Record of the Week: Out of the Blue

About this episode

The episode explores the mysterious song 'Out of the Blue' by The Band, featuring insights from guest David Mansfield.

This week on Record of the Week, we dig into one of the most overlooked and mysterious songs connected to The Band: "Out of the Blue," tucked away on The Last Waltz Suite. Robbie Robertson's lead vocal, the unusual arrangement, and the lack of clear information about who actually played on the track all make this song a real puzzle. John Agnello and Stewart Lerman sit down with David Mansfield - violinist and multi-instrumentalist for Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue - to dig into the mystery. We discuss Robbie Robertson's voice and his role in The Band's harmonies, the Garth Hudson keyboard signatures buried in the track, why the rhythm section doesn't sound like Levon Helm or Rick Danko, and what the song tells us about the final days of one of rock's greatest groups. We also get into The Last Waltz recording sessions, John Simon's revelation that nearly every note in the film was replaced in post-production, the relationship between The Last Waltz and Bob Dylan's Renaldo and Clara, and the Rolling Thunder Revue's place in Dylan and The Band's shared history. 0:00 Intro: Record of the Week 0:12 Discovering "Out of the Blue" on The Last Waltz Soundtrack 1:26 The Mystery of…

People in this episode

Hosts: John Agnello, Stewart Lerman

Guest: David Mansfield

Topics covered

• music analysis
• The Band
• song mystery
• recording sessions
• rock history

Keywords

• Out of the Blue
• The Band
• Robbie Robertson
• music mystery
• Rolling Thunder Revue
• The Last Waltz
• recording sessions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Band, Bob Dylan, Rolling Thunder Revue

Books & works: Out of the Blue, The Last Waltz Suite, The Last Waltz, Renaldo and Clara

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