Islands is the seventh studio album by Canadian-American rock group the Band. It was released on March 14, 1977, through Capitol Records, and was self-produced. The album, which was compiled primarily of previously unreleased outtakes, was released to fulfill the band's contract with Capitol so that the live concert album The Last Waltz (1978) could be released through Warner Bros. Records. As the band would soon break up later in 1977, Islands was the last album to feature the group's original lineup.
Upon release, Islands received mixed reviews and was a commercial slump for the band. While the band's cover of "Georgia on My Mind" was released the previous year in tandem with the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter, no singles were released to promote the album. The record itself stalled at number 64 on the Billboard 200, becoming the lowest-charting of all the band's albums for Capitol. Both contemporary and retrospective reviews consider the album to be inferior to the band's previous work, though certain tracks have been singled out for praise. The album has been reissued multiple times, including with bonus material in 2001.
Background and recording
The Band released their sixth studio album, Northern Lights – Southern Cross, in 1975. The album received positive reviews from critics, with some declaring it among the group's best work, but was a commercial disappointment, falling outside the top 20 in the US. Troubles arose while touring behind the album, including a major powerboat accident suffered by pianist and vocalist Richard Manuel, as well as a general loss of enthusiasm for touring. Additionally, Manuel's failing health and drug addictions caused his vocal abilities to suffer, and the general quality of the band's performances became inconsistent.
With the exception of the album's title track, which dated back to earlier sessions at Bearsville Studios in New York, all of the material on Islands originated from various recording sessions at the band's own Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California, in the year and a half period following the release of Northern Lights – Southern Cross. Recordings continued up to just days before The Last Waltz, with bassist Rick Danko finishing his harmony vocals on "Livin' in a Dream" in the early hours of November 22 after having spent the entire previous day rehearsing for the upcoming performance.
The title track, the oldest on the album, began as a guitar riff composed by Danko years earlier, which caught the attention of Robertson. Originally titled "Dr. Medicine Song", the piece would continue to be developed through Danko and Robertson working with a drum machine, while keyboardist Garth Hudson would also make contributions to the track.
Composition
Due to the circumstances under which it was created, Robert Palmer (writing for the New York Times) describes Islands as the Band's "least pretentious, most off-the-cuff studio album", whose "roughness" makes the album "all the more charming." Palmer also notes the increased presence of Hudson, calling him the group's "dominant player" who "add[s] layers of synthesizers and organ and contribut[es] gritty saxophone solos at every turn." Palmer also highlights the track's "aggressive" saxophone, while suggesting that its lyrics may have been inspired by the sex workers' rights organization COYOTE. have described a correlation between the album's title of Islands and the state of the Band at the time of its release, with Aaron stating: "…the group had drifted apart, each member isolated on his own emotional island. Or, perhaps more accurately, Robertson, who wanted the group to stop performing, was on one island and the others were on another." In his review of the album for Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus also suggested a correlation between the album's title and their then-recent farewell concert as well as the growing number of side projects being held by members of the group at the time, stating these facets all added up to the implication that Islands would be the Band's "last word".
|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide
|rev2Score = C+
|rev3 = MusicHound Rock
|rev3score = woof!
|rev5 = Record Mirror
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|rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
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| rev4 = Q
| rev4Score = Cashbox praised the album, stating the Band "manage[d] to sound fresh without losing their particular sound identity." The review highlighted the covers of "Ain't That a Lot of Love" and "Georgia on My Mind", and called the album as a whole "distinctive" and properly representative of the group. Palmer criticized the lyrics of "Street Walker" and "Let the Night Fall", declaring them to be "among [Robertson's] baldest efforts", but praised "Right as Rain" and "Knockin' Lost John", calling them "as touching and memorable as any [song] Robertson has written." He concluded that Islands is "not the Band's best album, but it is the real thing." American Songwriter also praised "Christmas Must Be Tonight", stating the song "rises way above your typical rock holiday fare", as well as highlighting Danko's vocals and describing the song as "one of the last examples of the special chemistry that epitomized [the Band's] original lineup."
Track listing
Personnel
;The Band
- Rick Danko – bass guitar, vocals
- Levon Helm – drums, vocals
- Garth Hudson – organ, synthesizers, saxophones, accordion, piccolo on "Islands"
- Richard Manuel – piano, electric piano, vocals
- Robbie Robertson – guitars, lead vocal on "Knockin' Lost John"
;Additional musicians
- Jim Gordon – flute on "Islands"
- Tom Malone – trombone on "Islands"
- John Simon – alto saxophone on "Islands"
- Larry Packer – violin on "Islands"
;Production
- Ed Anderson – engineering
- Neil Brody – engineering
- Rob Fraboni – engineering
- Nat Jeffrey – engineering