The Band in The Last Waltz: Robbie Robertson second right.
You've got to take your hat off to b>Robbie Robertson. Not only did he (unofficially) lead the best-named band in history (b>the Band), he also changed the history of rock by throwing not one but two massive creative curveballs. First he was instrumental (sorry) in b>Dylan going electric. Then, just when everyone was expecting the Band to go b>one louder with their debut album, they did the exact opposite. They headed for b>the hills and locked themselves away in a big house and produced a b>masterpiece, steeped in the traditions of the South and slowed down to a magisterial pace, inventing folk rock in the process. They finally split in 1976 with an all-bells-and-whistles farewell concert, b>The Last Waltz, which was filmed by Martin Scorsese.
Which is where Robbie Robertson made his canniest move. He carved himself a new career as Scorsese's music consultant: a job which, as far as I can make out, essentially means b>making mixtapes for your mate once every few years, and getting paid a small fortune for the privilege. If you were to make a very big list of the best jobs on the planet, that would have to come pretty close to the top. Having already made a Dylan documentary, b>No Direction Home, Scorsese is now turning his lens on b>George Harrison. Robertson didn't have the cheek to get himself an official role in the Dylan docu ("here Mart, use this clip of me looking really cool in shades"), but let's hope he's involved in the Harrison project. If anyone can resist the temptation to fill the soundtrack with predictable Beatles and Ravi Shankar tracks, it's him.
