formerly 2188 Stoll Road). The Band's members included Danko, Manuel, Hudson, guitarist Robbie Robertson and drummer/singer Levon Helm.