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Excerpts from Jon Pareles’s NY Times obituary on Mr. Helm…
In Mr. Helm’s drumming, muscle, swing, economy and finesse were inseparably merged. His voice held the bluesy, weathered and resilient essence of his Arkansas upbringing in the Mississippi Delta.
Mr. Helm was the American linchpin of the otherwise Canadian group that became Bob Dylan’s backup band and then the Band. Its own songs — largely written by the Band’s guitarist, Jaime Robbie Robertson, and pianist, Richard Manuel — spring from roadhouse, church, backwoods, river and farm; they are rock-ribbed with history and tradition yet hauntingly surreal.
Mr. Helm’s drumming valued space over showiness. He gave his drums a muffled, bottom-heavy sound that placed them in the foundation of the arrangements, and his tom-toms were tuned so that their pitch would bend downward as the tone faded…His playing was sturdy and self-effacing, dedicated to serving the song. But it also had a loose, improvisational feel, tersely responsive to the music.
Mr. Helm didn’t call attention to himself. Three bass-drum thumps at the beginning of one of the Band’s anthems, “The Weight,“ were all that he needed to establish the song’s gravity; in “The Shape I’m In,“ he juxtaposed Memphis soul, New Orleans rumba and military tattoo. His playing was sturdy and self-effacing, dedicated to serving the song. But it also had a loose, improvisational feel, tersely responsive to the music.
In the Band, lead vocals changed from song to song and harmonies were elaborately communal. But particularly when lyrics turned to myths and tall tales of the American South — like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” “Ophelia” and “Rag Mama Rag” — the lead went to Mr. Helm, with his Arkansas twang and a voice that could sound desperate, ornery and amused at the same time.
In a 1984 interview with Modern Drummer magazine, Mr. Helm described the “right ingredients” for his work in music and film as “life and breath, heart and soul.”
Nearly to the end, Mr. Helm spent his life on the bandstand. “If it doesn’t come from your heart,” he wrote, “music just doesn’t work.”
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Citibank HallApril 15, 2012
1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
2. It Ain’t Me, Babe (Bob on guitar)
3. Things Have Changed
4. Tangled Up In Blue
5. The Levee’s Gonna Break
6. Tryin’ To Get To Heaven
7. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
8. Desolation Row
9. Summer Days
10. Simple Twist Of Fate
11. Highway 61 Revisited
12. Forgetful Heart
13. Thunder On The Mountain
14. Ballad Of A Thin Man
(encore)
15. Like A Rolling Stone
16. All Along The WatchtowerZzzzzzzzzzz… 😐
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/film-adaptation-of-bob-dylans-blood-on-the-tracks-in-the-works-20120404
@tntracy wrote:
@Lefty wrote:
(Uh, should I have inserted a “that” in front of the first “the” above?! 😕 )
Not so sure about that, Lefty. I have been told that I use too many “thats” in my writing – that is, when that situation that doesn’t require a “that” arises, I have that urge to insert one regardless.
And I’m told that I am too wordy at times, as well… 😉
Tom
And that, my friend, is that! 🙂
TO: Word is the Professor is brutal when giving out marks — take the A- and run!
(Uh, should I have inserted a “that” in front of the first “the” above?! 😕 )http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/playlists/dylan-radio/playlist-1117090.html?utm_source=NL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120403
