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 - Great, underrated Band albumAlmost every song on this album is a winner. A few of the best songs are only available on this album, having never been put in a Greatest Hits Collection or in The Last Waltz (movie of Band's last concert). The tune, "Ala Glory" is a subtle stunner. Regarding The Last Waltz, buy it and watch/listen to the greatest band in rock n' roll history--no hyperbole, The Band is the one musical entity or person that can truly be called GREAT. Rating: - The Best of the First 3The strain of being pressured into making another masterpiece like the first 2 records, constant touring and heavy partying was starting to make the group weary and this album is a beautiful masterpiece of struggle, it's a treat that we have it forever on record. The most underrated Band record and the best of the magical first 3. Rating:  - Amazing, overlooked album--Gold CD has better mix than this oneLet me start by saying this: The material recorded on this CD merits a solid, worthy 5 stars. Fans of the first two Band albums should definitely buy this, since it's ever so close to being as classic as those two albums. The reason I rated this CD 4 stars is because the band sent the tapes to 2 different mixing engineers, resulting in two completely different mixes. This CD issue contains the (in my and most people's opinions) inferior of the two mixes. The mix on this album drowns out some instruments on some songs (piano, for example, on the high-energy romp "Time To Kill"), and is plagued by too much reverb that makes it production seem like the Band was going for a slick pop sound. The more expensive Gold CD release from 1994 (as well as some earlier, lower-quality CD issues) uses the alternate mix, which sounds much livelier, like you're in the room with 5 guys jamming on their instruments and singing in harmony--just like the first two albums! The bonus tracks don't really add anything much either (like bonus tracks usually don't). However, you can get this CD pretty cheap new from Amazon, and REALLY cheap used (something like $2), so it's certainly worth the minimal purchase to hear this great music for the first time. Regarding the music on the album itself, I don't really completely buy into the mythology that the spotlight reviews are trying to perpetuate--Stage Fright isn't a concept album about "Manuel's life or death struggle with Robertson" anymore than The Band was a concept album about the finer points of having fun in the Wild West--why do we need to assign these kinds of categories to such category-defying music? Likewise, Robertson in the liner notes back-projects some sort of self-aggrandizing story about how he was trying to reach Richard Manuel with his songs. According to common sense and Levon Helm's autobiography, Robertson may have been encouraging Richard to write more and get everybody to participate, but Richard's real big problems didn't really surface until the late 70's and his eventual suicide, over 15 years after this album was created. It's pretty egotistical for Robbie and critics/reviewers to claim that this entire album was intended as an indictment/diagnosis of the problems the band was facing due to their stardom. Sure, those themes are (kind of) there in songs like "Stage Fright" and "The Shape I'm In," but to claim that Robbie was trying to "communicate with Richard through the music" is pretty absurd, not to mention pathetic (if he really wanted to reach him, there were probably better ways). Instead of completely backwardly misinterpreting songs like "Strawberry Wine," "Time To Kill," and "W.S. Walcott Medicine Show" to fit some romanticized legend about the band members' secret feelings, I propose to take the music (and what great music it is) at face value: This album is chock full of rock and roll, upbeat jams, good times, great lyrics, and some wicked guitar. Despite his many ego-related shortcomings, Robbie Robertson still possessed quite a songwriting muse at the time of this album. It may have been because he was increasingly taking more creative control of the band, but there is also some increasingly gnarly, wicked guitar from Robertson on this album. Most of these songs are the same caliber as songs of the first two albums (some of them are better). At face value, "Strawberry Wine" is a party song about a guy who just loves his wine. It's funny and fun, with great organ from Garth Hudson. "Sleeping" is catchy as hell, and funny as well. "Just Another Whistle Stop" marks a milestone in the complexities of Robertson's composition, and some gritty guitar. "The Shape I'm In" and "Stage Fright" are often talked about classics. One of my personal favorites is "The Rumor," which closes the album with one of Richard Manuel's most soulful vocals ever. Overall, Stage Fright clocks in shorter than The Band's first two albums, but it's packed with great moments. Garth Hudson's piano, organ and saxophone are ON, as usual. Levon Helm turns in some great vocals (despite his documented drug problems of the time), Rick Danko's got classical vocals as well as some fat fretless bass lines, and Richard Manuel is in fine vocal form and contributes some fine songwriting (his last