This album marked the beginning of a new genre in American music-- odd since The Band are a bunch of Canadians! This well-rehearsed studio album retains the fresh and rough edged sound of a live album. The vocals often feel like they are about to break apart while the instruments move on with a life of their own, letting the singers bang up against them like a car on a rough stretch of road. Some of the tracks have gone on to become classics, but this is an album that needs to be taken as a whole. Take it with you on a long night drive, play when the sun just breaks over the horizon-- these songs know what it is like to be bone tired and still capable of laughter when you see the sun rise over a strange city or broken landscape.