The Band + Cahoots

The Band weren't planning on making an album when they started work on their fourth LP, 1971's Cahoots. Their manager, Albert Grossman, was building a recording studio in Woodstock, New York, where the members of the Band lived, and he invited them over to try the place out as finishing touches were being put on the studio…

In comparison to its predecessors, Cahoots, the Band's fourth album, may be characterized as an essentially minor effort that nevertheless contains a few small pleasures. These pleasures begin with the leadoff track, "Life Is a Carnival," a song that continues the theme of Stage Fright by emphasizing the false nature of show business and its impact on reality…

The Band‘s fourth album, Cahoots, will be reissued for its 50th anniversary in December across four physical formats, including a five-disc super deluxe edition.

The Band's fourth album, from 1971, shows the strains which accompanied its recording, and in fact continued to unravel the group over the next five years. Much anticipated upon its release, it can now be appreciated as the fragmented work that it is. Having set impossibly high standards with their previous releases, they were bound to teeter, and they did. But even when falling short of their masterpieces Music From Big Pink and The Band, they are still a powerful force to be reckoned with, and Cahoots yields its share of rewards.