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- Rock of Ages
- - 4,906 plays
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The Band
Released 1972

The Weight
00:00
501 plays

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
00:00
460 plays

Don't Do It
00:00
409 plays

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songs

- 1
- Don't Do It
- 00:00
- 409 plays

- 2
- King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
- 00:00
- 271 plays

- 3
- Caledonia Mission
- 00:00
- 247 plays

- 4
- Get Up Jake
- 00:00
- 276 plays

- 5
- The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
- 00:00
- 273 plays

- 6
- Stage Fright
- 00:00
- 321 plays

- 7
- The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
- 00:00
- 460 plays

- 8
- Across the Great Divide
- 00:00
- 298 plays

- 9
- This Wheel's on Fire
- 00:00
- 262 plays

- 10
- Rag Mama Rag
- 00:00
- 222 plays

- 11
- The Weight
- 00:00
- 501 plays

- 12
- The Shape I'm In
- 00:00
- 294 plays

- 13
- Unfaithful Servant
- 00:00
- 212 plays

- 14
- Life Is a Carnival
- 00:00
- 247 plays

- 15
- The Genetic Method
- 00:00
- 221 plays

- 16
- Chest Fever
- 00:00
- 224 plays

- 17
- (I Don't Want To) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes
- 00:00
- 236 plays

album review

Released on the heels of the stilted, static Cahoots, the double-album Rock of Ages occupies a curious yet important place in Band history. Recorded at a spectacular New Years Eve 1971 gig, the show and album were intended to be a farewell of sorts before the Band took an extended break in 1972, but it turned out to be a last hurrah in many different ways, closing the chapter on the first stage of their career, when they were among the biggest and most important rock & roll bands. That sense of importance had started to creep into their music, turning their studio albums after The Band into self-conscious affairs, and even the wildly acclaimed first two albums seemed to float out of time, existing in a sphere of their own and never having the kick of a rock & roll band. Rock of Ages has that kick in spades, and it captures that road warrior side of the band that was yet unheard on record. Since this band -- or more accurately its leader, Robbie Robertson -- was acutely aware of image and myth, this record didn't merely capture an everyday gig, it captured a spectacular, in retrospect almost a dry run for the legendary Last Waltz. New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint was hired to write horn charts and conduct them, helping to open up the familiar tunes, which in turn helped turn this music into a warm, loose, big-hearted party. And that's what's so splendid about Rock of Ages: sure, the tightness of the Band as a performing unit is on display, but there's also a wild, rowdy heart pumping away in the backbeat of this music, something that the otherwise superb studio albums do not have. Simply put, this is a joy to hear, which may have been especially true after the dour, messy Cahoots, but even stripped of that context Rock of Ages has a spirit quite unlike any other Band album. Indeed, it could be argued that it captured the spirit of the Band at the time in a way none of their other albums do. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide