Cahoots

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The most divisive album in the classic run, Cahoots was the Band's fourth record and their last album of new original material for four years. Reviews were mixed — Rolling Stone's Jon Landau memorably caught its mood as having a “tinge of extinction” — but its high points are genuinely high, and it has its devoted defenders.

The highlights

It opens with its best song by some distance: “Life Is a Carnival,” the funky, horn-driven group co-write with arrangements by Allen Toussaint. Close behind is a glorious reading of Bob Dylan's “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” and “4% Pantomime,” a barroom duet between Richard Manuel and a guesting Van Morrison. “The River Hymn” quietly made history too — Libby Titus's uncredited backing vocal was the first time a woman appeared on a Band album.

Why it's uneven

The band themselves were running low on the unhurried, communal magic of the first records — touring, exhaustion and addiction were taking a toll, and Robertson was carrying almost the entire songwriting load. Cahoots reached No. 21 in the US. It's not where newcomers should start, but for fans it's far from negligible — and the 50th-anniversary remix gives it a fresh airing.