Record of the Week: Out of the Blue

This week on Record of the Week, we dig into one of the most overlooked and mysterious songs connected to The Band: "Out of the Blue," tucked away on The Last Waltz Suite. Robbie Robertson's lead vocal, the unusual arrangement, and the lack of clear information about who actually played on the track all make this song a real puzzle. John Agnello and Stewart Lerman sit down with David Mansfield - violinist and multi-instrumentalist for Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue - to dig into the mystery. We discuss Robbie Robertson's voice and his role in The Band's harmonies, the Garth Hudson keyboard signatures buried in the track, why the rhythm section doesn't sound like Levon Helm or Rick Danko, and what the song tells us about the final days of one of rock's greatest groups. We also get into The Last Waltz recording sessions, John Simon's revelation that nearly every note in the film was replaced in post-production, the relationship between The Last Waltz and Bob Dylan's Renaldo and Clara, and the Rolling Thunder Revue's place in Dylan and The Band's shared history. 0:00 Intro: Record of the Week 0:12 Discovering "Out of the Blue" on The Last Waltz Soundtrack 1:26 The Mystery of Robbie Robertson's Solo Vocal 2:22 Who Is Actually Playing on This Track? 3:30 Why Are No Other Band Members Singing? 4:06 The No-Show Sessions at Shangri-La 4:49 Analyzing the Rhythm Section: Levon Helm and Rick Danko 6:43 Robbie Robertson or Richard Manuel? The Vocal Question 7:34 Rolling Thunder, Before the Flood, and the Band's Final Days 8:11 Bob Dylan's Contentious Rights Battle Over The Last Waltz 10:01 The Tension Between Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm 11:11 Identifying Garth Hudson's Musical Influence on the Track 13:03 The Post-Production Secret: Every Note Replaced in The Last Waltz 14:12 Outro: Final Thoughts