Northern Lights – Southern Cross

After a few years of diminishing returns, Northern Lights – Southern Cross was the sound of The Band rediscovering itself. It was their first album of original material since Cahoots (1971), and it's usually counted as their last great record.

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 really took hold, layering brass, woodwinds and electronics into the arrangements.

The key songs

Three songs in particular did most to restore Robertson's reputation as a 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, stalling at No. 26 in the US, but the reviews were strong, 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.