by Stephen T. Lewis
The lives of the members of The Band, all of whom are no longer with us, have been heavily documented. Levon Helm started it off with an excellent autobiography. Robbie Robertson wrote one that's pretty interesting. Joe Forno Jr. wrote a good book about Helm; he was also a friend of Richard Manuel, and helped him sort out his business affairs, same as he did for Helm. Steven T. Lewis has weighed in with an extensive biography of pianist, singer, songwriter, and drummer Richard Manuel.
I have one criticism of this book, and will give it to you up front; Lewis sometimes goes overboard with the flowery prose. Some examples: "Now stood Richard, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer, an equal member of a cadre of men who were on their way to becoming one of the most respected musical groups in the world." He described their concerts at the Fillmore East in 1969 "as close to perfection as a rock group could get." "Woodstock cemented the Band's legacy and introduced them to a magnitude of live performance previously unknown to musicians." Lewis claims that the Hawks and The Band were the best groups of their time. Well, that's his opinion, but fans of the Allman Brothers, Chicago, and Jethro Tull, just to name three, could easily disagree.
Lewis did a very impressive amount of research. The bibliography is eight pages. He listened to and analyzed hundreds of hours of live recordings and outtakes, of not only The Band, but other projects that Manuel participated in. And he tells a lot about the various quality of the performances. As I was reading this book, I put some effort into tracking them down. The film "Festival Express" (which includes interview footage of John Till, one of Manuel's bandmates with the Revols in Stratford, ON, as well as some great footage of Ian and Sylvia Tyson) and the audio of the 1969 Winterland concert are on YouTube. "Live at the Academy of Music" (which included several songs that weren't on "Rock of Ages"), "A Musical History", "Live at Watkins Glen", and (of course) "The Basement Tapes" can be found on Tidal and probably elsewhere. Two singles recorded with Ronnie Hawkins, "Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love", are on Tidal. "Live at Fayetteville High School 1962" is available on Apple Music, and to premium Spotify subscribers.
The book gives considerable verbiage to Manuel's addictions to Grand Marnier and heroin. He went clean for a while around 1981, but Cathy Smith, the woman who killed John Belushi, showed up at The Band's clubhouse in Los Angeles with a suitcase full of Grand Marnier, heroin, cocaine, and needles, and that moved him off the wagon.
Manuel was a terrible driver. He nearly killed himself and Van Morrison in two separate accidents. He wrecked a brand-new 1967 Mustang GT belonging to Dominique Robertson; it was a gift to her from Robbie. The rental car companies in the Woodstock, NY area eventually put him on their "do not rent to this man" lists.
However, he got away with all this because he was a friendly and intelligent person with a great sense of humour. He got away with a lot because the police in Woodstock liked him. One of his problems was a difficulty in saying no to people.
Lewis doesn't offer any insight into Manuel's suicide that hasn't been published elsewhere. He does write that earlier in the 1980's, "Richard had said if he fell off the wagon again, he would kill himself. He had almost died when he quit cold turkey before; there was no way he could handle that again."
However, this book is primarily about the music, as it should be. Manuel's career with the Revols started in 1957, when rock and roll was something new. The Revols were very popular. He listed Ray Charles and Bobby "Blue" Bland as major influences. He was hired away by Ronnie Hawkins, another rock and roll pioneer, to be a member of his band, the Hawks, in 1961. The Hawks outgrew Hawkins, and parted company with him in 1964. In 1965, the Hawks were hired by Bob Dylan to be his road band, and the rest is history.
