''The Last Waltz'' is the second live album by the Band, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1978, catalogue 3WS 3146. It is the soundtrack to the 1978 film of the same name, and the final album by the original configuration of the Band. It peaked at No. 16 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

The triple album documents the Band's "farewell" concert which took place at Bill Graham's

Winterland Ballroom Winterland Ballroom (more commonly known as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland) was an ice skating rink and music venue in San Francisco, California. The arena was located at the corner of Post Street and Steiner Street. It was converted for ...

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

1976. The event included an actual

Thanksgiving dinner The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and in Canada is Thanksgiving dinner (informally called turkey dinner), a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving could be considered the largest ...

for 5,000 attendees, with

ballroom dancing Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television. ...

and a stage set for '' La traviata'' borrowed from the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

. The concert featured songs by the Band interspersed with the group backing up a variety of musical guests. These included many with whom they had worked in the past, notably their previous employers Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan. Van Morrison, a Woodstock neighbor, had co-written and sung on the track "4% Pantomime" for the '' Cahoots'' album. Individual members of the Band had played with the invitees on the following albums: in 1972 with

Bobby Charles Robert Charles Guidry (February 21, 1938 – January 14, 2010), known as Bobby Charles, was an American singer-songwriter. Early life An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born in Abbeville, Louisiana, United States, and grew up listening to Cajun mus ...

for his self-titled album; in 1973 with Ringo Starr on '' Ringo''; in 1974 with Joni Mitchell on ''

Court and Spark ''Court and Spark'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Released in January 1974, it infuses the folk rock style of her previous albums with jazz elements. It was an immediate commercial and critical success— ...

'' and with Neil Young on '' On the Beach'' and the sessions for '' Homegrown'', later assembled into an album and released in 2020; in 1975 with Muddy Waters and

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

on ''The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album''; in 1976 with Eric Clapton on '' No Reason to Cry'' and with Neil Diamond on '' Beautiful Noise''. Sides one through five of the album consisted of songs taken from the concert. Side six comprised "The Last Waltz Suite", new numbers composed by Robertson and performed by the Band on an MGM soundstage. The suite featured Emmylou Harris and, on a remake of "

The Weight "The Weight" is a song by the Canadian-American group the Band that was released as a single in 1968 and on the group's debut album '' Music from Big Pink''. It was their first release under this name, after their previous releases as Canadian ...

", Roebuck and Mavis Staples. The music received overdubs at Village Recorders and Shangri-La studios in post-production, owing to faults recorded during the concert. On April 16, 2002, a box set reissue of the album arrived in stores, including everything released on the original with additional tracks taken from the concert.

Track listing

The performance of " Helpless" by Neil Young features backing vocals by Joni Mitchell; Paul Butterfield plays harmonica for Muddy Waters on "

Mannish Boy "Mannish Boy" (or "Manish Boy" as it was first labeled) is a blues standard written by Muddy Waters, Mel London, and Bo Diddley (with Waters and Diddley being credited under their birth names). First recorded in 1955 by Waters, it serves as an " ...

"; Dr. John plays congas on " Coyote" and plays guitar on "Down South in New Orleans"; the entire ensemble sings back-up on the closer, " I Shall Be Released".

Personnel

The Band *

Rick Danko Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. During ...

– bass guitar, fiddle, vocals * Levon Helm – drums, mandolin, vocals *

Garth Hudson Eric "Garth" Hudson (born August 2, 1937) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for rock group the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a ...

– organ, piano, accordion, synthesizer, clavinet, saxophones *

Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in The Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and ...

– piano, drums, organ, clavinet, Dobro, vocals * Robbie Robertson – guitars, piano, vocals

The horn section

* Rich Cooper – trumpet, flugelhorn * James Gordon – flute, tenor saxophone, clarinet *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...

– trumpet, flugelhorn * Howard Johnson – tuba, baritone saxophone, flugelhorn, bass clarinet * Charlie Keagle – clarinet; flute; alto, tenor and soprano saxophones * Tom Malone – trombone,

euphonium The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word ''euphōnos'', meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" ( ''eu'' means "well" o ...

, alto flute, bass trombone * Larry Packer –

electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...

* Horns arranged by

Henry Glover Henry Bernard Glover (May 21, 1921 – April 7, 1991) was an American songwriter, arranger, record producer and trumpet player. In the music industry of the time, Glover was one of the most successful and influential black executives. He gain ...

, Howard Johnson, Tom Malone, John Simon and Allen Toussaint

Guest personnel

– harmonica, vocal *

– vocal * Eric Clapton – guitar, vocal * Neil Diamond – guitar, vocal * Dr. John – piano, guitar, congas, vocal * Bob Dylan – guitar, vocal * Emmylou Harris – guitar, vocal * Ronnie Hawkins – vocal * Bob Margolin – guitar on "

" * Joni Mitchell – guitar, vocal * Van Morrison – vocal *

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

– piano on "Mannish Boy" * Dennis St. John – drums on "

Dry Your Eyes "Dry Your Eyes" is a single by English rapper and producer Mike Skinner under the music project the Streets. The song describes the protagonist trying to cope with his girlfriend breaking up with him. It was released in the UK on 19 July 2004. ...

" * John Simon – piano on " Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral" * Cleotha Staples –

harmony vocal In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However, ...

on "

" * Mavis Staples – vocal * Roebuck "Pops" Staples – guitar, vocal * Yvonne Staples – harmony vocal on "The Weight" * Ringo Starr – drums on " I Shall Be Released" * Muddy Waters – vocals *

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a ...

