Track Listing

1. Introduction
2. Don't Do It
3. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
4. Caledonia Mission
5. Get Up Jake
6. WS Walcott Medicine Show
7. Stage Fright
8. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
9. Across The Great Divide
10. This Wheel's On Fire
11. Rag Mama Rag
12. Weight
13. Shape I'm In
14. Unfaithful Servant
15. Life Is A Carnival
16. Genetic Method
17. Chest Fever
18. I Don't Want To Hang Up My Rock 'n' Roll Shoes
19. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
20. I Shall Be Released
21. Up On Cripple Creek
22. Rumor
23. Rockin' Chair
24. Time To Kill
25. Down In The Flood - Band & Bob Dylan
26. When I Paint My Masterpiece - Band & Bob Dylan
27. Don't Ya Tell Henry - Band & Bob Dylan
28. Like A Rolling Stone - Band & Bob Dylan

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7556 in Music
• Released on: 2001-05-07
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Double CD, Extra tracks, Live, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rock of Ages is a gift from the group long celebrated as one of rock's best concert attractions... and on New Year's Eve 1971 the Band were at the top of their game. Their show that night was hailed as one of the greatest-ever live sets--and a hint of that magic came through on 1972's truncated Rock Of Ages. Now radically expanded, the new double CD only enhances the original's reputation. Praise from Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Eric Clapton has established the Band as musicians' musicians--and their instrumental dexterity, musical fluency and lyrical intrigue are to the fore here, notably on "Stage Fright" and "The Weight". There is also the bonus of an entire disc of previously unreleased tracks--including a blistering cover of "Loving You is Sweeter than Ever". But the real gold is mined on the four tracks featuring special guest Bob Dylan, then in the midst of his mysterious withdrawal. Rock of Ages was always great. This restoration makes it greater still. --Patrick Humphries

CD Description
Long before they became The Band, these four Canadians and one southern rebel rocked the rooftops off Canada as The Hawks, Ronnie Hawkins's fierce back-up band. Their non-stop performing took them through nearly every bar in the region, and the group developed into a tightly wound rock unit. It is therefore interesting that, as The Band, the group was knownmore for its reluctance in the live arena than for its liveprowess. This was in part due to leader Robbie Robertson's stage jitters, which seemed to worsen as The Band's status swelled. ROCK OF AGES provides a telling account of what glorious heights The Band was capable of when it tore loose onstage.
Here the five members function as one shifting, interlocking force, summoning Americana, phantom soul, and barroom rockers with ease and freedom. Garth Hudson conjures pureorgan voodoo with an impromptu instrumental, "The Genetic Method", before the band launches into the otherworldly "Chest Fever". Elsewhere the live document percolates with similarly inspired fervour. New Orleanian Allen Touissant must receive his share of the credit, as his horn arrangements pump and drive The Band's earth-drenched rock up from the dirt and into the stratosphere.

Customer Reviews

The best album live ever
"The Last waltz" had an array of popular stars that attracted a lot of attention to the music of The Band. However "Rock Of Ages" was the live album that set the standard for all live albums to follow. Immaculate production \ recording by Phil Ramone and Alan Touisaint's horn arrangements agument a fine group performance. All the best loved Band tunes are here. This C.D completes the picture by including the "Dylan" encore performance.

What more could you ask?

One of the Best Live Albums Ever
What a terrific album: expanded from the original issue with a full CD of extra material and new liner notes, this set features almost all The Band's best songs, recorded live with a great horn section on many tracks.

The set also features four songs from surprise guest Bob Dylan, including When I Paint My Masterpiece and two Basement Tapes songs, Don't Ya Tell Henry and Down in the Flood.

The unreleased songs are great, particularly I Shall be Released, Rockin Chair and Loving You is Sweeter than Ever. The latter is a good complement to Don't Yo Do It, the concert opener. Have a listen to Rick's bass in these two songs, very funky indeed.

The sound is crisp and clear, but also has warmth, with bass, drums and piano beautifully recorded and mixed. All the musicians and singers are in great form and I can't think of a dud track, even the Dylan numbers have a groovy sloppiness about them.

Note that the original CD issue was also a double set, but just had the original vinyl tracks spread over the CDs. This set has all the original album on the first CD, so be sure to order the new one!

RIP Rick Danko and Richard Manuel.

Rock Of Ages - Perfect Title for this masterpiece
This is not only one of the best, if not the best, live album of all time, but also one of the BEST albums of all time, which would then also make it one of the best concerts ever. Fantastic! The Band is so tight that despite the cheers from the crowd, you would think that this is a studio album. The Band is an unusual combination of raw, mountainish, almost garage-like band music with extreme versatility and tightness. The version of The Weight on this album is arguably the best that they ever performed this song (not that crazy about the studio version) and they do an outstanding version of Marvin Gaye's Don't Do It with all of the NY horns. Every single song on this album is done at a high level - I would have loved attending this concert. This is a must for any music collection. A masterpiece.