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FAVORITE VERSION OF THE WEIGHT

jaymackjaymack 5,199 Posts
edited November 2005 in Strut Central
Rotary Conn?Supremes/Temps?

  Comments

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    Aretha

    Staples SIngers w/The Band in "The Last Waltz"
  • LazerLazer 796 Posts
    Aretha

    Staples SIngers w/The Band in "The Last Waltz"

    After those 2 the song should have been retired, no one else needs to cover that song, those 2 are the best.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Aretha

    Staples SIngers w/The Band in "The Last Waltz"

    There's a King Curtis version with DA on guitar. Is that the same backing track as Aretha? It's been so long I can't remember.

    Aretha, but the Band did a decent version too. Somehow Aretha gives the song a meaning that was just lacking in the original.

    Dan
  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    Aretha
    I like how her vocals are just "in the red" compared to everything else.

    Staples Singers w/The Band in "The Last Waltz"
    A personal favorite, especially the last words from Mavis Staples.
  • ShingalingShingaling 877 Posts
    Staple Singers without the Band. Levon Helm makes my stomach turn.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Aretha



    Staples SIngers w/The Band in "The Last Waltz"



    There's a King Curtis version with DA on guitar. Is that the same backing track as Aretha? It's been so long I can't remember.



    Aretha, but the Band did a decent version too. Somehow Aretha gives the song a meaning that was just lacking in the original.






    The Band did it first - and best. The Rotary Connection and the Staple Singers come in second, and the Chambers Brothers are #3. As far as Aretha, I love her like a hawg loves slop, and that slide guitar is to die for, but "The Weight" just don't sound right when you holler the lyrics like that. Pops and Mavis' subtle strokes on the Staples' version are what this cut needs.



    Don't really care for the Supremes/Temptations' rendition; the song loses something when speeded up to a dancefloor tempo. (Okay, I know the Rotary Connection's version was uptempo too, but the Supremes/Tempts' remake sounds like album filler.)



    It's funny what you say about Aretha "giving the song a meaning that was just lacking in the original," as the song is abstract as all hell and I wonder sometimes if the composer himself knew what he was writing. (I once heard a quote from Robbie Robertson where he said it was about "the burden of sainthood.")
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Levon Helm makes my stomach turn.

    Why?
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    The Rotary Connection version kills it with that top-shelf Stepney shit. The bombast of the orchestra with the tooth-rottingly-sweet guitar, the sly and knowing returns, and the focused repetition of the odder lyrics ("Pulled into Nazareth," "Go Down, Miss Moses") really works for me.



    Way over-the-top, and loving it.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    The Rotary Connection version sucks. Takes away all meaning from the song with its cheeseball psych attempt.



    It may be a little too over the radar for soulstrut peoples but the version that the Brittish band Travis did a few years back is fairly true to the original with a nice brit-poppy twist
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    By the way: here's an over-analytical, but nontheless interesting, article regarding this song.
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    The Rotary Connection version sucks. Takes away all meaning from the song with its cheeseball psych attempt.

    I regard it, along with the entire album "Songs" (from which it comes) to be imaginative, original takes on songs that are staid and thematized beyond all meaning. The covers on Songs re-work the OGs until they are unrecognizable, but, as such, are interesting excercises in theselves ("How much can we fuck with a song before we can still justifiably give it the same title?"). Listen to the LP THAT way, and you might like it more.
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    Is anyone familiar with THIS VERSION that apparently O-Dub used for a comp CD?
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    The Rotary Connection version sucks. Takes away all meaning from the song with its cheeseball psych attempt.

    I might like it then... I loathe the song in its original form
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    By the way: here's an over-analytical, but nontheless interesting, article regarding this song.

    And I thought we were analytical!
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