BEST OF THE BAND

Discography / Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages

Recorded live over four nights, December 28 through 31, 1971, at the Academy of Music in New York. Released August 15, 1972, on Capitol Records. The group's first live album, and the first time their songs were performed with a horn section, arranged by New Orleans producer Allen Toussaint. The full story is covered in Rock of Ages & Moondog Matinee (1972–1973); this page covers the record itself.

Track listing

Eighteen tracks on the original double LP, drawn from across the four-night run, pulled mostly from the group's first three studio albums, with material from Cahoots largely absent from the setlist. The album opens with a cover of the R&B standard "Don't Do It." Highlights include horn-augmented versions of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "Chest Fever" (introduced by Garth Hudson's extended solo organ piece "The Genetic Method"), "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," and "The Weight." Bob Dylan's surprise appearance on the final night, singing four songs including "Like a Rolling Stone," was left off the original release for contractual reasons.

Personnel

Chart performance

Peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold.

Critical standing

Widely regarded as one of the best live rock albums of its era. Ralph Gleason's October 1972 review in Rolling Stone was glowing enough that Robertson, who privately disliked the original mix, said afterward he simply rode out his own reservations rather than push for changes.

Later reissues

Toussaint's original horn charts were nearly lost entirely: the airline lost the luggage carrying them on the way from New Orleans, and he rewrote the whole set from a snowbound cabin near Woodstock. A 2001 reissue added ten tracks, including the Dylan appearance. In 2013, Capitol released Live at the Academy of Music 1971, a four-disc box set with new mixes, previously unreleased performances, and video, effectively replacing Rock of Ages as the more complete document of the run, though the original 1972 sequencing retains its own reputation as a standalone artistic statement.