– guitar on "I Shall Be Released" * Neil Young – guitar, harmonica, vocal

Production personnel

* Robbie Robertson – producer * John Simon - producer, string arrangements * Rob Fraboni – producer * Ed Anderson – recording and mixing engineer * Terry Becker, Neil Brody, Tim Kramer, Elliot Mazer and Wayne Neuendorf – recording engineers * Baker Bigsby, Tony Bustos and Jeremy Zatkin – mixing engineers * Bill Graham – concert production

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

2002 box set

''The Last Waltz'' is a 2002 four-disc box set re-release of the 1978 album ''The Last Waltz'' documenting the concert '' The Last Waltz'', the last concert by the Band with its classic line up. A full forty tracks are taken from the show in addition to rehearsal outtakes. Twenty-four tracks are previously unreleased. Among the tracks added are a version of Louis Jordan's " Caldonia" featuring Muddy Waters and

trading off the vocal, a reworked version of " Rag Mama Rag", Neil Young and Joni Mitchell joining the Band on " Acadian Driftwood", "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show", excerpts from a pair of instrumental jams involving several of the concert's guest performers, and the concert closer " Don't Do It". In addition, several edits made on the original 1978 set have been done away with; certain songs (such as " Forever Young" with Bob Dylan) are now presented in their unedited versions. Songs still missing from the concert are a version of "

Georgia on My Mind "Georgia on My Mind" is a 1930 song written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell and first recorded that same year by Hoagy Carmichael. However, the song has been most often associated with soul singer Ray Charles, who was a native of the U ...

", the full versions of the two jams presented, the full version of "

Chest Fever "Chest Fever" is a song recorded by the Band on its 1968 debut, ''Music from Big Pink''. It is, according to Peter Viney, a historian of the group, the album track that has appeared on the most subsequent live albums and compilations, second only ...

", and the concert takes of "

King Harvest (Has Surely Come) "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" is a song by The Band, which originally appeared as the final track on their second album, '' The Band''. The song is credited solely to guitarist Robbie Robertson, although drummer/singer Levon Helm claimed that ...

" and "Evangeline". While the album still has overdubbing, re-sequencing, and editing, it does give a more accurate representation of the event itself than the earlier album or film do, according to collectors who have made comparisons with bootleg recordings of the concert. On November 11, 2016, this set was reissued as part of a ''40th Anniversary'' edition that includes the 1978 Scorsese film on a separate Blu-ray disc. Enclosed in a 10" by 11.5" booklet, the set contains numerous photographs from the event as well as essays by

David Fricke David Fricke is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 years. I ...

and Ben Fong-Torres. A previously published article entitled "A Behind-the-Scenes Report" by Emmett Grogan is also included, as well as a reproduction of the article on the event by Joel Selvin printed in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 27, 1976. It is not indicated whether or not new mastering was done to the audio discs over and above that from the 2002 reissue.

Box set track listing

All songs were written by Robbie Robertson, except where noted.

Box set personnel

The Band *

– bass, fiddle, vocals * Levon Helm – drums, mandolin, vocals *

– organ, piano, accordion, synthesizers, clavinet,

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

– piano, drums, organ, clavinet, dobro, vocals * Robbie Robertson – guitars, piano, vocals Horns *Rich Cooper – trumpet, flugelhorn *James Gordon – flute, tenor saxophone, clarinet *

– trumpet, flugelhorn * Howard Johnson –

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

, baritone saxophone, flugelhorn, bass clarinet *Charlie Keagle – clarinet, flute, alto, tenor and soprano saxophones * Tom Malone – trombone,

, alto flute, bass trombone *Larry Packer –

*Horns

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

, Garth Hudson, Howard Johnson, Tom Malone, John Simon and Allen Toussaint Guests *

– harmonica, vocals *

– vocals * Eric Clapton – guitar, vocals * Neil Diamond – guitar, vocals * Dr. John – piano, guitar, congas, vocals * Bob Dylan – guitar, vocals * Emmylou Harris – guitar, vocals studio portion * Ronnie Hawkins – vocals * Bob Margolin – guitar * Joni Mitchell – guitar, vocals * Van Morrison – vocals *

– piano, vocals *

Carl Radle Carl Dean Radle (June 18, 1942 – May 30, 1980) was an American bassist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s. He was posthumously inducted to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame i ...

– bass *Dennis St. John – drums * John Simon – piano * Cleotha Staples – harmony vocal studio portion * Mavis Staples – vocals studio portion * Roebuck "Pops" Staples – guitar, vocals studio portion * Yvonne Staples – harmony vocal studio portion * Ringo Starr – drums * Stephen Stills – guitar * Muddy Waters – vocals *

– guitar * Neil Young – guitar, harmonica, vocals Technical personnel * Robbie Robertson – producer * John Simon and Rob Fraboni – co-producers *Ed Anderson –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

and mixing

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

*Terry Becker, Neil Brody, Tim Kramer, Elliot Mazer and Wayne Neuendorf – recording engineers *Baker Bigsby, Tony Bustos and Jeremy Zatkin – mixing engineers * Bill Graham – concert production * John Simon – string arrangements

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Waltz, The 1978 live albums 1978 soundtrack albums Collaborative albums Concert film soundtracks The Band live albums Warner Records live albums Warner Records soundtracks

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