A little knowledge is a dangerous thing; none whatsoever is worse.

The Band, A Musical History (EMI)

David Peschek

Friday September 23, 2005

The Guardian
If ever there was an argument for the occasional pernicious evil of the CD reissue, this five-disc-plus-DVD box is it. A Musical History is certainly comprehensive: it runs from the Band's early backing-band days -- first for Ronnie Hawkins, then the newly electric Dylan -- through seven albums that document their evolution into trad-rock behemoths. And, for completists otherwise at a loose end, it includes 37 unreleased tracks. Critical consensus has it that this is seminal and hugely important music. But it's clear -- especially over five CDs -- that it is music whose ersatz nature, conservatism and ill-disguised fakery attains a crushing critical mass of boredom. Creating a plodding, hybrid Americana from borrowed blues and country, the Band have squatted over a certain kind of North American music ever since their heyday. But painfully evident in their cod-soulful straining for gravitas is the lack of the vitality of their influences, smothered as it is by the deadening weight of heritage. And does anyone need to hear The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down ever again?

Um, yes -- especially with what's been happening in that part of the world over the last couple of weeks.

You read something like this and wonder how it happened. Was there an editor somewhere on The Guardian’s staff who figured The Band were overdue for being taken down a peg or two? Maybe that would have been a better move before they broke up in 1976 . . . or before two members died.

Or is this David Peschek’s take? If so, it unwittingly exposes stunning ignorance. As for that crack about “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” it would seem that Peschek is unaware Robertson wrote the song, seemingly assuming – incorrectly – that it’s “trad. arr. by” instead of an original composition. He also seems unaware that The Band created the genre the British call “Americana.”

But then, should we expect anything other than tone-deaf inaccuracies from somebody who’s a DJ for something called “Horse Meat Disco”? (Eew.)

Country music: simple, heartwarming stories of honest working folks.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Country singer Mindy McCready was hospitalized after overdosing on antidepressants early Friday following a quarrel with the father of her unborn child. She was in fair condition Friday afternoon, officials said.

According to a police report, McCready and William McKnight were arguing on the phone about whether his parents would help pay for the pregnancy. He cursed at McCready and she became angry and took about 30 antidepressant pills, the report says.

After McKnight called her back and she didn’t answer, he called police and an ambulance.

McCready’s lawyer did not return a phone message to his office.

McCready, 29, has had a series of legal and personal problems in recent months, including a drunken driving arrest in Nashville, a suicide attempt and an arrest in Arizona on charges stemming from her involvement with a con man she said she was trying to help police catch.

McKnight was also charged earlier this year with trying to kill her. McCready said he punched her in the face and tried to choke her.

Last year, McCready was charged with obtaining the painkiller OxyContin fraudulently at a pharmacy. She pleaded guilty and was placed on three years’ probation.McCready had a No. 1 hit in 1996 with “Guys Do It All the Time.”