Jeff’s Playlist: Rick Danko

I bought this album back when it was released in 1977. Rick was The Band’s bass play­er, vocal­ist, and co-writer. For those Band fans, you’ll remem­ber Rick refer­ring to this album dur­ing The Last Waltz movie when he was being inter­viewed back­stage by Martin Scorcese as “Sip the Wine” played in the background.

Danko is joined on this record­ing by all the mem­bers of The Band, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, and Joe Lala, along with many oth­ers. It is a great solo effort by Danko, full of heart­felt mas­ter­pieces. I haven’t been able to find a CD copy of it, but thanks to YouTube, we can lis­ten to it here. 

Try it; I think you’ll like it.

“What a Town” (Danko, Bobby Charles)
“Brainwash” (Danko, Emmett Grogan)
“New Mexicoe” (Danko, Charles)
“Tired of Waiting” (Danko, Jim Atkinson)
“Sip the Wine” (Danko)
“Java Blues” (Danko, Grogan)
“Sweet Romance” (Danko, Grogan)
“Small Town Talk” (Danko, Charles)
“Shake It” (Danko)
“Once Upon a Time” (Danko, Grogan)

Rick Danko — bass, rhythm and lead gui­tars and lead vocal
Michael DeTemple, Doug Sahm and James Atkinson — gui­tars
Walt Richmond — piano
James Gordon — organ
Denny Seiwell and Terry Danko — drums
Gerry Beckley, Blondie Chaplin, Rob Fraboni and Wayne Neuendorf — back­ing vocals
Lewis Bustos, Jim Gordon, Charles McBurney, Rocky Morales and Jim Price — horn sec­tion
Horns arranged by Rick Danko, Doug Sahm and Rob Fraboni
Garth Hudson — accor­dion on “New Mexicoe“
Robbie Robertson — lead gui­tar on “Java Blues“
Richard Manuel — Fender Rhodes piano on “Shake It“
Levon Helm — har­mo­ny vocal on “Once Upon a Time“
Ronnie Wood — lead gui­tar on “What a Town“
Blondie Chaplin — lead gui­tar on “Brainwash”, bass on “Small Town Talk“
Tim Drummond — bass on “Brainwash” and “Java Blues“
Eric Clapton — gui­tar on “New Mexicoe“
Rob Fraboni — per­cus­sion on “New Mexicoe” and “Shake It”, vibraslap on “Tired of Waiting“
Ken Lauber — piano on “Tired of Waiting”, “Sweet Romance” and “Once Upon a Time“
Joe Lala — per­cus­sion on “Tired of Waiting“
George Weber — organ on “Sweet Romance” and “Once Upon a Time“
Gerry Beckley — acoustic gui­tar on “Shake It“
David Paich — Moog syn­the­siz­er on “Shake It“
Frank Laffitte — cov­er photography

Released       1977
Length           32:20
Label             Arista
Producer        Rick Danko, Rob Fraboni