Northern Lights – Southern Cross

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After a few years of diminishing returns, Northern Lights – Southern Cross was the sound of The Band rediscovering itself. Their first album of original material since Cahoots (1971), it's widely regarded as their last great record — mature, ambitious, and beautifully made.

Their own studio

It was the first album cut at the group's own Shangri-La studio near Malibu — and it shows in the unhurried, expansive sound. It's also the only Band album written entirely by Robbie Robertson, and the one where Garth Hudson's growing fascination with synthesizers most fully bloomed, layering brass, woodwinds and electronics into the arrangements.

The key songs

Three songs in particular are widely said to have restored Robertson's reputation as a great songwriter: the heartbreak ballad “It Makes No Difference,” the buoyant “Ophelia” (the album's single), and the sweeping historical epic “Acadian Driftwood.” Around them sit strong tracks like “Forbidden Fruit,” “Ring Your Bell” and the Danko-sung “Twilight.”

A quiet success

It wasn't the commercial blockbuster of their early days — it stalled at No. 26 in the US — but critically it stands tall, and for many fans it's the album to own after the first two. It would prove the last studio album of the original line-up's active years before The Last Waltz.