Listening to The Band is like contemplating old sepia pictures of America: it means hearing the sounds of a rock'n'roll brimming with its classical influences: blues, folk, country, jazz... After accompanying Bob Dylan in the studio and on stage, the Canadian gang led by Robbie Robertson put out their first album in high summer 1968. The record was cooked up in the Woodstock house they dubbed Big Pink. Out of step with other albums of its day, Music From Big Pink with its sleeve painted by Dylan himself, packs some timeless gems: The Weight, This Wheel's On Fire, Chest Fever, Tears Of Rage… Country in silk shirts, folk fused with jazz, old-timey waltzes and roots rock, this long meander prefigures Americana... Above all, this is a collective work – they don't call it The Band for nothing – and from bassist Rick Danko to drummer Levon Helm via pianists Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel, and Robertson on guitar, everyone brings a stone of their own to build this major edifice of American rock. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz