Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab continues its ongoing series of stereo hybrid SACD reissues of The Band's storied catalogue with the release of the group's third album, Stage Fright.  Recorded in Woodstock in 1970, Stage Fright marked a departure for the group in a number of ways.  Produced by The Band and engineered by the up-and-coming Todd Rundgren, there were more confessional, personal songs than on The Band or Music from Big Pink, and the harmony vocals were much less prominent.  Was The Band - guitarist Robbie Robertson, drummer Levon Helm, pianist Richard Manuel, keyboardist/saxophonist Garth Hudson and bassist Rick Danko - trying to exorcise its demons in song?

Robbie Robertson told Rob Bowman, annotator of Capitol's 2000 expanded CD, that "when Stage Fright came about, all I was doing was feeling my way along. But, where everybody was in a huddle on both Big Pink and The Band, with Stage Fright it didn't feel like we were all connected in the same kind of way. In this period of experimentation in life, in music, in drugs, people kept wanting to stretch and reach and go somewhere and try things and, in the course of that, some real alienation can take place as well. When these things are chemically induced, you can feel an incredible shutdown of communication."  While Stage Fright has its share of dark songs (dealing with heavy topics like the selling of one's soul), the music is still so evocative and hauntingly beautiful that it's hard to believe there was such dissension offstage.  And "offstage" is meant literally; Stage Fright was recorded at The Woodstock Playhouse in front of an empty house.  The Band had originally planned for an audience to attend the concert/recording session, but Woodstock residents feared an influx of visitors trying to overrun the 600-seat theatre.  And so Todd Rundgren, as engineer, was the only non-band member present.  But even he couldn't see what was happening onstage, stationed in a prop tent located behind the theatre!

There have been some questions as to which mixes of the LP will be utilized for the Mobile Fidelity release.  For the updated answers, hit the jump, where you'll also find the track listing and ordering information!

Ironically, Stage Fright was conceived by Robertson as a lighter album than its predecessors.  By the time the finished LP was delivered, only a small number of songs fit that bill, among them the rocking-and-rolling "Strawberry Wine" and "Time to Kill," and Robertson's touching ode to his daughter, "All La Glory."  But drugs, among them heroin, had contributed to a shift in tone, as had The Band's trouble coping with sudden fame and fortune.  "Creative differences" began to spring up.  Robertson worked out his own issues by writing more deeply personal songs instead of historical narratives or cryptic tales rooted in Americana.  Thankfully, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show" made the cut; this historically-rooted tale, and one of Robertson's finest.  Stage Fright also featured the last Band compositions by Richard Manuel, "Sleeping" and "Just Another Whistle Stop."  Both were co-written with Robertson.

The tension between band members extended to engineer Rundgren.  Helm even reportedly chased him around the studio in a fury!  It's generally recognized, however, that Rundgren brought out the best in the group's sound, what Rob Bowman accurately describes as real "tonal clarity."  After recording for an amazingly short period of only two weeks, The Band commissioned mixes from both Rundgren and British producer/engineer Glyn Johns.  Johns mixed the album twice, once at Trident Studios and once at Island Studios.  Rundgren, at New York's Record Plant, also performed two mix sessions.  Finally, The Band chose Johns' Island mixes of "The Shape I'm In," "All La Glory" and "The Rumor," using Rundgren's work from his second session for the balance of the LP.  (A Glyn Johns mix of "Time to Kill" and an early Rundgren attempt at "W.S. Walcott" can be heard on Capitol's 2000 remaster, CDP 525395.)  A further note on the mixes: The 1990 Capitol CD and 1994 DCC gold CD both utilized Johns' early Trident Studios mixes (excluding "Just Another Whistle Stop").

UPDATE: Mobile Fidelity engineer Rob LoVerde has confirmed to the Speakeasy Forums that he is using the original LP mixes for the SACD.  In response to a number of questions raised at The Steve Hoffman Music Forums, LoVerde states that "one only has to compare the digital discs to the original Capitol LP to see that the mixes match exactly on the MFSL, not the [Hoffman-engineered] DCC. I am perplexed as to how anybody can suggest that the DCC presents the correct mixes when it's obvious that it doesn't match the original. I would imagine, by anybody's definition, that the 'correct' mixes are the ones that appear on an album's original release.  [Hoffman] also states that the mixes presented on the DCC were performed by Todd [Rundgren]. This is incorrect. They were mixed by Glyn [Johns]."

Despite mixed reviews, Stage Fright made it to No. 5 on the Billboard chart, the highest position for any Band album.  It remained on the charts for 22 weeks.  MFSL's limited, numbered reissue is a hybrid SACD playable on all CD players.  It contains the original track listing of the 1970 LP.  It's available now from Music Direct, and it will be available from other retailers shortly.

The Band, Stage Fright (Capitol SW-425, 1970 - reissued Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDSACD 2048, 2011)

1. Strawberry Wine
2. Sleeping
3. Time to Kill
4. Just Another Whistle Stop
5. All La Glory
6. The Shape I'm In
7. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
8. Daniel and the Sacred Harp
9. Stage Fright
10. The Rumor