The Band’s Music From Big Pink Gets Expanded in 50th Anniversary Edition Out August 2018

Canada has been kind enough to give us many great things from hockey to music, the great north has contributed a wide array of things to American culture. And in 1968, rock band The Band became one of those many gifts. After years of sessions with folk legend Bob Dylan, the band released their debut album Music from Big Pink and saw immediate success at a wide scale. They began their performances that following year, starting at Stony Brook University and going to the likes of Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival.

Now, according to their press release, The Band’s Music from Big Pink will see itself in a new light. On August 31, Capitol and UMG will release a newly remastered, remixed, and expanded edition of Music from Big Pink for its 50th Anniversary. The special edition package will contain a “super deluxe CD/Blu-ray/2LP/7-inch vinyl box set” that will be accompanied by a hardcover book. A second package will feature 1 CD, a digital 180-gram 2LP vinyl, and a limited edition 180-gram pink vinyl. All packages will have a stereo mix for the album with all production under Bob Clearmountain (who did the original masters). Lastly, there will also be a never-before-released a cappella version of the hit “I Shall Be Released.” When talking about recording Music from Big Pink, lead singer Robbie Robertson remembers “We had all of that gathering – the woodshedding and paying our dues, all of that dripping into the music. This didn’t sound like anything we had done with Ronnie Hawkins, what we had done as Levon and the Hawks, or what we played on the Dylan tour. This was a music that – hopefully – lived in a time and space that you couldn’t quite put your finger on.”

The aforementioned album was a shocking success after its release as it was following the likes of albums that have shaped American culture like The Beatles The White Album, Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love, and The Rolling Stone’s Beggars Banquet. Yet, Music from Big Pink, brought about a new golden harmony to the ears the likes of which no one had heard. Check out all the details on the 50th Anniversary Edition below.

THE BAND: Music from Big Pink (50th Anniversary Edition)

CD; Digital

2018 stereo mix (included in the box set and available individually)

1. Tears Of Rage
2. To Kingdom Come
3. In A Station
4. Caledonia Mission
5. The Weight
6. We Can Talk
7. Long Black Veil
8. Chest Fever
9. Lonesome Suzie
10. This Wheel’s On Fire
11. I Shall Be Released

Bonus Tracks:

12. Yazoo Street Scandal (Outtake)
13. Tears Of Rage (Alternate Take)
14. Long Distance Operator (Outtake)
15. Lonesome Suzie (Alternate Take)
16. Key To The Highway (Outtake)
17. I Shall Be Released (A Cappella)

BLU-RAY

Tracklist above in new 5.1 surround mix + 96kHz/24bit high resolution stereo (exclusive to the box set)

2LP VINYL

180g black vinyl (included in the box set and available individually); ltd. edition 180g pink vinyl (available individually)

SIDE ONE                             SIDE THREE

1. Tears Of Rage                     1. We Can Talk
2. To Kingdom Come            2. Long Black Veil
3. Chest Fever

SIDE TWO

1. In A Station                       SIDE FOUR
2. Caledonia Mission                1. Lonesome Suzie
3. The Weight                       2. This Wheel’s On Fire  
4. I Shall Be Released  

“The Weight”

Reproduced 1968 7-inch single (exclusive to the box set)

1. The Weight
2. I Shall Be Released