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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_band_album_7053.jpeg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:''"Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train / 'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again..."'']]
3
4''The Band'' is the second studio album by Music/TheBand, released in 1969. It is also known by the FanNickname ''The Brown Album''. It's best known for the hits "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Rag Mama Rag" and "Up on Cripple Creek".
5
6In 2009 the record was inducted in the UsefulNotes/NationalRecordingRegistry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically important". It was also subject of a documentary episode about the creative process behind the making of the album in the TV documentary series ''Series/ClassicAlbums''.
7
8----
9!! Tracklist:
10
11[[AC: Side One]]
12
13# "Across the Great Divide" (2:52)
14# "Rag Mama Rag" (3:02)
15# "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (3:30)
16# "When You Awake" (3:10)
17# "Up on Cripple Creek" (4:29)
18# "Whispering Pines" (3:55)
19
20[[AC: Side Two]]
21
22# "Jemima Surrender" (3:30)
23# "Rockin' Chair" (3:40)
24# "Look Out Cleveland" (3:07)
25# "Jawbone" (4:17)
26# "The Unfaithful Servant" (4:15)
27# "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" (3:35)
28
29----
30!!Principal Members:
31
32* Rick Danko - lead vocals, bass, fiddle, trombone
33* Levon Helm - lead vocals, drums, guitar, mandolin
34* Garth Hudson - keyboard, organ, clavinet, piano, accordion, melodica, saxophone, trumpet, bass pedals
35* Richard Manuel - lead vocals, piano, drums, saxophone, harmonica
36* Robbie Robertson - guitar
37
38----
39!! The Night They Wrote All These Tropes Down...
40
41* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar: "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is about the last days of this war and the suffering of white Southerners.
42* CallToAgriculture: The album shows great sympathy to the American South and the difficult life in the countryside.
43* ConceptAlbum: ''The Band'' is seen as a concept album, focusing on people, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana.
44* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The album cover, though the photo of the band is framed in brown, coining it the nickname ''The Brown Album''.
45* FaceOnTheCover: A picture of the band, framed in the centre of the album cover image.
46* IntercourseWithYou: "Jemima Surrender"
47* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Listen to the lyrics of "Up On Cripple Creek" and Bessie starts to sound like this.
48* NoEnding: "When You Awake" fades out while Danko is still in the middle of a line.
49* OneWomanSong: "Jemima Surrender", where the love interest is identified as being named "Jemima".
50* OneWordTitle: "Jawbone".
51* ThePowerOfLove: "Jemima Surrender"
52--> ''Sweet Jemima, if I were a king''
53--> ''I'd fix you up with a diamond ring''
54* ProtestSong: "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" possibly qualifies.
55--> ''Last year, this time, wasn't no joke,''
56--> ''My whole barn went up in smoke''
57--> ''My horse Jethro, well, he went mad''
58--> ''And I can't ever remember things bein' that bad''
59--> ''Now here comes a man with a paper and pen''
60--> ''Tellin' us our hard times are about to end''
61--> ''And then, if they don't give us what we like''
62--> ''He said, "Men, that's when you gotta go on strike!"''
63* RecordProducer: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Simon_%28record_producer%29 John Simon]], who's had a ''very'' distinguished career. He also plays various instruments on several tracks.
64* {{Retraux}}: Much of the album is steeped in an old-timey aesthetic. Ditto the cover design.
65* SelfTitledAlbum: Their only album named after themselves.
66* ShellShockedVeteran: Virgil Caine, the protagonist of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".
67* ShoutOut:
68** The original LP back cover quotes the opening lines from Shelton Brooks' 1917 composition "Darktown Strutters' Ball".
69** "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" mentions Civil War generals George Stoneman and Robert E. Lee.
70** "Up On Cripple Creek":
71---> ''Now me and my mate were back at the shack\
72We had Music/SpikeJones on the box\
73She said, "I can't take the way he sings\
74But I love to hear him talk"''
75* SopranoAndGravel: "Whispering Pines".
76* AStormIsComing: "Look Out Cleveland".
77--> ''Look out, Cleveland, the storm is comin' through''
78--> ''And it's runnin' right up on you.''
79--> ''Look out, Houston, there'll be thunder on the hill...''
80* TattooAsCharacterType: The protagonist in "Jemima Surrender" wants to show off his tattoo to Jemima.
81--> ''Ain't no pretender, wanna see my tattoo?''.
82* UncommonTime: "Jawbone" has time signatures all over the place.
83* VocalTagTeam: Very much in their classic mode, most memorably on "Jawbone", which is done as a back-and-forth between Manuel (as Jawbone), Danko and Helm.
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