Reception
The initial critical reception to the album was positive, though sales were slim; Al Kooper's rave review of the LP in Rolling Stone helped to draw public attention to it. The fact that Bob Dylan co-wrote three songs on the album also attracted attention.
In 1968, "The Weight" peaked at #63 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart in the US. The song was a bigger hit elsewhere, peaking at #35 in Canada, and #21 in the UK. The album peaked at #30 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart in 1968, and then recharted as a #8 hit on the Top Internet Albums chart in 2000 (see 2000 in music). "The Weight" gained widespread popularity, from The Band's performance of it at Woodstock on 17 August 1969 and due partially to its inclusion in the film Easy Rider, though it was omitted from the soundtrack due to licensing issues. A cover version by the band Smith was included on the soundtrack album instead.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 34 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The laid-back feel of the album attracted the attention of other major artists. For example, Eric Clapton cites the album's roots rock style as what convinced him to quit Cream, and pursue the styles of Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie, Derek and the Dominos and his debut album. George Harrison was also impressed by the album's musicianship and sense of camaraderie.
This album published in UK as LP record in 1968 and as CD in 1988. It was reissued as an 180 gram LP in 2001.
This album published in US as LP record with gatefold cover in 1968, as remastered gold CD in 1989, as DVD-audio in 2001 and as remastered numbered edition super audio CD in 2009. It was reissued as a remastered 180 gm LP with gatefold cover in 2008.
Read more about this topic: Music From Big Pink
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)