Discography / The Last Waltz (soundtrack)

The Last Waltz

The soundtrack album to Martin Scorsese's concert film of the same name, released as a triple LP on Warner Bros. Records in 1978, alongside the film. Documents the Band's farewell concert at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976. The full story of the concert and the film is covered in The Last Waltz & Breakup (1976–1978); this page covers the record itself.

Structure

Twenty-two tracks. Eighteen drawn from the Winterland performance itself, including the Band's own songs and collaborations with the night's guests. The final four tracks make up "The Last Waltz Suite," three newly recorded studio songs, "The Well," "Evangeline" (with Emmylou Harris), and "Out of the Blue," leading into a studio reprise of "The Weight." Robertson produced the album and oversaw track selection, prioritizing the night's standout moments over a complete, chronological setlist.

Selected performances

• Up on Cripple Creek, the Band's own opening number of the night
• The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
• Further On Up the Road, with Eric Clapton
• Helpless, with Neil Young
• Coyote, "Shadows and Light," and "Furry Sings the Blues," with Joni Mitchell
• Forever Young, with Bob Dylan
• The Weight, with the Staple Singers, filmed separately on a studio soundstage after the concert itself

Personnel

The full five-man lineup, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson, with guest performances from Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, the Staple Singers, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, and Bob Dylan. A horn section arranged by Allen Toussaint backed the Band's own set. John Simon, the group's original producer, served as musical director for the night.

Reception

The film is widely regarded as one of the best concert documentaries ever made and was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 2019. The soundtrack has fared less consistently in critical rankings than the film itself, generally treated as a strong document of an extraordinary night rather than a fully cohesive album on its own terms.

Notes

Bob Dylan's performance was nearly excluded from filming entirely; he briefly objected to being shot on camera, concerned it would compete with his own film project, and had to be persuaded to allow it. Neil Young performed with visibly cocaine-marked features, which Robertson later paid to have edited out of the film frame by frame, joking it was the most expensive cocaine he never actually used.