Levon Helm & The RCO All-Stars: Paul Butterfield (vocals, harmonica); Mac Rebennack (vocals, keyboard); Levon Helm (vocals, drums); Fred Carter Jr., Steve Cropper (guitar); Lou Marini (saxophone); Alan Rubin (trumpet); Tom "Bones" Malone (trombone); Howard Johnson (tuba); Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass guitar).
Recorded on New Year's Day, 1977 at the now-vanished Palladium in New York, this set from the legendary Band drummer Levon Helm together with equally well-known fellow musicians like Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, and Steve Cropper is like a hype-free version of THE LAST WALTZ. Songs from the band's eponymous (and deleted) mid-'70s album like "Milk Cow Boogie" and "Rain Down Tears," the latter including Butterfield's ghostly harmonica, are interspersed with the Band favorite "Ophelia" and classics like "Sing Sing Sing" and "Got My Mojo Working." The performances are uniformly stellar, the band rocks and rolls in all the right places, and Helm is in fine voice throughout.