High on the Hog is the ninth studio album by Canadian-American rock group the Band, released in 1996. As with its predecessor, 1993's Jericho, it relies heavily on cover versions; only two tracks are original. Songs include Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" (which was intended as a tribute to Jerry Garcia), a live recording of Richard Manuel (who had died ten years prior) performing "She Knows", and the closer "Ramble Jungle" (which features vocals by Champion Jack Dupree).
Track listing
The European and Japanese pressings of the album included a bonus track, "Young Blood", which only appeared in the US on a tribute album to Doc Pomus and which is the only release by the group to include vocals by multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson. A 2006 CD release on the U.S. label Titan/Pyramid Records includes two bonus tracks, the first of which is "Young Blood"; the other is the Sam Cooke cover "Chain Gang", which was previously unreleased.
Originally released on CD and cassette, the album was released for the first time on vinyl for its 30th anniversary with a limited pressing of 1,500 copies on black vinyl and 500 on "Coke-bottle clear" vinyl.
Artwork
The artwork for the album was done by longtime artistic designer Barry E. Jackson. In a 1996 interview, Helm describes how the title for the album came first and the initial idea for the artwork was "a cartoon of us riding racing pigs, and we would be coming into the home stretch and the crowd would be cheering and we'd have our guitars and instruments strapped to our backs. Maybe Aaron would be out front with four hogs pulling the wagon." When it was determined such an intricate scene wouldn't fit on a CD, Gabites came up with the resulting cover instead.