The Band’s 3rd Album, ‘Stage Fright,’ Gets Expanded Edition
by Best Classic Bands Staff
On February 12, 2021, Capitol/UMe celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Band’s classic third album, Stage Fright, with a suite of newly remixed, remastered and expanded 50th Anniversary Edition packages, including a multi-format Super Deluxe 2CD/Blu-ray/1LP/7-inch vinyl box set photo booklet; digital, 2CD, 180-gram black vinyl, and limited edition 180-gram color vinyl packages. All the Anniversary Edition releases were overseen by principal songwriter Robbie Robertson and boast a new stereo mix by Bob Clearmountain from the original multi-track masters.
The new collection includes many previously unreleased live recordings including their 20-song set at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1971. Listen to many of them below, including “The Weight,” which was shared on Feb. 4.
Exclusively for the boxed set, Clearmountain has also created a new 5.1 surround mix and a hi-res stereo mix of the album, bonus tracks and the live show, presented on Blu-ray. All the new audio mixes have been mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering.
Listen to the newly remastered 2020 remix of “The Shape I’m In”
For the first time, the album is being presented in the originally planned song order. The boxed set, CD and digital configurations feature a bevy of unreleased recordings, including Live at the Royal Albert Hall, June 1971, a thrilling full concert captured in the midst of their European tour.
Listen to “Time To Kill” recorded at the 1971 RAH concert
The new set also includes alternate versions of “Strawberry Wine” and “Sleeping”; and seven unearthed field recordings, Calgary Hotel Recordings, 1970, an impromptu late-night hotel jam session between Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel of several Stage Fright songs recorded while the album was in the mixing stage.
Listen to the alternate mix of “Sleeping”
Related: Our Album Rewind of The Band’s groundbreaking debut album, Music From Big Pink
The Band (Photo: Norman Seeff; used with permission)
The set also includes an exclusive reproduction of the Spanish pressing of The Band’s 1971 7-inch vinyl single for “Time To Kill” b/w “The Shape I’m In” in their new stereo mixes and a photo booklet with new notes by Robbie Robertson and touring photographer John Scheele, who recorded the Calgary Hotel Recordings; plus a reprinting of the original Los Angeles Times album review by critic Robert Hilburn; three classic photo lithographs; and photographs from Scheele and several other photographers.
Released on August 17, 1970, Stage Fright features two of The Band’s best-known songs, “The Shape I’m In” and the title track, both of which showcased inspired lead vocal performances by Manuel and Danko, respectively, and became staples in the group’s live shows. Recorded over 12 days on the stage of the Woodstock Playhouse, the album was self-produced by The Band for the first time and engineered and mixed by Todd Rundgren with additional mixing by Glyn Johns.
For the 50th Anniversary collection, the sequence has been changed to present Stage Fright with the originally planned song order.
Pre-order the Stage Fright 50th Anniversary Editions here:
Stage Fright (50th Anniversary Edition) Track listing
CD1: Digital
1. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
2. The Shape I’m In
3. Daniel And The Sacred Harp
4. Stage Fright
5. The Rumor
6. Time To Kill
7. Just Another Whistle Stop
8. All La Glory
9. Strawberry Wine
10. Sleeping
Bonus Tracks
11. Strawberry Wine (Alternate Mix) *
12. Sleeping (Alternate Mix) *
Calgary Hotel Room Recordings, 1970 *
13. Get Up Jake (#1) *
14. Get Up Jake (#2) *
15. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show *
16. Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu *
17. Calgary Blues *
18. Before You Accuse Me *
19. Mojo Hannah *
* Previously unreleased
Listen to two of those classic covers
CD2: Digital
Live At Royal Albert Hall, June 1971
(Previously Unreleased)
1. The Shape I’m In
2. Time To Kill
3. The Weight
4. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
5. Strawberry Wine
6. Rockin’ Chair
7. Look Out Cleveland
8. I Shall Be Released
9. Stage Fright
10. Up On Cripple Creek
11. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
12. We Can Talk
13. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
14. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
15. Across the Great Divide
16. The Unfaithful Servant
17. Don’t Do It
18. The Genetic Method
19. Chest Fever
20. Rag Mama Rag
Listen to several more performances from the RAH show
Blu-ray
Stereo and 5.1 Surround
High Resolution Audio: 96 kHz/24 bit
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThat is a terrible remix of a great song. Drums way too loud. Too much reverb, bad EQ. I could go on. When trying to remix classic records, just bring out the dynamics and harmonics and tweak the instruments and mix so it sounds fresh. It’s like taking Windex to an original piece of vinyl. Don’t try and change it. The new Lennon mix is a good example. Also Steve Wilson does a great job with Aqualung and Chicago 2. I can’t believe Robbie Robertson actually likes this. Sorry Bob.
I just wonder what Levon Helm and Richard Manuel and Rick Danko would think of this new sequence they did not vote on. Garth, luckily still living will remain silent on it, one may expect. It does not feel good, even if one may argue it has a story line. This album is engraved in my soul, I will keep listening to it in the way it was orinally meant and made… Sorry Robbie. I don’t read those so called restored text books either, where there’s no input by the author.