on any Band albums). I don't agree with most of the romanticized interpretations of this album and prefer to take it as it is: a record full of good times and human feeling like the two albums before it. Once you get to know this record, you may notice that Robertson was consciously trying to emulate those good feelings and human moments, but they weren't coming quite as easily or naturally as on the first two albums. Stage Fright still hits hard as one of the Band's greatest and most overlooked records. It's worth owning both versions, so once you get to know and love this album, you may want to check out the Gold CD version from 1994--it's more expensive, but totally worth it. I hope you purchase and enjoy this excellent music! Rating: - A little Different - But Just as Strong!Expectations were high when the Band released their third album in 1970. After two masterpieces, would they be able to do it again? Guitarist and main song-writer Robbie Robertson had expressed a wish to do a more basic rock'n roll album - a more light-hearted good time record. At the same time things were beginning to get more complicated for some members of the Band. Their commercial success meant money, and money meant temptations and easy access to drugs. At the time of the recordings of "Stage Fright" all three singers were taking heroin, and this obviously influenced the record and to some extent changed the sound of their vocals. Though Robertson managed to write some lyrics that fit his original idea of a basic light-hearted rock album; other songs deal with darker sides of life. Opening song, "Strawberry Wine", sung and co-written by Levon Helm is a blues fitting nicely into the original concept. This is the last album where singer Richard Manuel contributes original material, and Robertson had to help him finish his two songs. "Sleeping" is a beatiful pianoballad with a rocking chorus; obviously sung by Manuel. "Time to Kill" has a great catchy guitar intro and rocks on nicely with Danko and Manuel sharing the lead vocals. The second Manuel song is "Just Another Whistle Stop", which features another fine intro, and it is also one of the few Band studi-recording with an extended guitar-solo from Robertson. All four opening tracks bear the high quality mark of the Band, but the first really outstanding track is Robertson's beautiful lullaby/ballad "All La Glory". This is such a great song with Helm doing one of his best ever recorded vocals. The dark theme is coming forward on the next rocker "The Shape I'm In" - sung by Manuel. The slightly jazzy "W.S. Walcott Medicine Show" is quite amusing featuring different brass instruments, but lyrically the song show a serious side of Robertson's songwriting. The original album was ended with 3 more outstanding Band songs; all personal favourites of mine. "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" is a country/folky song telling a the story of Daniel in a similar way the Dylan told the story of "Frankie Lee and Judas Priest". It's always a thrill when the three singers share the verses and all join in on the chorus. The title track sung by Rick Danko, was an immediate live-favourite and one Danko finest performances; which says a lot. "The Rumor" is another outstanding ballad, again with all singers taking lead verses. A worthy final the a great album. The album is often regarded as a step downhill for the Band; I don't see it that way - it's a little different, yes, but just a strong as its predecessors. This new version of the album features some interesting alternate versions, but none ot them matches the original recordings. Rating: - It's all in the comparisonI've always thought the biggest problem for The Band was that their first two albums were almost too good. Because they were among the best ever released, everything after them was downgraded. Cahoots isn't as bad as a lot of people seem to think and Northern Lights is actually a very good album. But back to Stage Fright. It isn't as original or groundbreaking as the first two. But compared to almost everything released by anyone in the 35 years since this was issued, it's still an A-plus. Maybe it is, as one reviewer suggests, symbolic of Robertson's frustration with Manuel's (and Danko's) substance abuse problems. That makes it more personal and less roots-based than the first two, one reason it's been downgraded. Big Pink and The Band were groundbreaking albums. Stage Fright was similar (although much better) to a lot of albums in the early '70s. In any case, I'm happy that The Band seems to be getting the respect in the 21st century that it got only sporadically during its peak years (68-72). Even though the music world ranked them with the Beatles (see Clapton's comments) I don't think any album sold more than 800,000 copies, a piddling number today. I suspect the reissues might have done close to that and I love the fact that people who weren't born during their heyday now love them. One aside about this album: the title song isn't a reference to Richard or Rick. It was Robbie's problem: literally the stage fright he experienced just before The Band's debut (as The Band, not The Hawks) in San Francisco.
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