Discography / High on the Hog
High on the Hog
Released February 27, 1996, on Pyramid Records. Recorded in 1995 at Levon Helm's own studio in Woodstock. The second studio album from the post-Robertson lineup, produced by Garth Hudson, Aaron Hurwitz, and the group itself. Like Jericho before it, built mostly around outside material, with only three tracks originals. The reunion years are covered more broadly in Reunion Years (1983–1999); this page covers the record itself.
Track listing
- Stand Up (Bruce Channel cover), opening track
- Free Your Mind
- Crazy Mama (J.J. Cale cover)
- Back to Memphis
- I Must Love You Too Much (Bob Dylan cover)
- Where I Should Always Be, an original, lead vocal Danko
- She Knows, using an archival 1986 live vocal from Richard Manuel, ten years after his death
- Forever Young (Bob Dylan cover), recorded as a tribute to the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia
- The High Price of Love, an original
- Ramble Jungle, an original closing the album, featuring guest vocals from blues pianist Champion Jack Dupree
European and Japanese pressings, and a 2006 US reissue, added a bonus track called "Young Blood," the only released recording to feature Garth Hudson on lead vocal. The 2006 reissue also added a previously unreleased cover of Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang."
Personnel
- Rick Danko: bass, guitar, vocals
- Levon Helm: drums, vocals
- Garth Hudson: keyboards, saxophones, accordion, organ, trumpet, vocal on "Young Blood"
- Jim Weider: guitar
- Richard Bell: keyboards
- Randy Ciarlante: drums, vocals
- Richard Manuel: archival vocal, "She Knows" only
Critical standing
Generally regarded as the weakest of the group's three reunion-era studio albums, with reviewers pointing to a less inspired selection of covers than on Jericho. "Back to Memphis" and the J.J. Cale cover "Crazy Mama" were among the more favorably reviewed tracks; the cover of "Forever Young" was more divisive.
Notes
Cover art by longtime designer Barry E. Jackson. Helm had originally pitched a much more elaborate illustration, a cartoon of the band riding racing pigs into a finish line, before settling on a simpler design.