Released in 1968 the debut studio album by The Band presents a distinctive blend of country, rock, folk, classical, R&B, and soul. The music was composed mostly in Big Pink, a house shared by band members in New York. The album was recorded in studios in New York and Los Angeles after the band's backing of Bob Dylan on his 1966 tour (as The Hawks).

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rated 34/500

Rated 10/10 Music and 10/10 Sound by Michael Fremer (Analog Planet)

• Limited Edition
• Numbered Edition
• 180 grams High Definition Vinyl pressed at RTI USA
• Half-Speed mastering on MFSL Gain 2 Ultra Analog System
• Mastered by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
• Cut from the Original Analog Master Tapes
• Mastered by Krieg Wunderlich
• Special Static Free & Dust Free Inner Sleeves
• Deluxe heavy duty cover

You’ve likely heard the story. Now hear the results of one of the most famous sessions in history with a clarity and warmth never thought possible.

In late 1965 and early 1966, Bob Dylan shattered the boundaries between folk and rock music on a controversial tour that found the generation spokesman plugging in and shocking purist audiences that reviled in horror at the sight of their hero playing electric with a bunch of ragtag Canadian mates. Then known as the Hawks, the Band was that backing group, serving Dylan not only on the road but, playing with him after his motorcycle accident, on his seminal Basement Tapes collection.

Recorded in 1968 and ranked #34 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, The Band’s Music From Big Pink stems from the same locale—a pink farmhouse in upstate Woodstock, New York—as the Basement Tapes and is just as rustic, timeless, and mysterious as Dylan’s celebrated work.

A debut for the ages, the album features two songs co-written with Dylan—“This Wheel’s on Fire,” “Tears of Rage”—as well as what’s universally recognized as the definitive version of Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.” More famously, it also includes “The Weight,” a standard covered by everyone from the Grateful Dead to Weezer to Aretha Franklin. But the power of this set doesn’t lie in one song but the entire album.

A groundbreaking statement, Music From Big Pink lays bare the magnetism of the American South, Appalachian traditions, and country-rock innovations. That guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianist Garth Hudson, bassist Rick Danko, drummer/vocalist Levon Helm, and organist Richard Manuel are all household names only adds to the proof of this must-have record’s everlasting appeal. This is the majesty of what Greil Marcus called “the old, weird America.”

Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's analog version practically gives you a spot on the floor at Big Pink as the sessions went down. Curl up, close your eyes, and listen as the music's sublimely organic sounds appear with full-range dynamics, life-size imaging, and tremendous soundstaging. This is one of the reasons why you have a turntable. Prepare for your system, and your ears, to glow.

"So finally, after all of these years we have the penultimate Music From Big Pink. It's got the bass, it's got the proper top end, it has the mids correct and it gives you all of the space and low level detail missing from every other edition, though the original Capitol isn't bad in that department. This is a "must have" album on the "must have" version. Mobile Fidelity has had its share of hits and misses. This is one of the hits. Don't miss it." - Michael Fremer

Track Listing:

01. Tears of Rage
02. To Kingdom Come
03. In A Station
04. Caledonia Mission
05. The Weight
06. We Can Talk
07. Long Black Veil
08. Chest Fever
09. Lonesome Suzie
10. This Wheel's On Fire
11. I Shall Be Released

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