Discography / Northern Lights–Southern Cross
Northern Lights–Southern Cross
Released November 1975 on Capitol Records. Self-produced, the first album recorded at the group's own Shangri-La studio in Malibu, and the first collection of new original songs since Cahoots four years earlier. The only Band studio album written entirely by Robbie Robertson. The full story is covered in Northern Lights–Southern Cross (1975); this page covers the record itself.
Track listing
| Side | Track | Lead vocal |
|---|---|---|
| A | Forbidden Fruit | Helm |
| A | Hobo Jungle | Manuel |
| A | Ophelia | Helm |
| A | Acadian Driftwood | Manuel, Helm, Danko |
| B | Ring Your Bell | traded |
| B | It Makes No Difference | Danko |
| B | Jupiter Hollow | traded |
| B | Rags and Bones | Manuel |
All eight tracks written by Robbie Robertson.
Personnel
- Rick Danko: bass, vocals
- Levon Helm: drums, vocals
- Garth Hudson: organ, synthesizer, saxophones, piccolo, accordion
- Richard Manuel: piano, vocals
- Robbie Robertson: guitar
- Byron Berline: fiddle, "Acadian Driftwood"
Chart performance
Reached only the lower end of the Top 30 on the Billboard 200, disappointing compared to the strength of the reviews, though "Ophelia" made the lower reaches of the Hot 100 as a single.
Critical standing
Reviews were strongly positive on release and have only grown warmer since; many critics and fans now rank it among the group's two or three best albums, alongside Music from Big Pink and The Band. "Acadian Driftwood," "Ophelia," and "It Makes No Difference" are generally considered among the strongest songs in the entire catalog. All three were performed at The Last Waltz the following year.
Notes
Hudson built the entire horn-style arrangement on "Ophelia" out of organ and synthesizer, with no real brass players involved; the arrangement was considered so complete that when Allen Toussaint later scored real horns for the same song at The Last Waltz, he barely changed what Hudson had already created alone in the studio. "Acadian Driftwood" tells the story of the 1755 British expulsion of the Acadians from what is now Nova Scotia, with a few lines sung in French. The album cover, a photograph by Blue Note Records photographer Reid Miles, shows the five members gathered around a bonfire on the beach behind Robertson's house.